House of Mages and Raven (Shades of Ruin and Magic #4)

Chapter 24

24

Barbie

I went through the morning classes without much drama, except that the usual elites sneered at me a lot, the new demon students taunted me, two-thirds of the underdogs shunned me, and my former geek friends refused to make eye contact with me.

Bea hadn’t returned. I thought of seeking her out at the border of the Kingdom of Mages, but my current reputation as a social pariah might drag her through the mud.

My chest heavy, I trekked toward Jubilee Haven, a dreadful wariness pulsing in my veins as I anticipated seeing Killian and his two women getting cozy or even laughing at me in the dining hall. The last image of Killian and Lilith leaving together, her clinging to him, still burned in my mind.

I straightened my spine. I would not hide. I wouldn’t let them drive me away, even though I lost my appetite thinking about them. I forced my thoughts toward finding a solution for Cade’s curse, which was more important than my jealousy and rage.

I didn’t enter through the front entrance, not wanting any drama. I strolled through the back door of the kitchen as if I belonged, despite the sideways glances darted my way.

“Don’t raid the kitchen, Barbie,” a sous chef warned. He was a shifter, but his animal was suppressed, which still gave him a good sense of smell, though. “There’s enough food in the hall.”

“I’m not going to raid anything. Who do you think I am?” I asked, offended, jogging along the narrow passage between shelves of raw ingredients and dried fruits. “If you want to know, I’ve turned over a new leaf, as I need to earn points for the House of Mages.”

I hid a jar of orange peel jam that I swiftly snatched from a shelf before the crew eyed me with wariness and distrust, and exited through the double door.

I paused by the door, taking a moment to think about how far I’d come. The first time I was in this spot, Prince Louis had tracked me down merely by the scent of my blood. Later, he’d dragged me to his house. In a short period of time, I’d changed from a boy to a girl, then from a servant to a squire whose duty was to make sure my princes were buried with honor after they kicked the bucket. In the end, I’d even become a bride candidate at Shades Academy. I’d gone through one house after another—if I hadn’t fled that house, then I’d been tossed out, as had happened with the House of Chaos.

But no matter how bad it got, this life was sweet compared to my past one.

With renewed purpose and a can-do attitude, I jogged toward the buffet table. I could think better on my feet with a full stomach. Hunger made me do rash, desperate, and stupid things, which I vowed to remove from the menu from now on.

I darted to a corner table. A few unpopular coeds eyed me with uncertainty. Grace hadn’t taken everyone under her wing. She had mostly collected the geeks who had been my most vocal supporters, so these unpopular students didn’t rat me out by informing the top dogs that I’d arrived to gain favor for themselves.

The majority of suckers still trained their gazes on the main entrance, expecting me to make an appearance, their tablets at the ready to record my humiliation.

The underdogs were getting a break, though, since Grace needed to use them to alienate me, and I was back to square one, the main dish to be picked on. I’d once thought that I could change the class system. I’d thought I could shake things up, even from the bottom to the top.

You can’t save those who don’t want to be saved, Sy chimed in. And not everyone deserves to be saved.

I brought my food to an empty corner table hidden from the upstairs balcony. I wouldn’t see if Killian was there with his women. Out of sight, out of mind. I dug in to my slider quietly, minding my own business.

Before I had finished a second slider, a sense of alarm tingled between my shoulder blades. Even my throat started to itch. My gaze snapped up as Grace headed toward me, flanked by a horde of her fangirls, including Bellona, Fake Blonde, some demons, and several of my former geek friends. Even Jinx followed my counterpart. The betrayal hurt my teeth.

Surprisingly, America and Dixie, who had been among my worst opponents and had beaten me up in the ring, didn’t join Grace.

I watched the mob march cockily toward me, their jaws set, their eyes on fire, their faces determined.

Shit, this wasn’t going to end well.

Shit, Sy echoed.

I don’t think we’ll get to finish the meal, I said ruefully. You’ll have to work double time tonight to feed us.

I can totally do that! Sy’s face brightened. DM Rowan! I’ll work for free tonight if he doesn’t have any more pink diamonds.

Don’t worry about his pockets, because they’re deep, I said. We have more immediate concerns.

Who should I eat first? Sy smacked her full lips. She hadn’t eaten any sentient beings since we’d come to Mist of Cinder, but the craving didn’t just go away overnight.

The mob was still coming, streaming between the aisles and tables. I was only one person, wasn’t I? What harm could I do? And they had to come with torches and pitchforks?

Grace stopped three feet from me, righteous fire burning in her honeydew green eyes. It was super-ass weird to see someone who looked so much like me—though more refined in every way—staring back.

Bitch had sabotaged my uniqueness, aiming to replace me completely.

She’s failed, Sy chimed in. She doesn’t have me like you do.

While my heartbeat picked up at this run-in that would soon turn into a big fight, I wasn’t going to lose my cool.

As cool as a cucumber. Sy backed me up.

Damnit, she’d picked up too many clichés.

