Empire of Flame and Thorns (Flame and Thorns #1)

Chapter 40

CHAPTER FORTY

G asping air back into my lungs, I throw my elbow out as I try to roll away. A grunt of pain echoes as my elbow connects with something soft. The weight crushing my side eases for a second. I use that second to throw my body sideways and finally roll over on my back. Dragging in another breath, I blink furiously to clear my head and expect to see Draven above me.

Dread washes over me when I instead find Kevlin straddling my chest.

He must have been hiding here by the finish line, waiting for people to return with the rings. Goddess damn it, that’s a clever strategy. Why spend days searching for the rings when you can let everyone else do it and then just ambush them and steal a ring when they return?

I yank my hand away as he lunges for the ring on my finger. Squeezing my hand into a fist, I try to keep the ring safe while I jerk up my leg and slam my knee right into his ass.

A yelp rips from his throat. Because he was leaning forwards over me, trying to get the ring, the hit from behind sends him tumbling over my head and rolling off me. I scramble around and push to my knees right as he whirls around as well. Pain shoots through my face as he slams his fist into my jaw.

The force of it is hard enough to snap my head to the side. Black spots dance before my eyes as I shoot to my feet while reaching for the knife at my thigh. But before I can draw it, Kevlin aims a kick at the side of my knee. Abandoning my attempt to reach my knife, I’m forced to leap back to avoid getting my kneecap shattered.

“Just give me the fucking ring,” Kevlin growls at me, his eyes wild as he advances on me. “I have waited over three hundred years for this! I’m not going to lose a third time.”

I yank out my knife right as blinding light explodes across the forest.

A gasp rips from my lungs, and I throw my hand up to protect my eyes. But it’s too late. Kevlin, just like Alistair’s friend Jeb, has light magic. And when he summons it in a gloomy forest, the sudden difference is so intense that it leaves me temporarily blinded.

Blinking furiously, I try to get my vision back while I slash blindly around me with the knife. A hiss informs me that I almost managed to hit Kevlin with it, but he just keeps coming.

Winds rush through the trees, making the leaves rustle. It masks the sound of Kevlin’s feet as he moves.

Panic clangs inside my skull as I spin in frantic circles while swiping my knife in every direction. I have no idea where he is. All I can see is a harsh white light. I blink furiously, but the effect of his blast isn’t diminishing.

That’s when it hits me.

He hasn’t turned off his magic. It’s still blasting around us.

Terror crashes through me.

He’s going to keep me blinded like this until he can get the ring.

Squeezing my fingers into an even tighter fist, I hold on to the ring as hard as I can while I slash with my knife and reach for my own magic. Shoving it around me, I try to increase Kevlin’s fear. But he is not afraid. I try exhaustion. Boredom. Pity. Compassion. Anything I can think of that will help me. But he feels none of those emotions.

Still blinded by the light, I swipe through the air where I hope he is standing.

Pain spikes through my elbow as a punch lands. The strike to my elbow hits it right in the wrong spot, making my muscles spasm and my fingers fly open. The knife flies from my hand. But I don’t even have time to hear where it lands, because a weight slams into me from straight ahead.

My head snaps back from the force of the sudden hit, and I topple backwards with Kevlin on top of me. My back hits the ground with a thud, knocking the breath out of me again. Before I can recover it, a hand closes around my throat.

“Give it to me,” Kevlin snarls as he squeezes my neck. “Or I swear to Mabona, I will strangle you and then take it from your corpse.”

Panic blares through my skull as he cuts off my air. Still blinded by his light, I move my hand up far above my head so that he won’t be able to reach the ring, and then I yank my leg up and try to slam my knee into his ass again. But this time, he is sitting on my hips rather than my chest, so the move accomplishes nothing. I throw my other hand out, desperately searching for the knife that must be somewhere around us.

Kevlin hisses as I squirm and struggle underneath him, but his hand stays around my throat. My lungs burn.

Fuck, I need to think. Think!

My fingers only find grass and soil and roots. No knife.

A scream of frustration and panic and sheer utter desperation builds in my throat. But with him choking me like this, I can’t even let it out.

Bucking my hips, I try to throw him off me. It only serves to make him lift his weight for a few seconds. But I use those seconds well as I yank my free hand back and punch him straight in the balls.

He screams in pain.

I push with my magic, throwing everything I have into that violet spark of pain inside him.

Another bloodcurdling scream rips from his chest as he releases my throat. I gasp in a deep breath while the blinding white light disappears in a flash.

I blink furiously as silhouettes of the forest start returning to my vision. I still can’t see properly, but the weight of Kevlin’s body disappears from above me as he scrambles away while screaming in pain. Keeping my magic pouring into him, I gasp air into my lungs and try to force my vision to return faster. My heart pounds against my ribs. I need to find the knife. And get off the ground. Twisting around, I start struggling up while still dragging air back into my lungs. I need to?—

Blinding agony shoots through my leg as Kevlin stomps his boot down on the side of my ankle.

I scream, losing the grip on my magic.

Bones crack as Kevlin shatters my ankle.

The light is gone but I can barely see anything because of the black spots that are now dancing before my eyes. Pain sears through me, shooting like lightning up and down my leg, as I try to crawl backwards.

