“Go get it. You’ve earned it.” Khetra turned and disappeared through the door.
“What does that mean?” I held up my hands in confusion, but she was gone. Only then did I notice what I was holding: a key. Did she want to help me run away again? Escaping from there would be impossible.
I went to the door of the cell, but discovered she had left it open. Cautiously, I peered out. Why would Khetra want to help me? Was it another trap? I stared at the key. What use was it, if the cell door was already open? Unless—
Stella. Maybe she was still alive. She was my redemption. That was what Khetra had been trying to tell me. Clinging to my new hope, I rushed down the corridor. They had stabbed Stella in the back but she hadn’t disintegrated. Maybe I was still in time to say goodbye to her. Kreeshna had promised she would die and I knew she would see it through to the end, but if Stella was still alive I wanted to spend one last night next to her.
I searched all the dungeons. I had to find her and protect her with my own life. This time their blade would have to pass through me before it reached her. By getting rid of Stella the Witch thought she could have me, but that would never happen. Kreeshna wouldn’t have that victory too, because I would die along with Stella.
I checked the umpteenth cell, but it was empty. They were all empty. Had they already disintegrated her? Or maybe it had just been an illusion.
“Drake!” A whisper behind me sent a jolt through my heart.
I spun around and there she was, clinging to the bars of a tiny cell. Was it a hallucination? An effect of the poison still circulating in my bloodstream? I pressed myself against the metal bars, yearning to squeeze her hands, so small, so cold.
“Drake,” she whispered again. Her eyes brimmed with tears that overflowed and streamed down her face.
I brushed them away, unable to bear the sight of her weeping. “I thought they killed you.” I gripped her hands in mine.
“I could never die without seeing you again first. That hope was what kept me alive in the Copse all that time.”
Her confession made something inside me snap, and a tear coursed down my cheek. I rested my forehead at the height of hers on the other side of the bars. “Stubborn as always,” I joked.
She laughed through the tears. I’d never known anyone with a spirit as strong as hers.
“Wait!” I slid the key into the lock and she pulled back in surprise.
“You have the key?!” she exclaimed. “How did—”
I pressed my lips against hers, cutting her off. All I wanted was to kiss her. Nothing mattered more than the warmth only she could give me. I wanted it to be my last memory when I closed my eyes before dying. I could never bear to lose her again. The first time had been devastating and I’d never recovered from it. This time I would choose to die with her. No longer would I subject myself to Kreeshna’s rules. If she killed Stella, both of us would die.
I squeezed my eyes shut. The idea of losing her was unthinkable now after everything I’d done to save her. But there was no escaping from the Castle. My only consolation was that during our final moments we would be together at last.
The wound in her chest was deep. They had run her through with a sword, but it was already closing. When it came to blades, the only way to definitively destroy a Damned Soul was to stab him or her below the ear, in the spot where the blood flowed through the carotid artery. How long did we have before the Witches came to deal her the final blow?
“I’m sorry,” I murmured, resting my forehead against hers. A tear slid down my face, cold and solitary like the death that awaited us.
“Everything is different now that you’re here,” she whispered against my lips.
“If only I hadn’t gone out looking for you—” It was all my fault.
She shook her head. “If you hadn’t, you wouldn’t be the reckless fool who made me fall in love with him twice.”
“When was the second?” I asked, repeating the question she had asked me back in the cave.
“When I shot you with that arrow, isn’t it obvious?”
I smiled, pressing my forehead against hers. “Your way to claim me, I suppose.”
She smiled back. “In a way.”
“I knew that watching me in the Arena would get you all hot and bothered.”
She punched me in the shoulder. Seeing her smile tore my heart into a thousand pieces. I couldn’t let them kill her. But how could I prevent it?
For the Witches, Stella was simply one of the countless Souls in Hell. For me, she was my heaven. I gazed into her eyes for a long time while I considered a crazy new plan.
“Screw it!” I had to get her out of there. I grabbed her hand and pulled her toward the cell door, but she stopped me.
“Drake, wait!”
I turned to look at her, my voice tense. “We don’t have much time. I’ve got to get you out of the Castle. They won’t go out looking for you if I stay here to stop them.”
“No! I’m not leaving you. We’ll never get out of here alive, not like this.”
“We have to at least try.”
Her eyes locked on mine, she pulled something out of her pocket. “I didn’t say we wouldn’t.” Opening her palm, she revealed a vial full of black liquid.
“What’s that?”
“It’s a death serum.”
That was just like Stella. Like me, she would rather kill herself than let the Witches win. “This is no time to play the martyr. If there’s even the slightest chance, I’m getting you to safety.”
“This,” she insisted, holding up the vial, “will get us out of the Castle.”
“Alive or dead? The name’s not very encouraging.”
“Both.” She took a sip of it, her eyes fixed on me, then handed me the vial. “Trust me.”