“Hello, hello.” I smirked. “Is this a party? Guess I’m invited after all. However, I’ll have to decline, as you can see that I’m very busy.”

I speared a piece of potato heavily coated with garlic and inserted it into my mouth. These days, I ate a lot of garlic, not just to fend off vampires.

The copycat pointed a finger at me. “You won’t get away with your transgression this time.”

Her goons bobbed their heads in agreement, their faces reddening in fury.

“Transgression?” I asked while chewing garlic. “Woo, that’s a big word. Does it mean sin?”

Sy snickered in excitement. Once again, it was just her and me against the whole world.

“Enough!” Grace said.

A burning stream of mental power coming from Grace pulsed in the air. I caught it, but no one else knew that she was a mental influencer. I had yet to discover what other power she possessed.

“Enough is enough!” her followers chanted.

“We stop her today!” Grace the cheerleader shouted.

“Stop Barbie! Stop evil Barbie!” the crowd chanted, countless fingers thrusting at me.

It’d almost be comical if I wasn’t annoyed that they had interrupted my meal.

“Bow to your betters and repent,” Grace demanded.

“How old are you, five?” I asked.

I knew that she wasn’t that dumb, but she was speaking the mob’s language to get them worked up, just like when she was with the heirs, she spoke their vernacular.

“You think this is a joke?” Grace’s lips tugged up in a mocking smile. “You’ll pay for what you did. Beat one of us, you beat all of us. As the champion of the underprivileged and less fortunate, I challenge you to a duel. I won’t allow you to hurt anyone anymore.”

Her followers hollered with righteous fury.

A feeling of formidable presences crept into my awareness while an ache vibrated in my chest. I swept my gaze to the source. Killian and Queen Lilith were strolling toward the heirs’ table on this floor instead of going upstairs to their royal table, so they could watch this conflict between Grace and me.

This was staged.

Grace had pulled the rug from beneath my feet, but it wasn’t enough. She needed to beat me in front of everyone to display her power and dominance over me. If she proved me to be an utter loser, the other heirs would follow the chaos prince and abandon me without blinking twice.

And after all the princes withdrew their support, Headmistress Ethel would be more than happy to kick me out of Shades Academy and the realm once and for all. Then it would be open season for anyone to hunt me. I bet the druid and his Legion of the Brotherhood cult would pick up where they’d left off and come after me with a vengeance.

Pucker had warned me in advance that Grace would try to drive a wedge between me and the other heirs, and winning a duel would be the quickest way to achieve her goal while keeping her claws on Killian. Every supernatural respected power, and if Grace made me look powerless, I’d have no footing in Mist of Cinder.

As I looked on, the other heirs arrived as well, joining Killian and his betrothed.

My mouth tasted of ash and my stomach fluttered with anxiety and rage as I saw Killian and Queen Lilith cozying up. The other heirs chatted with them easily and casually, laughing at some inside joke as if there had never been a divide between them.

The ongoing conflict between Grace and me only added spice to their lunch.

The servants hurried to their table, putting down drinks and numerous delicious dishes specially made for the royals.

Queen Lilith leaned toward Killian, whispering something to him with a knowing smile. Then suddenly, Killian turned to me. Instead of locking eyes with him, I trained my gaze on the heirs, who were now all looking in my direction.

Rowan nodded at me while studying me sharply, wanting to peel away my secrets that concerned Sy. Silas raised a glass of red tea, wishing me luck. The shifter prince wasn’t a coffee drinker. Louis smiled at me hungrily, wrapping his lips around a straw in a tall champagne glass full of crimson liquid. I knew it was blood. The vamp prince mostly drank from a glass instead of from veins these days because of me.

Cade frowned as he looked on. He wasn’t his usual lighthearted self. He studied the room but didn’t chat with the other princes. I was a new member of his house. Now a new member of the House of Underworld had issued a challenge toward me. Cade didn’t like drama, but he was once again dragged into it.

“Can’t believe we get to see a duel between twins,” someone said.

“They aren’t twins,” Bellona scoffed. “Make no mistake. They have different eye colors. Princess Grace is superior to her pale copy, and today, the imposter shall know her place!”

The demons surrounded us in a ring to cut off my exit. Everyone else had their tablets trained on me, ready to record my ass getting kicked.

They wanted a show? I’d give them a shit show.

“A duel? How delightful,” I said, and propped my feet up on the table while winking at Grace, careful not to touch the food plates. “But your timing sucks. So, you’ll have to wait until I finish my meal. I don’t like to waste food. Do you have any idea how many people, especially children, still go hungry globally? I used to be one of those underfed children.” I gestured at the mob. “Do any of you ungrateful little shits know how lucky you are?” I returned their glares with a smirk. “You’ve never experienced hunger and thirst, have you? They can crush one’s spirit.”

I chanced a glance at the heirs’ table. All of them were watching with rapt attention. Louis gave me a thumbs-up. He always thought I was entertaining. I swept my meaningful glance back to the mob, not wanting to leave anyone out. “Let’s be our better selves, shall we? After today, I’m going to open a GoFundMe account and save the wild lions. There’re less than twenty thousand lions left in the world now. I wish those who cage and abuse animals and kill lions for fun and money all go to the seventh circle of Hell to be tortured by demons for eternity.” I ignored the demons’ glares. “First step, please go to my Spinchat page to find the link and join me in rescuing lions from Ukraine.”

