Ashes And Obedience
832 Words
Chapter Five
The circle felt colder now. Not because of the mountain air seeping through the open arches of the eastern wing, but because all warmth had been stripped from the room. The laughter, the music, the silk-smooth murmurs of Kael’s court all of it had bled into silence.
Only the torchlight flickered, crackling like an omen as Seraphina and Livia stood across from one another.
“Try not to embarrass yourself,” Livia said, rolling her shoulders, her armor clinking with bone-deep familiarity. Her braid had been wrapped up into a knot, her stance loose but confident. A predator.
Seraphina’s heart pounded not with fear, but with pressure. Pressure to win. To survive. To show Kael she wasn’t just some decorative offering from Crescent Moon. To prove to herself she hadn’t been broken yet.
Kael sat on his throne of obsidian and fur, perched above the gathering like a god among wolves. One leg draped lazily over the armrest. His expression unreadable. No nod. No encouragement. Just stillness and that awful, burning focus.
“Begin,” he had said.
And Livia struck. It was fast blinding. Her fist crashed toward Seraphina’s face. Seraphina ducked, barely dodging. The wind of the punch skimmed her temple. Ember surged inside her like a scream.
Left—duck—sweep her leg—
Seraphina twisted, catching Livia’s thigh with a low kick, but Livia absorbed it like a stone wall and retaliated with a sharp elbow to the ribs. Seraphina gasped, her body folding. She stumbled, righted herself, then shot forward with a sharp jab toward Livia’s throat.
For a moment, the crowd leaned in. But Livia caught her wrist mid-air and slammed her backward. Seraphina hit the stone hard, dust rising around her like ash.
Someone in the crowd chuckled.
“She’s all bark,” a voice murmured.
Seraphina pushed herself up. Blood dripped from her mouth. Her vision doubled, then righted itself. She tasted copper and fury. Ember’s growl was caged but growing.
“I’m not done,” she spat.
Livia grinned, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. “You will be.”
She lunged again brutal, precise, unrelenting.
The fight wasn’t fair. Seraphina had speed, but Livia had technique, stamina, training. Years of it. She knew where to strike and how hard. Seraphina blocked when she could, deflected where she could think. But her body was slower than her instincts. Her limbs felt heavier with each exchange.
A punch to the side.
A boot to the shin.
A kick that sent her sprawling once more.
The circle was slick with sweat and blood hers.
The court watched like wolves scenting a kill. Some wore mild curiosity. Others, open disdain. Not one seemed to care she was bleeding, shaking, on her knees.
Seraphina looked up. Straight at Kael. He leaned forward slightly. His eyes glinted not with concern. Not even anger.
Amusement. He was enjoying this. The humiliation. The spectacle. The slow breaking of her pride. Her mouth filled with bile.
“Get up,let me lead.” Ember growled. “You’re not hers. You’re not his.”
But her legs trembled as she stood again. Her shoulder sagged from a hit she hadn’t felt in the moment but now screamed with every breath.
Livia raised an eyebrow. “You’re still trying?”
“I don’t kneel,” Seraphina said hoarsely.
Livia tilted her head. “Then I’ll make you.”
She did. A kick to the side of Seraphina’s knee sent her collapsing with a scream. Something twisted, snapped pain flared up her thigh like wildfire.
The crowd gasped. Then laughed. Seraphina choked on her pride. She tried to rise again. Her body didn’t obey.
She saw Livia walk around her, slow, savoring it. Seraphina’s hair was ripped from its braid, blood trailing from her brow. Her arm shook as she pressed her palm to the ground.
She had to rise. She had to.
But Kael stood. One simple movement, and the room silenced.
His boots echoed as he stepped down from the dais, approaching the circle. Livia stepped back, bowed her head. Seraphina didn’t dare lift hers.
He stopped before her, looming like a shadow given flesh. “You fought,” he said.
A heartbeat passed.
“You lost.” Another.
“But perhaps now you understand.” His voice lowered, too quiet for the crowd but sharp as a dagger in her chest. “This is not your pack, Seraphina. You don’t give orders here. You don’t question mine. You obey… or you break.”
Seraphina didn’t look up. Her hands clenched into fists. Blood dripped from her nose.
“Take her to her quarters,” Kael said aloud. “She’ll need rest… for tomorrow.”
Tomorrow.
What fresh hell would that bring? As the guards lifted her none too gently and the torches dimmed behind her blurred vision, Seraphina had only one thought:
She would not break. Not here. Not for him.
Even if it killed her.
- Writer
