The training arena roared with tension before a single blow landed.
Torches flickered along the stone walls, casting long shadows that seemed to flinch away from the violence brewing in the center. The air stank of steel, sweat, and magic—thick enough to choke.
Kaedan stalked into the arena like a storm given flesh.
Barefoot. Bare-chested. Breath heaving with barely restrained fury.
Riven stepped in from the opposite side, rolling his shoulders, jaw set hard. His eyes were calm—but not cold. They held something sad. Something resigned.
Something that accepted the war about to happen.
Ariaxa ran after them, breathless, heart pounding like war drums.
“Stop—both of you—!”
Kaedan didn’t even look at her.
“He challenged what is mine.”
“I didn’t challenge anything,” Riven replied, voice low. “I told her the truth.”
Kaedan’s snarl echoed like thunder. “You wanted her.”
“And you don’t?” Riven shot back. “You’ll chain her in your fear until it kills you both.”
The bond spasmed in Ariaxa’s chest.
Kaedan lunged.
The collision was brutal.
Kaedan hit like a beast, momentum slamming Riven backward into the sand. Riven twisted out from under him, flipping Kaedan over his shoulder. Kaedan rolled, fangs bared, and came up swinging.
Steel rang against steel.
It was not a duel.
It was annihilation.
Riven ducked a swipe that could have taken his head. Kaedan pivoted and drove a knee into Riven’s stomach; Riven gasped but countered with a punch that split Kaedan’s lip open.
Blood sprayed onto the sand.
Ariaxa staggered forward.
“Stop this! Both of you—stop!”
The bond convulsed.
Magic ruptured behind her eyes, so violently she tasted copper. She clutched her head, gasping. Kaedan froze—not because she spoke, but because he FELT her pain through the bond.
Riven hesitated too, gaze flicking to her in alarm.
Ariaxa reached out a hand.
The bond spiked—
Her vision went white—
She dropped to her knees.
Kaedan let out a sound no one had ever heard from him—raw, terrified.
Riven whispered, “Ariaxa—Sunfire, breathe—”
They both moved toward her at once.
And the bond punished her again.
Agony tore through her ribs, light bursting between her fingers.
“No—” she gasped, eyes burning, “no—don’t—come closer—”
But the men she was trying to protect were too furious, too jealous, too tangled in their own pain to listen.
Kaedan lunged again—straight at Riven.
Riven met him.
Their blades locked.
Kaedan snarled, “She is mine.”
Riven’s voice cracked with fury. “She is hers.”
Their weapons carved sparks into the air.
Ariaxa let out a sound between a sob and a scream as the bond coiled tighter, responding to the violence between the two people she was tied to.
Kaedan’s aura flared so dark it nearly swallowed the torches.
Riven’s light burned so bright it nearly blinded her.
Their clash shook the floor—
And Ariaxa broke.
“ENOUGH!”
The Sun inside her detonated.
Light burst out of her in a shockwave so fierce both men were flung backward, slamming into opposite walls. Sand flew. Torches blew out. The air shook.
Ariaxa stood in the center, hair wild, gown whipping in the magic wind, eyes glowing like molten gold.
Her voice cracked like a whip:
“I will not be fought over like property!”
Both men froze where they’d landed—breathing hard, half-covered in dust, blood smeared across their jaws and knuckles.
Ariaxa’s chest heaved.
“I am not a prize,” she snarled. “I am not a trophy. And I will never belong to either of you—not flesh, not magic, not crown—until I choose what I am.”
Kaedan bowed his head, chest shaking.
Riven stared at her like she was a goddess descending.
She stepped between them, the air sizzling around her, and pointed to the ground.
“Kneel,” she commanded. “Not to me. To the throne I have not yet taken.”
The arena held its breath.
Kaedan’s eyes softened—terrified, reverent, torn open with vulnerability he never showed a soul.
Riven’s eyes shone with longing so deep it made her stomach twist.
And then—
They both dropped to their knees.
At her feet.
Swords pressed to the sand. Heads bowed.
Ariaxa’s hands trembled.
Kaedan whispered, “Your word is law.”
Riven murmured, “Your will is mine.”
She had never felt so powerful.
Never felt so utterly exposed.
Her mouth opened—
But before she could speak, the arena doors slammed open.
A scout stumbled inside, face white with terror, armor cracked, breath coming in panicked gasps.
“Emperor—Princess—” he choked out. “It’s—gods, it’s—”
Kaedan stood instantly.
Riven rose beside him, blade snapping up.
The scout’s voice shattered through the arena:
“RHAELLE HAS RETURNED—AND SHE’S BROUGHT AN ARMY!”