Everyone looked angry and confused at the same time. Fine, they needed a role model for this type of selfless act. I fumbled in the hidden pocket I’d made in my academy uniform and found the pink diamond that Sy had earned from Rowan. It was difficult for me to part with the diamond, but I was committed.

“I’ll start,” I said. “I’ll donate this valuable diamond as the base fund. Who’s with me? After we save the lions, we’ll go big and feed the homeless. What say you?”

No one responded. The harsh reality was that no one cared about lions and the homeless. But everyone stared at the pink diamond that I twirled between my thumb and my forefinger, probably wondering whom I’d gotten it from.

The most intense, predatory stare came from Killian. His storm-blue eyes burned with icy fury. My jaw clenched at his disapproval.

Grace lunged at me. “Here’s your pathetic crowdfunding!”

“Oh, Princess Fuckface, you lost your cool,” I yelped, dropping my feet from the table lightning fast.

I heard roars of laughter from the heirs. Those assholes thought this was funny, but who didn’t like a catfight?

I sidestepped, barely missing being hit as the table flew backward. If I’d been a heartbeat slower, the dishes would’ve landed on my face.

Grace was damn fast.

The table smashed into a cook just as the unlucky shifter came through the back door. He cried out as he scrambled to his feet.

Plates and glasses shattered, and my cakes scattered on the ground between Grace and me.

Fortunately, I’d been quick enough to grab a bowl of egg noodles that I hadn’t gotten a chance to eat. It was the only dish I’d saved, but it was better than nothing.

“Fuck, this cunt is so aggressive,” I murmured.

Cunt is aggressive! Sy pouted.

A moment of quietness prevailed, as everyone had heard me, then Louis and Silas’s laughter pierced the shocked silence. Silas’s roar was like a lion’s instead of a wolf’s, and Louis was pounding the table in glee. He loved it when I was vulgar and obnoxious. But I wasn’t slightly amused or pleased when anyone interrupted my meal.

Grace’s face turned beet red.

“For that disrespect toward Princess Grace alone, you’ll be hanged!” Bellona bellowed.

I gingerly put the pink diamond back into my pocket to secure it while balancing the bowl of noodles in my hand.

“I said cunt,” I smirked, “but I didn’t say which cunt.”

“You called Princess Grace a c-cunt!” Fake Blonde yelled, her small mouth trembling in anger. “We all heard you.”

I cupped my ear for show. “Say it again? I called who a cunt?”

“You called Princess—” Fake Blonde started.

“Stop!” Grace cut in, giving Fake Blonde a cutting look that sent her minion flinching, and FB clamped her hole shut. The princess turned her nose up toward me, fury darkening her eyes. “You’re a crass and despicable creature.”

“Yet you copied me.” I tugged a corner of my lips up in a mocking smirk. “You even got the nickname of Barbie 2.0.”

“Aren’t you full of yourself?” Grace retorted. “I’ve been the Princess of the Underworld longer than anyone knew, even though I wasn’t raised in the Underworld.” I tried not to blink at the information. Grace had been kept a mystery until she showed up at Shades Academy. “You’re but an inferior copy of me. How a street urchin like you wormed your way into the most elite academy in the realm is beyond me. Is your name even Barbie?”

I grinned. “You don’t need to go far to search for the truth. I didn’t worm my way into Shades Academy. I was dragged into the program by the Prince Heir of the House of Chaos.” I nodded toward the heirs’ table, challenging Killian.

I already knew this duel wouldn’t end well for me. I felt it in my bones and saw how my foes had set me up to fail. But I had nothing more to lose. It wouldn’t hurt me more than it already had to drag Killian through the mud as well. The truth was, I couldn’t exactly do that, since His royal-ass Highness was too high up there for a lowlife like me to dent him. However, I wanted him to know that I’d still be brazen enough to sting him publicly.

“If you have an issue with that, take it up with your new beau there.” I chuckled, and everyone gasped at my suicidal boldness. From the heirs’ table, Silas’s delighted chortle rippled across the hall. I was dying to check out Killian’s reaction, but I refrained from looking at him. My battle was here. It’d be unwise to let his anger—or worse, his coldness—get my emotions all twisted up before the duel. “I was happy being Prince Heir Louis’s squire before I was forced into the Brides Selection. He’s a fair vampire prince, and he was pleased with my excellent performance as his top squire.”

A peal of laughter rolled out of Louis. Well, I’d openly told a white lie about being a good squire, but I was gambling on his not correcting me. Didn’t he beg me never to change?

More than a handful of vamps hated me, especially Gunnar, the captain. He’d labeled me as lazy and insufferable, with bad manners and a foul mouth. He’d also bitched about my being the worst squire in all the realm. I didn’t even know what he meant by that. No way could I be the worst. In this life, there was always someone better than you, and on the other end of the scale, there was always someone doing worse than you.

