But he had underestimated my flexibility. Because he was sitting on my ribcage and not my pelvis, I was able to throw my legs upward and cross my ankles in front of his neck, pulling him backwards off of me. He went down hard and I rolled away, taking him into a chokehold. I thought for sure he was going to tap out but he reached up and pried my arms away from his neck.
I growled in frustration and then he flipped over, reaching down to pick me up, tossing me over his shoulders like a scarf. The crowd went wild as Axil walked over to the coach.
“Call it off,” he begged. “She’s my future wife and I can’t hurt her.”
All of the girls at camp gave a collective ‘aww’ and I couldn’t help but grin. Axil was a charmer and I was fully under his spell.
The coach blew his whistle and gave us both a little chuckle.
“Young love,” he muttered.
Now I forced myself to push away the memory and look away from Axil, not liking the effect he had on me and not wanting Ivanna to get wind of our past romance.
The grassy fighting area was quite large, big enough for us to shift into our wolf form and run circles around our opponent without feeling squished.
The red-tent fighters lined up around the edge of the rope opposite us, then the king stood and cleared his throat.
“We’ve long held the belief that a queen does not deserve to serve next to her king unless she is the strongest among us!” he shouted and the surrounding wolves chanted and howled their agreement.
“Just as I fought my way into this spot, my future queen must do the same!” He gestured to his brother, whom he’d nearly killed to become king, and again was met with excitement from the crowd. I watched his brother’s face, the clenched jaw and fisted hands, and knew he was not over the defeat. Why Axil let him live I would never know. It was rare that two brothers fought and one forfeited. It made me think Axil had a soft spot where his older brother was concerned.
And soft spots were weaknesses.
“This first fight will help us whittle down the numbers of our strongest warrior women. Although we do allow all fights to end in forfeit, it is frowned upon—” The crowd booed loudly and Axil chuckled.
Yeah, they allowed forfeit, but then your pack tore you to pieces for shaming them in such a way. I would rather perish than yield in the Queen Trials. The dishonor I would carry would kill me if I survived.
“You should be ready to die for your people, as I am,” Axil added when the crowd quieted.
“Thank you, my lord.” One of the advisors spoke loudly as he stood next to the king on the raised platform.
“Here are the rules!” the advisor bellowed. “Stay within the roped-off area. You must enter the fight in your human form but may shift. Use only the weapon assigned to you. The fight starts when the bell rings. That is all!”
The wolves around us wasted no time in chanting, “Fight, fight, fight!”
The lead advisor walked over to Eliza and then to the woman I assumed was Malin and beckoned them both into the ring.
They were starting with the weakest fights first.
I reached out and yanked Eliza’s wrist, forcing her to look at me. “Make it fast, element of surprise.”
She gulped and nodded. I hoped she took what I’d said to heart. I knew it was cruel; I didn’t relish exploiting someone’s weakness but if she wanted to survive, she would have to fight dirty.
Eliza wore a fancy city warrior’s get-up, full leather armor with padded arms and shoulder spaulders. It was something that would tangle up if she shifted into her wolf form. Eliza gripped her dagger tightly in her hand and I could already see from the way that she hefted the weapon that she was probably an expert swordswoman. All of the Death Mountain high society women were. But they wouldn’t last a day out in the outskirts, or in a real fight with few to no rules.
Eliza circled the other girl, who I saw now was holding the same dagger. Good, they were well matched.
“How is Alessia?” Eliza asked Malin and the woman’s eyes bugged wide at the mention of her ex-boyfriend’s lover. She was beautiful, honey-blonde hair, green eyes, and right now, wearing a feral snarl.
The bell dinged and Eliza lunged forward with more speed than I thought she’d have. With her left boot she reeled back and came crashing down on Malin’s right thigh bone. At the same time Eliza slashed at Malin’s face with her dagger.
The sound of crunching bone rang throughout the space and the crowd went insane. A small bit of pride welled in my chest for Eliza. She was a good student; she’d done everything I had said.
Malin fell to the ground wailing in pain and dropped the hold on her weapon. Eliza kicked it away quickly and I knew what would happen next. It’s what I would do.
Yes, our magic allowed us to regenerate wounds but we couldn’t make more blood if we lost it too quickly.
Eliza took Malin’s moment of weakness and slashed at her opponent’s throat until crimson lifeblood leaked down her tunic.
Malin reached up to staunch the wound but it was too late.
She keeled over and then the surrounding wolves began to chant Eliza’s name.
It was one of the fastest kills I’d ever seen.
I couldn’t help but grin. I barely knew this girl and yet I was proud of her; she had won her first fight on her home turf. It must feel good. She spun to me, wearing a matching smile and I tipped my head to her.
Then she turned to the king and gave him a smile with a wink and my pride for her died in my chest and slid into my stomach like a rock. Jealously flared to life inside of me but I pushed it away. I shouldn’t care, I hated Axil.
That emotion was a weakness that could be exploited and I needed to remember every woman here was competing for the king’s heart, and to be his beloved.
The next fight played out, and then the next and the next. It was going in order of strength and getting more brutal as time went by. I knew my brother and packmates were close by but it wasn’t until I was next to be called up that Cyrus appeared.
“Where is your weapon?” he asked, looking down at my empty hands.
“Long story.” I glared at Ivanna who had just entered the fighting ring.
He stood next to me as the bell rang and we watched her together. She was my strongest competition and now I saw why. Her fighting style was vicious and perfect. Every punch connected with a main organ or broke a bone. Every swipe of her sword tore at a ligament. She even partial-shifted one paw to swipe at her rival’s face which was really hard to do. Partial-shifting was like holding your breath for a really long time. It took skill.
By the time she killed number four in rank, she had gained my respect as a fighter and I knew that if she bested me, she would make a strong queen.
I was trying not to steal glances at King Axil but it was hard since every time I did, he was staring back at me. Was I just catching him staring every time or was he spending the entire time looking at me?
Surely not.
Right?
“Okay, we have the final match for today!” the advisor announced. “Our number one competitor, Zara Swiftwater of the Mud Flat pack, who has chosen not to take a weapon—”
The king growled then, loudly, and some people turned to look at him.
“Can she do that?” Axil asked, disrupting the advisor and scowling at me.