Our eyes didn’t leave each other for an instant. I had no idea what she meant to do, but I trusted her. Maybe it was our last moment together. Not wanting to ruin it with words, I planted a desperate kiss on her mouth and gulped down the rest of the liquid.
The room began to spin and I squeezed my eyes shut. Not even Dakor poison had ever made me so dizzy. I tried to cling to something but felt myself falling. Stella grabbed my arm as the world came to a halt. Funny, I could have sworn I’d fallen but I was still on my feet.
I struggled to focus my eyes. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing: another me lay on the ground, alongside a clone of Stella. “Who the hell are they?”
“Our only chance of getting out of here.”
The sound of footsteps running in our direction put us both on guard. Seconds later the she-warriors burst into the cell. I clutched Stella’s hand and protectively stepped in front of her.
“Kreeshna’s not going to like this,” Lenora said in a low voice, staring at the two corpses.
My eyes met Stella’s, astonished. They couldn’t see us. She smiled and whispered, “In just a few minutes, my body will explode into a cloud of ash and yours will vanish into Oblivion, like all the Subterraneans when they die.” I stared at her, barely able to comprehend what she was saying.
“Now,” she murmured. I nodded and led her out of the cell. We raced through the Castle, looking for a way out. Witches, Subterraneans, and she-warriors passed us but none saw us.
“How do we get out?” I didn’t want to have to climb down the tower wall again.
Stella said nothing, just smiled mischievously and pulled me down a corridor. We came out of a door into the Arena, where we joined a throng of Damned Souls streaming out of the opened Castle gates. I turned to her. “Of course! I’d forgotten Sophìa opens the Castle gates on Opalion and tournament days.”
The cool air filled my lungs. I’d thought the Castle walls would be my tomb, the very walls that had once protected me from the dangers of Hell. Now I couldn’t be happier to leave it far behind and plunge into the Copse.
I had promised myself I would save Stella, but once again she had been the one to save me. My little she-warrior.
�
�We’d better hurry,” she whispered. “Let’s get away from here before the effect wears off.”
“What happened back there? Where did you find that stuff?” I asked, once we were in the safety of the trees.
“It’s called the ‘phantom death’ because an infinitesimal part of you is sacrificed to save the rest.”
I looked at my hands. It seemed like nothing had changed, but we had managed to get out without anyone seeing us. The Witches hadn’t even detected our thoughts.
She answered my unspoken doubts. “They won’t come looking for us. Our existence, the traces we left in their minds, remained in that prison cell. The Witches used to grant this serum to powerful mortals who’d been condemned to death—in exchange for their souls.”
“So they went from one prison to another,” I said. “Where’d you get it?”
“It turns out that being a Mizhya has its advantages.”
“My little thief.” I smiled and pulled her to me.
“We’ll be safe now. As long as they never find us, of course.”
My spirits sank at the thought. “What do we do now?”
“We’ve got to keep walking. Pretty soon our bodies will become visible again.”
“Your cave isn’t safe any more,” I reminded her, feeling guilty for having deprived her of it.
Stella didn’t seem at all upset. “We’re not going back to the cave.” She smiled at me and I frowned. A sparkle lit up her eyes. “The serum isn’t the only thing I found.”
“What else, then?”
Her hand slid into mine. “I know how to get out of Hell.”
Drake and Stella’s story continues in…
ROGUE ARENA
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Also by Elisa S. Amore
If you enjoyed Drake’s adventure in DARK TOURNAMENT, find out much more about him and his Subterranean brothers in the TOUCHED saga, which tells the story of Evan and Gemma. Evan is an Angel Death and Gemma is the mortal girl he’s been ordered to kill. Read the gripping story of their journey Through Heaven and Hell to protect their love.
TOUCHED SAGA READING ORDER:
Touched: The Caress Of Fate
Unfaithful: The Deception of Night
Brokenhearted: The Power of Darkness
Expiation: The Whisper of Death
BOX SET: The Complete Series
SHORT STORIES (no reading order required):
The Mark Of Fate: Evan’s Prequel
The Shadow of Fate: Gemma’s Prequel
The Touched saga is available in ebook, paperback and audio.
ELISA S. AMORE
Elisa S. Amore is the number-one bestselling author of the paranormal romance saga Touched.
Vanity Fair Italy called her “the undisputed queen of romantic fantasy.” After the success of Touched, she produced the audio version of the saga featuring Hollywood star Matt Lanter (Beverly Hills 90210, Timeless, Star Wars) and Disney actress Emma Galvin, narrator of Twilight and Divergent.
Elisa is now a full-time writer of young adult fantasy. She’s wild about pizza and also loves traveling, which she calls a source of constant inspiration. With her successful series about life and death, Heaven and Hell, she has built a loyal fanbase on social media that continues to grow, and has quickly become a favorite author for thousands of readers in the U.S.
Visit Elisa S. Amore’s website and join her List of Readers at www.ElisaSAmore.com/Vip-List
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Dark Tournament_A Romantic Fantasy Adventure_Touched Saga Spin-Off Page 21