“I had a good life in the amazing House of Vampires,” I continued. “And then I thrived in the respected House of Shifters, again, as an exceptional squire who understood her duty and served the largest wolf prince in the realm well.” Now I was gambling that Silas wouldn’t contradict me, even though I heard snickers somewhere. “But a lot happened after that.” I nodded at the mob meaningfully, but no one nodded back, all glaring at me despite their confusion.

Mobs were mostly driven by blind emotion. When anger and fear were doing the thinking for their brain, they were incredibly easy to manipulate.

I waved a hand, still holding the bowl of noodles, in a dramatic gesture. “Before I could forge my own path, I was bullied, exposed, and humiliated in front of thousands of my fellow students on the ice rink. Going through a gender change isn’t for the faint-hearted, and a dark, chaotic force came after me, hauling me into the House of Chaos.” I pressed my free hand against my heart and put on a look of sorrow. “Before I could even wrap my mind around the gritty reality and blink twice, there I was in the Brides Selection. Sometimes, I think it is a bad dream. But when I wake up every morning, there I am, still in the Selection.”

I looked at the angry and stunned faces all around, knowing that no one else had tried to discredit the Brides Selection. I’d openly mocked its foundation and their system.

“Don’t get me wrong,” I offered meekly. “I’m not saying that the BS, short for Brides Selection, is bad or anything, but I recognize that I’m not mate material. I know my limitations, and I ain’t afraid of admitting them. You all should try to shift your mindset from time to time. I promise that it’s quite liberating. Stay open and positive. Anyway, I have to say something about my former membership in the House of Chaos. There are a lot of good people there, and I’m sorry to have to leave them behind, but I’m glad that I ended up in the House of Mages.” I raised the bowl of noodles. “Cheers for me!”

No one cheered, but Cade was laughing.

“Cease talking!” Grace ordered me.

“Give me a few more minutes, please,” I said. “I need to clarify my name, since you have doubts about it. I was Bobbi, then everyone called me Little Bob, and when I told His Highness of the House of Chaos that my real name was B-o-b-b-i, he insisted on calling me Barbie. So, if you’re so unhappy about my name, then you should take it up with Prince Killian. I bet you’ll have more meaningful things to discuss now.”

Why did I have a suicidal wish to provoke the chaos prince? I’d tried to avoid him, but he had started to show up on my turf where I needed to feed, parading his betrothed and his new squeeze toy in front of me. I would’ve let go if he hadn’t fucked me then fucked with me.

I was bringing the fight to his door, offering a piece of my mind, even though I was nobody and he was the most formidable heir in all the kingdoms. I’d tried to lie low, and they still came to punch me every chance they got. So now I held my chin high, ready to punch back at any fucker who came at me.

Shocked silence stretched out before the other heirs pounded the table and laughed heartily to encourage me.

“Shit! This is a real treat,” Silas said, wiping a tear from his amber eye.

Louis punched the table again in glee. “We should have lunch here more often.”

The vamp prince and the shifter prince were still in a temporary alliance, especially since the newly combined power of the House of Chaos and the House of Underworld was making the other houses uneasy. It hit me that it could be one of the reasons that the other heirs were still backing me up. To continue to secure their support, I must win this duel. The heirs would not like to be embarrassed, and no one rooted for a loser.

“My new member is a spitfire.” Cade chuckled. “She picked up quite a few habits from other houses. I won’t let her go too far, though, Killian. I promise. Barbie loves to run her mouth, but she’s harmless.”

“Harmless, you say?” Rowan snorted.

Sy preened. She didn’t care what came out of his mouth as long as it came out of his mouth.

“Harmless,” Louis confirmed. “Why not?”

“Mostly, anyway,” Cade said amid a round of amiable or sarcastic chuckles.

“Having enough fun?” Killian yawned. “I think I’ll take off.”

“Let’s stay,” Queen Lilith purred, an indulgent smile ghosting her lips.

My chest tightened with bitterness and ache and rage, and I fought not to let her and her fiancé get to me.

“That’s what happens when you let Barbie talk,” someone murmured in Grace’s ear. “She’s infamous for giving everyone headaches.”

“Aren’t you sick and tired of hearing your own voice?” Grace sneered at me.

It was creepy to hear my own voice, albeit more polished and cultured, snapping back at me.

“Never,” I said with a cat’s smile.

“You won’t stay in the Brides Selection,” Grace said, her smile sharper. “I’ll make sure of it. Someone like you doesn’t deserve to be a bride candidate.”

She attacked, and I let the bowl of noodles sail toward her face. Let’s see how glossy she looked with egg noodles dangling from her nose. Let her go home crying so that her prince charming could lick the noodles off her nose. Eww!

But what I hadn’t expected was a gust of hellfire wind shooting out of my opponent, hurling the jet of noodles back toward me with unbelievably strong force.

Shit! Shit!

Double shit! Sy echoed, her golden eyes widening.