Kevlin, still bent over in pain from my strike to his balls, gasps in breaths through clenched teeth as he throws out an arm and grabs me by the collar. I slam my elbow into the crook of his, breaking his grip. But before I can get away, he slams his other fist into my cheek.

My head snaps to the side while more stars dance before my eyes. I suck in a sharp breath as Kevlin buries his fist in my collar again while I’m still trying to recover. With a yank, he pulls me back towards him and up onto my knees. I blink furiously, trying to clear my head, while I pound my fist against his hand.

He releases my collar. But before I can even feel relief over that, he grabs my left wrist and yanks my hand towards him. I keep my fingers tightly squeezed into a fist, protecting the ring. But he doesn’t even try to pry my fingers up. Instead, he bends over and shoves my hand down on the ground.

Then he raises his foot.

Alarm screams through my head. I try to yank my wrist out of his grip, but it’s too late.

He stomps his heel down on my hand.

I scream as the bones in my hand crunch underneath his boot.

Desperately, I try to summon my magic and manipulate his pain again. But the agony pulsing from my own ankle and hand is so blinding that I can’t concentrate enough to channel magic.

My gaze darts around the ground, frantically searching for the knife instead.

Hope pulses through me.

But it’s drowned out by another wave of blinding agony as Kevlin stomps on my left hand again. I almost pass out as the already shattered bones grind further together.

“Stop,” I gasp out. “Please, I’ll give it to you. Just stop. Please.”

Kevlin stops with his foot hovering over my hand. He is still crouched down and slightly bent forward so that he can hold my wrist pinned to the ground while also being able to bring his boot down on it.

My vision swims and my head spins as I slide my right hand along the ground towards his feet.

“Please,” I beg again.

His eyes are hard and merciless as he stares me down. But he returns his foot to the ground. His hand remains around my left wrist, though.

“Alright,” he says. “Unclench your hand.”

“I can’t.” A whimper of pain spills from my lips. “You’ve shattered everything in it.”

A frustrated sigh rips from his lungs.

Then he finally lifts my hand off the ground, allowing me to raise the rest of my body too.

The moment he moves, my right hand wraps around the knife that was lying on the ground behind his feet. I straighten as he pulls my left hand towards him and bends my finger up so that he can take the ring himself.

Another cry of pain rips from me, and I lose the ability to move for a second as agony spikes through me.

Panic blares inside my skull.

Kevlin pulls the ring off my finger right as I slash the knife across the back of his thighs, severing his hamstrings.

He screams in pain and his legs buckle.

The ring flies through the air as he crashes down on the ground. Blood runs down the back of his now useless legs. I yank my wrist out of his grip and scramble across the ground before he can grab me again.

A ray of afternoon sunlight shines down between the trees and hits the ring where it rests on the ground a few strides away. The gold glints in the warm light. I crawl towards it.

Kevlin’s screams echo from behind me as I drag myself towards the ring that will make this all worth it. The ring that will save me. That will give me a new life.

When I’m still two strides away from the ring, a pair of boots become visible right behind it.

Dread and panic and a terrible sense of hopelessness washes over me as I snap my gaze up to find another contestant standing there.

Lavendera looks down at me in silence before shifting her gaze to where Kevlin is writhing on the ground. Then her gaze drops down to the gold ring before her feet.

I want to scream my lungs out. My hand is broken and my ankle is shattered while Lavendera looks entirely unharmed. There is nothing I can do to stop her if she decides to take the ring. I won’t even be able to chase her to the finish line.

Her pink and purple eyes stay locked on the ring for a few seconds. Then she looks up at me.

I don’t even know if I’m breathing anymore.

Lavendera heaves a deep sigh.

And then walks away.

Lurching into motion, I scramble the final distance to the ring and snatch it up. The gold is cool and smooth against my palm as I clutch it in my uninjured hand.

My gaze shoots to Lavendera’s retreating back. Confusion and disbelief and overwhelming gratitude swirl inside me.

And because I need to know, I call after her, “Why?”

She stops and turns around to face me again. There is a strange and faraway expression on her face as she sighs again. “Because it can’t be me.”

Then she walks away.

Struggling to my feet, I just stare after her until another voice shatters the silence.

“You can’t do this!” Kevlin screams at me from the ground. “I’ve worked so hard for this. Fought so hard for this.”

While keeping all of my weight on my uninjured ankle, I twist around to face Kevlin. Desperation pulses across his whole face.

“Please,” he begs. “This has been my dream for over three hundred years. And I can’t wait another hundred and fifty years for the next chance.”

Draven’s words from earlier suddenly echo inside my skull. Why does everyone else’s dreams matter more than your own?

A harsh laugh rips from my lungs. Because he’s right. They don’t matter more than my own.

Holding Kevlin’s gaze, I shake my head while something steady settles inside me.

“I don’t care,” I reply.

And then I turn my back on him.

The edge of the forest is right in front of me. Pain spikes through my leg as I begin hobbling towards it.

All I need to do is to make it out onto the grasslands outside where Jessina and Bane Iceheart are waiting. After everything I’ve been through to get to this point, everything I’ve done and everything I’ve endured, there is now only a short stretch of forest and an even shorter stretch of grass standing between me and victory.

I stumble towards it on my one good leg.

But I only make it a few steps before a heart-stopping sound booms through the forest behind me.

The sound of beating wings.