Why did she need him? Why had she bellowed his name? He was her tormentor and her captor. Only, the shelter of his arms made her shudder. His body forced her to feel pleasure and relief and utter confusion.

“Nynn, open your eyes. Now, lab filth. Open your eyes and look at me.”

She flinched. Lab filth.

Why do I have scars?

Leto leaned close, but that didn’t make understanding him any easier. “I lost,” he said. “We lost. That applause is for the Thieves.”

“What happens to us now?”

“You survived. That was the agreement. I think it will depend on which way the Old Man wagered.” He unfastened what was left of her armor, which still smoked and hissed. “But now we’ll know.”

“Know what?”

“If he can be trusted.”

Nynn tried to push him away, but he was too powerful. “You’re talking blasphemy.”

“He’s not a god,” Leto hissed. “He’s a lonayíp human. We’re the gods.”

The world had gone gray until the lights looked like glowing thunderclouds. He wasn’t making sense. Jealous still? No . . . They’d lost.

“You blame me.”

“You idiot woman. Whether he lost money or won, the Old Man promised my sister would be cared for. All I needed to do was keep you alive for three matches.” He dragged her to standing, despite her protests. “I have.”

She sneered.

“Fine,” he said, jaw fixed. “We have. If he honors his word about Pell, then he might do so with regard to your son.”

“My . . .”

Images flooded back. A man she loved . . . and blood. A little boy . . . and tiny, precise wounds. She saw her mother and a house demolished by a blaze of fire. She recalled Malnefoley—his years of friendship and support, and the decision that had made her an outcast.

More memories, this time of captivity. Humiliation and rage and promises she believed would free her son. Violence and endless hours of disciplined training. She’d been Leto’s warrior to mold. They had been lovers, too—as close as man and woman could be.

The halves of two different lives smashed together and spiked from her forehead to the base of her spine. She remembered a soothing copper light and a voice speaking directly into her mind. A serpent’s voice.

Ulia. Telepath. Gift.

All that she’d been, both Nynn and Audrey, had been blocked. Wiped clean.

The darkness could take her now. All she knew was bursting apart, as surely as her gift burst into fields of light. She didn’t—couldn’t—

“I have scars because of Dr. Aster,” she said haltingly. “I met Caleb MacLaren in school. He was my husband and he’s dead. Dragon damn, Leto.” She smothered her cries by shoving her knuckles into her mouth. “I hated you, but I don’t hate you. You’re . . . You’ve helped me survive. Resist the Asters. For—for . . . my son.”

“Yes.” His expression was intent, eager. “Make that leap, Nynn. I’ll catch you. Just tell me his—”

“Jack.” She closed her eyes against another blinding wash of pain. White and black fused as if neither existed. Nothing did. Just the agony of nearly having lost something so precious. “How did I forget him? How could I?”

“This isn’t the time.”

“Isn’t the time?”

“Trust me. By the Chasm and the Dragon, can you do that?”

“Tell me why. Leto, I don’t have anything else. Give me something to know.”

“Now is when we’ll see if the Old Man can be trusted.” Leto hauled her along his side, then kissed her temple. “About my sister, and about Jack.”

Leto needed to get Nynn out of the Cage and back to the complex before too many pressures caused her mind to implode. Already, when he looked down into her heavy-lidded eyes, he saw nothing but defeat.

Sweat tinged with blood trailed down from her hair. A human would be dead by now. The concussive force. The blow to the back of her head. Her feet tripped along, but at least she was holding up the majority of her weight.

Get her out of here.

Keep her safe.

That wasn’t going to happen.

Although victorious, Silence and Hark stood quietly by. They were good warriors—better than good—because they had perfected self-defense of a different kind. Blank disinterest from her. Grinning idiocy from him. Those expressions were exactly what everyone anticipated seeing, which had allowed them to appear good little soldiers for so long. Leto had never considered them allies, but at that moment, he grasped at the best he could find.

Their plan . . .

The Old Man entered the Cage, as did Dr. Aster and the Pet.

The crowd quieted.

The Old Man was given a microphone. His rasping, crushed voice was even more threatening when amplified. “Our champion, Leto of Garnis. Defeated!”

While thousands celebrated the novelty, an honorable, loyal part of Leto pinched into a stone that dropped through to his gut. Emerging undefeated had been the goal. Once. Too long ago to remember. Now, he held Nynn, who was mostly conscious. He had dragged her through three matches, dodging her wrath along the way. He had succeeded.

Yet having to let go of that former glory was like ripping out his ribs. He needed his ribs. He needed his pride. The latter had been pulverized.

The rumble of shouts quieted as the Old Man continued gloating. Maybe that answered whether he’d be wrathful or pleased with the outcome. Had he lost part of the Aster fortune, Leto might as well resign himself to an execution in the preliminary round of the next Grievance—Leto, who’d won the entire tournament at age sixteen.

Again, he felt a tingle of that old simplicity. Fight. Win.

Nynn groaned and coughed up a fleck of blood.

Nothing was simple now.

Amid the chaos, the Pet walked with ethereal poise across the scuffed clay floor. She wore her customary black leather, from her spiked collar down to slim-fitting boots. Intensely black hair swept in freakish disarray across her brow, around her ears, down her neck. None of it mattered. She was a riveting beauty—untouchable and cold, but with features pure and unsullied, as if she’d never conjured a single thought.

She hunched close to Nynn’s body, touching, almost caressing the shattered armor.

“What in the Dragon . . . ?” Nynn whispered.

“No. Because of the Dragon.”

“Who are you?”

The Pet focused her bright green eyes on Nynn. “The Chasm isn’t fixed.”

“You’ve said that before. I don’t understand.” Her body was going into shock as she shivered against Leto’s side.

“Jack is waiting for you. Nothing will ever be perfect for our kind. But you will hold him again.”

With a strangled gasp, Nynn faltered. Leto caught her in his arms. At least his strength was good for something, because his thoughts were a tangle of wire and chain. He strode past the Asters and out of the Cage. The doctor’s laughter trailed after him like a dirty stench.

The stench of the labs.

Just out of sight of the madness in the Cage, Nynn sputtered back to life. She fought him, hard enough that they both collapsed onto the concrete floor of a walkway in the rear staging area.

“Say something,” he growled.

Too much. He couldn’t process this much at once. So he took it out on her.

“Talk to me, you useless woman!”

“Let me kill him.” She rolled onto her hands and knees. The dragon on her bare shoulder blade gave off that ominous, beautiful glow in the corridor’s dim light. Her armor was a lost cause, but the steel in her body remained. “He’s in the Cage. Right now. I’m going to kill him.”

“With what? Are you going to spit on him, too?” He grabbed her chin with none of the gentleness the Pet had used. “You’d better learn to play dumb fast. I don’t know what’s happening in that head of yours, but it’s all shaken loose. That’s true, isn’t it?”