If the noodles splattered all over me and hung from my hair, I’d never live it down. I could see all the glowing tablets from those little shits trained on me.

My dark wind threw up a shield in front of me, thanks to my quick instincts honed by the world’s secret top hunter and predator, which was Sy.

You’re welcome. She beamed.

But I wouldn’t give Sy all the credit.

After my darkest flame had erupted to preserve me during the fight against the druid and his brotherhood cult, I’d started to develop my own brand of magic instead of having to siphon others’ elemental magic or spells like a leech.

I still had no firm grasp of my new power yet. Neither could I control my darkest flame. And thus, I wasn’t willing to let it loose unless it was absolutely necessary. And this noodle fight couldn’t be considered absolutely necessary.

So, only my dark wind had eased out and collided with Grace’s.

The stream of noodles didn’t land on either of us. The winds turned them into bits and pieces and sent them flying toward the ceiling before they rained down on the mob.

I’d directed where the noodles would go—definitely not on my side, a small win for me, even though I couldn’t get them to stick to Grace’s dumb-fuckface, as her power shielded her.

No one else had been able to counter my dark wind before except for Killian, and only his power could hold me captive, though it couldn’t harm me—he hadn’t exactly tried to hurt me in the past. I wondered if the day would come when Killian and I would go toe-to-toe against each other and fight to the death.

Sy hissed uneasily at the possibility.

Nothing remained certain. Just when I thought up was down, all of a sudden, the world pulled the rug from beneath my feet, and then down was up.

For now, Grace could hold her own against me. She bore the same power as Queen Lilith. I had yet to figure out their magical components. Last time, I’d failed to siphon Queen Lilith’s power when she hijacked me. She’d succeeded in trapping me as well, and I’d shrugged off her formidable mind control. We’d tied, but then again, I hadn’t exactly gone up against her in a real match. A duel with her ward felt like a prelude.

Falling victims to the noodle rain, the mob cried out indignantly as they frantically wiped bits of food from their hair, their clothes, and their tablets.

“I changed my mind.” I giggled. “Let’s party!”

I made a scooping gesture with my hand, my dark wind sweeping up every bit of spilled food from the marble floor and tossing it toward the mob.

“No, you don’t!” Grace yelled, her hellfire wind—hot and humid and reeking of sulfur—rushing toward me.

My cold, dark wind intercepted hers; we were at an impasse. I winked at her, and then I released the funnel of food and dumped it all on her followers. A realization hit her as well—she might be able to shield herself, but the courtesy didn’t extend to her army of minions.

When I had a run-in with the demons, I’d shielded all my geek friends who stood with me. It was funny that now all of them were standing with Grace because they believed she was more powerful and that she could level them up.

A slice of sadness slid down my throat, but I let it go. In life, when you couldn’t hold on to something that wasn’t worth fighting for, you moved on. I swallowed, telling myself that no matter how hard and painful it was, I’d manage to move on from Killian.

I had to believe that I could do it eventually.

“How do you like my leftovers, little shits?” I laughed.

Sy giggled, loving it, despite the mob cursing at us profusely. The line was drawn, and I stood alone against Grace and her army, but I didn’t feel alone. I’d never feel alone as long as Sy stood with me.

Always and forever, she said fiercely. We’re two badass bitches in a pod.

“Must you turn a noble duel into a farce, like you always ruin everything?” Grace spat.

While her face burned red like a tomato, I remained as cool as a cucumber.

“I don’t know much about a noble duel, since I ain’t noble,” I confessed. “Street fights and vulgar brawls are all I know, like what we’re doing at the moment. I blame it on my ignorant parents and my terrible childhood. Perhaps you can teach me to be noble like you? There’s still hope for me. Don’t give up on me yet, please, milady, as I might surprise you with my potential. I might not be as shiny as you, but I’m all raw material. I’m not as cultured as you either, but it doesn’t stop me from improving myself. My first step is to read a truckload of smut recommended by BookTok influencers. ACOTAR is added to my Tbr list. I’m debating if I should read Quicksilver next.” I shook my head, mulling it over. “Or maybe Magical Midlife Madnes s. You should try to read as well, since reading makes dumb people smart. You’re welcome to my leftovers in the House of Chaos.”

There, I’d just used a pun about leftovers to spell it out for Killian that he was nothing but part of my leftovers as well. I hoped he got it, and I hoped it stung.

The heirs bent over laughing.

Venom brimmed over in Grace’s eyes, and their color was no longer honeydew green but dark crimson. I was having an effect on her. I’d turned Barbie 2.0 to Barbie the Creep.

“Smut readers aren’t afraid of shit,” I continued, not done yet when it came to my taste in books. I planned to join the influencers’ ranks in the future. “They aren’t hypocrites but independent thinkers who know what they want. If we all read smut, the world would be filled with lovers instead of killers. There’d be peace instead of war on Earth. So, hear me out, as this is important. We need to start a reading-more-smut campaign and target the corrupt politicians, so we can turn them into lovers instead of the dark hands behind the war machines.”

