Wide-eyed, Nasir nodded.
Malik took a step back. Lifted his sword. Screamed, “Go!”
Then he whipped around and swung out at a guard only feet behind him.
Nasir’s adrenaline surged. And as the sounds of war erupted around him, he thought of Kavin. The need to find her squeezed his chest like a vise, pushing out all other needs. Grasping his weapon, he raced toward the stands and easily scaled the ten-foot wall. His thighs burned as he ran up the steps and out the archway he’d seen Kavin and her master disappear through, but he ignored the pain and focused only on her.
The hallway was filled with terror-filled highborns, both male and female, rushing every direction, trying to get out of the arena. Only slaves had their powers bound, which meant these djinn could teleport if they wanted. But not through solid stone walls. They had to be outside first.
Nasir searched the frightened faces, then zeroed in on a dark-haired male he’d seen sitting near Kavin and her master. He pushed through the crowd and grasped the jacket of the male, jerking him around.
The male’s horror-filled eyes met Nasir’s. “Don’t…don’t…don’t hurt me.”
“Where did they go?”
“Wh-who?”
“The highborn who was struck and the jarriah he was with. Where the fuck did they go?”
The male’s eyes shifted, then he pointed to a corridor at his right. “Th-through there.”
Nasir shoved the male to the ground and sprinted for the archway. A stone stairwell disappeared into darkness. Nasir skipped steps, rounded the corner, then drew up short when he heard a scream.
“Let…go of me!”
Kavin…
His heart pounded against his ribs. He tightened his grip on the sword, clenched his jaw, and silently moved toward the sounds.
* * *
Pain rippled through Kavin’s scalp and raced down her spine. Zayd jerked her around by her hair and all but dragged her through the dark and empty tunnel that ran beneath the arena. The guards were all above them. There was no one to hear her call for help. No one to save her.
“You fucking bitch!” Zayd screamed. “Did you think you and your pathetic lover could win? That you could beat me? He’s dead now, no thanks to you and your asinine plan. And you…” He shoved his shoulder hard against the door that led to Nasir’s cell…the cell where they’d made love…then threw her into the room by her hair. “You’re about to get exactly what you deserve.”
Kavin yelped. Her shoulder and hip slammed into the stone floor. Pain ricocheted through her body, sent stars firing off behind her eyes. She grunted, tried to get up, but Zayd was right there, lifting her by the shoulders and slamming her back down against the floor. “Look at me, you bitch!”
Hair fell into her face. Kavin tried to look up at him, but her vision swam, the pain in her skull and back so strong, it was all she could feel. And Nasir…
Her breath caught on a sob. She hadn’t intended for any of that to happen. She’d only wanted Malik to stop the fight. To keep Nasir from doing something stupid in his attempt to save her. And now he was…
Her chest squeezed so tight she could barely breathe. The memory of all that blood spilling from the wound in his belly overwhelmed her.
Oh, Allah. Oh, Allah…
Zayd’s open palm connected with her cheek. Her head spun around, hit the stone floor. But she only minutely registered the blow. All she felt was the wretched, blinding pain near her heart at what had happened to Nasir. Of the thought of him bleeding to death up there on the sands of the arena right this minute.
“Look at me!” Zayd roared again. “I want you to see my eyes when I show you just what you really are.”
“Take your hands off her.”
Zayd stilled. Kavin’s eyes popped open at the sound of the voice. Nasir’s voice.
Slowly, Zayd shifted to look back to the door, and Kavin lifted her head, then peered through watery vision toward the archway. Toward Nasir, standing in the opening, gripping his sword in two hands. His eyes blazed; his body was covered in dust and sweat and only the faint stains of blood. But there was no gaping wound. No blood spilling from his belly. No sign of death as she’d seen in the arena.
Relief and confusion swam inside Kavin’s heart and mind as Zayd spun in front of her. Muttering words in the Ghul language that Kavin had never heard, he gripped the sword that magically appeared in his hand. “You think you can take me, slave? I was a warrior before I came to Jahannam. And my magic isn’t bound like yours. You’re fucked. And so is this slut.”
“I think you’re a coward,” Nasir said, stepping fully into the room. Without taking his eyes off Zayd, he said, “Get up, rouhi.”
Kavin swallowed hard and scrambled back against the wall. And noticed, for the first time, the blood welling from the wound in Zayd’s shoulder. Things had happened so fast in the arena she hadn’t realized he’d been hit.
Zayd moved in front of her. “I’m going to enjoy gutting you. But I’m not going to kill you quickly. No, I think I’ll keep you alive long enough to watch what I do to this whore.”
Nasir’s jaw clenched. “Then get on with it, Ghul.”
The way he snarled the last word wasn’t lost on Kavin. And fear gripped her chest when she watched Zayd’s shoulders tighten, when she heard him mutter words in the old language again, when she saw the second sword appeared in his other hand.
Zayd swung the swords like a pro, took a step to his right. Kavin’s breath caught as she pulled her legs in close and watched. Waited. Prayed.
Zayd swung out with his right hand, then his left. Kavin gasped as Nasir barely missed being decapitated, then lifted his own sword, stopping the downward slice of Zayd’s.
Muscles in his arms and legs flexed as he pushed hard against Zayd. Zayd was as big as Nasir, and as muscular. And he had the power of magic on his side. Fear burned a hole straight to her stomach as the two struggled for control. Just when she was sure Zayd was going to win, Nasir lifted his foot and shoved his sandal into Zayd’s gut, knocking the highborn back two feet.
Zayd stumbled, tried to right himself, but his feet slipped on the edge of the bath and then his body fell into the water with a splash. A sword flew from one hand, clanked against the stone wall.
Nasir was right there, charging through the bath, water spraying up and around his legs as he grasped Zayd by the shirtfront and jammed the hilt of his sword in Zayd’s face.
Zayd’s head whipped around; blood spurted from his mouth. Nasir’s eyes were wide with retribution and rage as he slammed the end of the sword into Zayd’s face again and again.
Kavin pushed to her feet, her heart pounding hard as she watched. She’d never seen Nasir like this. Not just enraged, but the bringer of death, in all its gruesome forms.
No. Her breath stuttered as she remembered back. She had seen him this way. Once. In the arena. That last fight. Just before Zayd had taken her to his cell and turned her over to him. She’d watched—in horror—as he’d decimated that Shaitan as if he were nothing.
“You were right, I hate the fighting. More than anything about this place. But I’ll do it for you. I’d do anything for you.”
“Stop!” Kavin took a step forward. “Nasir, stop!”
Nasir’s arm stilled on the upswing. He turned his head to face her. Zayd’s blood was splattered all over his face and bare chest, and there was such fury in his eyes. Fury she didn’t want to see there, not because of her.