A Court of Flame and Reckoning

Nineteen

—
Anya
—

Halle and I parry before Jerome swings at her side. Making a choice, the tall redhead rolls away from our attacks. Both Jerome and I spin and face our opponents—holding the line of attack alongside Marko, a dark-skinned short man, and Genny, an older woman with white hair. Opposite us are the rest of the humans in our group, and they all come at us from different angles with wooden swords.

There are only two days left before the final challenge. Two days before we face the other humans in a battle of strength.

The faeries of the Night Court seem to think Lothian will throw us all in the arena to battle it out, which is why we're teamed up right now.

After training for another half-hour, I've "lost my arm" and Genny has been "stabbed in the heart." Both of us are considered dead along with Sara from the other group, who I killed right before I lost my arm.

Apparently I need to work on my tunnel vision during fights.

"Hey, human." Nyx says with a sigh as he sits down next to me on a mat. We watch as Jerome kills another member on the opposition. It's just Halle, Marko, and Jerome left.

"Faerie." I grumble as I lightly massage my ribs. Halle elbowed me there real hard earlier and now that my adrenaline has subsided, the pain is starting to worsen.

Nyx furrows his brows as he looks from my face to my ribs as I let my hand fall back in my lap. "Need me to rub it out for you?"

I raise my eyebrows at him in shock of his words. A moment passes, then his face flushes a beautiful shade of pink as I let out a laugh. "You did not just say that." I manage to speak through my laughter.

He blushes even more. "I didn't."

Shaking my head adamantly, I get my breathing under control—pressing a hand to my stomach when it starts to cramp. "You totally did, faerie. I won't forget this."

Cursing under his breath, he rolls his eyes. "You knew what I meant."

Nodding and biting my lower lip to keep from laughing again, I look over at him with a grin. "I did, but you should really consider thinking before you speak. I hear it's the new trend going around."

He raises an eyebrow, the pink fading from his cheeks as he smirks—looking from my lips to my eyes. "Is that so?"

I refrain from blushing as he continues to stare at my lips even when I stop biting them. I think I would rather stub my toe than endure his teasing over it. Instead, I look back at the group and nod, watching as Jerome "kills" Halle. Our group has won...but I've died. I need to try harder—for Kari.

Kari, who is learning evasive maneuvers from Amren and Kadyn today. I watch intently as Amren throws a slow punch, and Kadyn gently presses on Kari's upper back to bring her through the motions. He then rests his hands on her shoulders and spins her slowly around Amren so that she's now standing behind her back.

Then, out of nowhere, Kari balls up her fist and punches Amren square in the back. The tiny faerie's eyes widen in shock before she lands face first in the mat.

Kadyn, Nyx, and I seem to hold our breath as Amren slowly rolls over. I go to stand, just in case the faerie decides to take out her anger on the child, but I pause when Amren laughs.

A full, yet light, sound that seems to make everyone's head turn. A faerie from the Summer Court—who I learned was Varian, Amren's husband—smiles wide at the sight.

Kadyn moves to go help Amren up, but she bats his hand away and stands on her own. Then, I watch in awe as she walks over to a wary Kari and gives her a high-five—saying some encouraging words that I can't quite hear.

Nyx makes a curious sound in his throat. "Maybe she'll be the one saving your ass this time."

I can't help it, I tease him again with a smile, just to see that pretty blush again. "First you want to rub one out, now you're thinking of my ass? Be careful, faerie, you're revealing your obsession with me."

Red—all over his cheeks and crawling over the bridge of his nose even as he scowls. "Bite me, human."

"You'd like that, wouldn't you?" I can't seem to bring myself to stop smiling.

—

At dinner, Elessa keeps glancing up from her food to give me an inquisitive look.

After painfully swallowing a bite of my flavorless mush, I sigh. "Out with it, Elessa."

She screws her lips sideways, narrowing her eyes a fraction. "What was that all about today?"

I glance sideways at Kari, who's in her own little world as she drinks her water.

When I look back at Elessa to respond, she shakes her head with a frown, pointing her spoon at me accusingly. "You were flirting with the faerie today. No, don't look at me like that, I could tell from the other side of the damn training pit. Don't tell me you actually like the guy."

I drop the argument I formed in my head, because I can tell Elessa won't believe it.

I don't like Nyx. I tolerate him. I might even call him a friend on a good day.

"I don't, but what does it matter?"

She scoffs incredulously. "What does it matter? He's a faerie, Anya. His kind killed and enslaved thousands of humans. His kind killed my parents. Don't you even know the rumors of what they called his father?"

I blink at her as I absorb what she's saying, but she doesn't wait for me to respond.

"Amarantha's whore." She lowers her voice as other humans glance up from their meals to look over at us. Even Kari has turned to pay attention. "He aided the faerie who killed his wife and threatened to take over the whole damn country."

"People can change, Elessa." I say softly, not really sure why I feel the sudden urge to defend Rhysand.

She doesn't care for what I have to say. Her face becomes flushed with rage as she says. "You truly think that faeries can change, don't you? The only reason they're kind to us is because in order for them to survive, we have to survive." She drops her spoon into her mush. "Look at what we're fucking eating Anya. If they really cared they would have asked Lothian to give us better food—more food at the very least. Hell, if they really cared we would be free from this godsdamn place already."

I don't want to believe her. Kadyn was kind to me after I punched Nyx. He could've hurt me for it—Nyx could've killed me for it.

But then they would've been down a human.

No, Azriel brought Kari and I back to their rooms so that we could gain some of our self-esteem back with a bath. His mate smuggled her invoking stone Under the Mountain just so that we could be healed.

Because if we weren't at our best, they could die.

So then why did Nyx come for me after the last challenge? Why did he hold me until I fell asleep? Why did he say those words to me? Non desistas, non exieris.

He let me cry. He didn't judge me for it.

Elessa seems to read the war going on in my mind, so she relaxes. "We can only trust each other, Blondie. Faeries are skilled liars. We'll get out of here—the three of us—but they don't care who wins as long as their Court survives."

My breathing becomes shallow as Kari grabs my sweaty hand under the table and squeezes gently.

"It's us until the end, Anya. No matter what happens in the final challenge we need to have each other's backs." Elessa looks remorseful as my chest aches.

I nod weakly. "Us until the end."