“The politicians won’t read smut, idiot,” sneered a giant demon whose name was Amon. He had lighter skin and twin horns. “They watch porn and jerk off. They’ll never stop making war; it’s their most profitable business model.”

I eyed him with suspicion. “How do you know? Care to elaborate?”

“I’m a demon,” he said proudly, his crimson eyes trained on me, but he didn’t regard me as prey. He actually grudgingly respected me because I’d beaten the shit out of him last time and taken his hellfire as nutrition. “Demons roam the mortal world and prey on any weak or rotten minds. Violence, greed, and lust draw us like no other.”

“Amon, don’t engage with her,” Grace snapped. “She’s poison. She has no respect for anything.”

“Except smut,” I offered.

“Go eat dirt!” Grace shouted. She’d really had enough.

The Princess of the Underworld pumped more force into her hellfire wind, battering at my defenses. This time, her hellfire wind was mixed with another power; she had more up her sleeve. It clicked in my mind: she’d studied me. She’d prepared.

Her power punched a hole through my shield, smacking me in the face. It felt like acid eating away at my skin. I yipped in pain and staggered back two paces. Sy hissed while she lunged to take the pain into her.

Grace smiled smugly.

I reached out to grab her magic to rip it away, even though her Underworld power was preventing me from siphoning it. Unlike the demons’ hellfire, hers carried something else that I couldn’t make out. As soon as I got a grip on her magic, it slipped through my fingers like an eel. When I tried again, it bit me before slipping away. It dawned on me then that I couldn’t really harm her; it would be like harming myself.

For a flicker of a second, I saw through her genetic magical makeup.

She shared my DNA, but she didn’t have a monster like Sy within her. Sy growled at my definition. It was like Grace was my identical twin who carried a different type of magic from our mother, whereas I’d inherited my magic from our father. A dark light sparked in my mind as I wondered whether Grace and I had been made from the union of Ruin and Queen Lilith. I shook off the absurd concept.

Grace’s power locked with mine, as did our gazes. Her eyes momentarily turned a brilliant green. I swore that Queen Lilith was peeking out through the eyes of her ward.

Shit, could Grace be her familiar?

Grace winked, as if Queen Lilith was goading me to give it all I had and use the darkest flame on her. Not only that, I felt her power trying to draw out my dark flame. It slid under my skin, challenging me.

Sy perked up. Burn the bitch and take back our man.

He isn’t our man and never will be, I snarled.

Sy pouted.

Some chicks might go after the other woman, but I held the man accountable first. Yet I’d be lying if I told Sy that I wasn’t tempted. But if I let my flame consume Grace now, the best-case scenario was that I’d be charged with murder. There was no denying that everyone now knew the unholy dark flame belonged to me after it’d wiped out the first wave of the Legion of the Brotherhood.

Medea’s death still hung over my head. I wasn’t found guilty thanks to the protection of Killian and the rest of the heirs. If my flame went after Grace, Killian would condemn me.

The worst case? I could lose control and burn everything down, which went against my most solemn vow not to harm but protect the realm, its magic, Underhill, and every living thing in Mist of Cinder.

Grace was baiting me and egging me on to use my darkest flame. Could she really survive it? I tilted my head and regarded her, and my heart skipped an icy beat. I was sure now that it was not Grace but Queen Lilith who peeked back at me.

The demon queen could do what my father did—possess their vessels and see through their eyes. And she was willing to throw away her ward to test me.

Why?

A good question, Sy offered.

A blink, and Grace’s eyes returned to her usual honeydew green. Her queen receded. For a breath, though no one else could tell, Grace appeared disoriented, her hellfire wind halting before stabilizing again. To make up for her slip, she overcompensated by tossing more firepower at me.

An idea hit me then. I’d approached this the wrong way. I was so afraid of losing myself by siphoning magic in this realm that I had conditioned myself to constantly be on the defense unless I wanted to kill my opponents. To my own surprise, I didn’t want to slay Grace, not exactly.

Why the hell not? Sy asked.

Sy had no issue at all killing my doppelg?nger. She was even eager to eat Grace, so she could brag that she consumed Barbie 2.0 and tell me about the taste next time we got into a fight. My other half might’ve evolved at a rapid speed ever since we’d come to this realm, but at the core, she was still a savage. Beautiful, yes, but a savage and a monster nevertheless.

I spread open my arms. Instead of keeping Grace’s hellfire wind at bay, I let it through, then sucked it into me, only to regret it as I gasped at the taste of black magic.

The unholy union between Heaven and Hell.

I staggered back and tried to spit out the remaining terrible taste.

Grace smiled viciously. “You can’t do to me what you did to others.”

She knew about the true nature of my power. I’d wondered how the kidnappers knew more about me than I did them. I started to string pieces together. It’d once crossed my mind that Queen Lilith might be behind all the moves against me. Now I was pretty sure that she’d provided the Seed to the druid to take me down.

She’d also sent the Maiden to rat me out, though the oracle had bailed out at the last minute. How could the demon queen know about my father and me? Where did she find or create my carbon copy? What was the demon queen’s relationship with Ruin?

“An Echo, they say,” Grace said with a mocking smile. “You aren’t an Echo. You’re a thief who doesn’t have her own magic, so she steals from others. You have no shame.”

“What shame? Care to elaborate?” I asked.

If I’d had shame, I wouldn’t have whored Sy out.

I don’t mind, Sy said, her longing gaze glued to Rowan at the heirs’ table. I love working.

“I pity you, and I don’t have time to educate you,” Grace said, “but I need to show my people how to bring down a creature like you.”

I smirked. “Like a capuchin monkey bringing down an African lioness? I could be a she-wolf, you know.”

Silas laughed so hard that he choked, and Cade pounded the shifter’s back to help him.

“All you have is a foul mouth,” she said, “but you’ll learn not to run your mouth whenever you want.”

“Say please,” I said.

Grace called back her hellfire wind, and I leashed my dark wind as well to show her that I was a good sport and played fair.

She lunged at me. One second, she’d been several feet away, then the next, her boot was an inch from my face. She was unbelievably fast. I twisted my torso and let her expensive boot pass. Her fist came after me at the same time, driving toward my kidney. I dodged away only to find a flurry of kicks and punches chasing me.

I narrowly missed one blow after another as I studied her moves.

“Quit being a coward, Barbie!” Bellona barked in disgust. “Just take a punch like a real bride candidate.”

More mob members were fed up with my evasive moves and demanded I take a hit.

I ignored the heckling; I didn’t want to take a hit due to my low pain tolerance. Every time Sy took my pain into her, guilt punched through my chest.

Grace’s onslaught turned more aggressive, and the crowd cheered. Her every punch carried strength and elegance, the Princess of the Underworld turning violence into a dance. Obviously, she was well-trained in martial arts. I was self-made, so it was no surprise that I was ungainly at times and far from lithe.

I was rough around the edges, my counterattacks marked by impulsiveness rather than well-planned moves. But at least I was unpredictable. Thankfully, I was a chick of speed, and Sy’s viciousness and strength made up for the rest.

But then I got distracted, and Grace booted the back of my thigh, almost sending me to my knees.

“Just lie down and don’t get up, Barbie!” Bellona proposed, and the mob echoed the same sentiment.

“I hate to disappoint, dude,” I said. Bellona hated me calling her dude . “I ain’t the ‘lie down’ type.”

I borrowed Sy’s strength and twisted away, lightning fast. Grace blinked, not expecting me to get away. I seized my advantage and rammed a fist into her ribcage before I darted away like a flash.

“Ta-da! Kiss-kiss.” I jumped up and down, not minding that I was the only one cheering at landing a punch on my opponent.

Grace hissed and lunged at me, but I was done with evasive maneuvers. I met her attacks beat for beat. She might be a martial arts pro, but I’d been fighting for survival since before I could even walk.

She tried to land a punch on me, and I raised my fist to meet her blow. She kicked, and I blocked her ankles with my wrists while Sy took in the pain caused by the impact. I kicked out in retaliation and sent Grace stumbling.

We broke apart and then lunged at each other again, our movements a blur of fists and kicks. The mob glanced left and right, unable to tell us apart, especially as we looked alike and wore the same academy uniforms. No one could see the different house insignias etched on the chests of our uniforms when we were two blurs, like a snake eating its own tail.

I found a new opening and took it, my boot finding purchase on Grace’s temple. The mob got to see her stumble back. I didn’t care about losing face, but the Princess of the Underworld cared a lot.

Icy rage and hatred searing her eyes, Grace leapt high, driving her fist toward my head. I jumped up to meet her strike, my fist ramming into hers, only to realize my mistake a heartbeat too late. A pair of metal knuckle guards materialized around her fingers, slamming into mine. My eyes widened in shock as they made contact.

The knuckle guards were made of the same material as the kidnappers’ chains and torque that had rendered me useless. Medea had tried to put me down with the same spells infused in the chains. And now Grace was doing the same.

Queen Lilith was no longer hiding her trade secrets. She was the mastermind of the dark force aiming to destroy me.

But what made her so bold? When the realization hit me, my stomach churned. She and her ward had the chaos heir wrapped around their pinkies. Now she’d entered the scene, she could do whatever she wanted, and her fiancé would let her instead of protecting me.

Somehow, it felt like the demon queen wanted me to know about her involvement in kidnapping me, as if she wanted to speed up whatever was on her timetable. An ominous feeling filled me.

My skin broke where my fist made contact with Grace’s knuckle guards, and my body went numb as the dark spells infused within the dark material got into my bloodstream.

My opponent had played dirtier than me.

I crashed to the ground, cracking my skull against the hard marble floor. Agony bloomed in me, filling my every cell. I heard surprised calls from the heirs as they rose from the royal table.

Even after seeing me sprawl like a rag doll on the ground, the heirs wouldn’t intervene. A duel was a duel. Killian had once tried to stop the match between Medea and me to save me, but that had been when he still wanted to get into my pants. He no longer cared about me or what happened to me. His new girl was winning while his betrothed snuggled against him; he must be highly entertained.

They’d set me up to fall, so the new girl would officially replace me.

The mob’s cheers were deafening.

Grace waved at her exultant followers, a peal of victorious laughter sliding out of her throat. She stalked toward me as I writhed on the ground, panting in agony. Dark material tainted my blood, and my limbs were too numb to move.

Get up! Get up now! Sy snarled.

Grace lifted her foot to stomp on my face, a delighted glint filling her eyes. It wasn’t just my utter humiliation and defeat she wanted. She aimed to maim me, and then she’d be the only one wearing my face.

I rolled away at the last second, and Grace’s boot stomped into the marble floor, cracking it. She lifted her boot again, chasing me, determined to dent my face. I rolled and crawled to get away from her. And now she was taking her time, knowing I’d run out of space to roll with the mob blocking my exit.

“You know what I’d love to see, Barbie?” she said sweetly. “I want to see what’s inside your head. I want to find out if the matter of your brain is as colorful as when you run your mouth.”

I couldn’t get up. Even with Sy’s strength, I couldn’t get up. The dark material was like lead in my blood, and it was starting to poison Sy as well.

The crowd parted for the heirs, shock on their faces as they saw my condition. I must’ve looked terrible. I felt worse. I swept my gaze over them, as if wanting to apologize for letting them down. Killian and his betrothed weren’t among the heirs. He wasn’t even bothering to come to see the results of the duel for himself.

“Enough!” Rowan growled. “This duel is over.”

It was a surprise that the fae prince had stepped in first.

“The rules of engagement prohibit anyone from interfering,” Grace said.

“Prince Killian, your queen’s future king , intervened and stopped a duel last time,” Silas said, ready to bully his way in.

“I’ve read about the case, Prince Silas,” Grace said amiably, as if she were the most reasonable person here. “Last time, Princess Medea was said to use a forbidden artifact in the duel, so Prince Killian had to intervene. In the end, the duel ran its course, and Princess Medea was killed.”

Grace clasped her hands in front of her. Her knuckle guard had vanished. No one had seen that dirty move of hers when she struck me down. If I pointed out how she’d cheated, no one would believe me, and I’d sound like a sore loser.

Cade studied her carefully. “Barbie is a good fighter, yet she went down all of a sudden. It didn’t make sense.”

“It’ll make sense, Prince Cade. I promise you,” Grace said. “And according to the rules of a duel, the winner has every right to deal with the loser however they see fit. I can kill her, or I can show her mercy.”

“Then show Barbie mercy, Princess Grace,” Louis said urgently.

Grace flashed him a stunning smile while shaking her golden curls.

“I would if she’d showed mercy to my friends,” she said. “Barbie must be punished, so she’ll learn her place. However, since our heirs have spoken for her, I’ll let her live, if she kneels and begs.”

“I didn’t even knee before a cruel god,” I said. “Give me your worst, Princess Fuckface.”

As fast as a flash, Grace kicked toward my head, aiming to crack it open like a melon. The princes shouted in alarm. I had no room to dodge, and I didn’t plan to. But I wheeled on the spot just in time, so instead of denting my head, her boot rammed into my ribcage.

I heard a sickening crack. She’d just broken my ribs. I wheezed out a ragged breath.

Grace lifted her foot again, and I let it land on my stomach. The impact knocked the wind out of my lungs. Pain seared my flesh and bones. She didn’t remove her foot but dug it deeper into my belly, her face triumphant, her smiling lips savoring a great victory.

She believed that I was done for, and her guard was down, distracted by the heirs, as they now looked at her in a new light. That was the moment I’d been waiting for, as I couldn’t afford to allow her to use her knuckle guards on me again. If she did, I might not get up.

While she rested her adoring gaze on the hot-as-sin heirs, who appeared uncertain and befuddled—in their bones, the heirs were apex predators, and thus it wasn’t in them to root for the weak—I struck back. My hand lashed out and grabbed her ankle to stop her foot from further digging into my stomach, and my leg shot up toward her face, bitch-kick style. I half shifted, and Sy’s clawed foot pierced the front of my boot like a blade and slashed across her cheek, slicing open her lips.

My opponent’s howls of pain shattered the cheers of her followers. Lightning fast, I twisted her ankle until it cracked. I watched her fall in slow motion, her blood dripping in a long crimson string toward the marble.

All it took was two seconds.

Sy licked her lips in hunger.

I rose with flair, like in a kung fu movie, and perched on the small of her back. My boots pinned her arms down so she couldn’t summon her unholy knuckle guards against me. I let her thrash and scream in pain, unmoved. The cunt thought she was suffering pain. She had no idea what true pain was and what it was like to be eaten alive for hours by your own god father.

“Knock, knock.” I lifted my bruised face, my golden curls bouncing, and grinned at the stunned heirs, then at the angry and shocked mob. “Anyone home, little pigs ? Because I’ll huff, and I’ll puff, and I’ll blow your fucking piggie houses down.”