"Do as you please," Bastion retorted, "you'll be doing me a favor, but Penn's only alive as long as I'm around to do the king's bidding. He's hanging her over my head to get what he wants out of me."
"And what does he want?" I asked, dreading the answer.
"You."
Zoran shifted his weight, rotating his wrists as he spun the swords in the air. "He can't have her. She's mine – my Champion," he amended, "she's my Champion and it's my duty to fight for her."
"You mean with me, not for me," I corrected.
"I meant what I said, princess."
Bastion sent curious looks from Zoran to me and back to Zoran again as his familiar grin surfaced. "Interesting," he said, smile widening as he waggled a finger at us, "I did not see this...alliance coming."
"Serene picked it for us," Zoran clipped, "I had no choice in the matter."
Minor hurt and disappointment ignited in me at the statement. I shook it off and crossed my arms over my chest, saying, "I'm still figuring out how I'm going to put up with this brood for the rest of my life."
Bastion snickered and placed a fist in front of his mouth to cover the laughter.
"Guess it's a good thing Champions don't last very long in the Force," Zoran fired back, staring me down with an intimidating scowl as if daring me to pursue the match of wits.
I shrugged, not one to back down from a fight. Hitching a thumb at Bastion, I said, "I'd always secretly hoped Bastion would be found better suited for the Force instead of the Consul. We'd have made a great bonded pair of Champions."
I winked at Bastion whose blue eyes widened and his pale cheeks darkened at my profession. It was strange to see the black blush spreading on his cheeks from his Cursed blood rather than the normal red.
"I wish I still had my Insignia to tell if you're being serious about that," he said, cheeks turning crimson.
Zoran didn't find the joke nearly as entertaining as I had. He moved both swords to his gloved hand and sent a cloud of frost at Bastion. The attack threw him against the wall and the back of his head banged against the hard limestone. He slid down the wall, crumpling in a heap as a trickle of blood dribbled down the side of his neck.
"Zoran!" I scolded, hurrying to Bastion who shooed me away, saying, "I'm fine, Aer. He's just being protective of you."
"No, he's being a jerk," I said, gingerly running my fingers up the back of his neck to the tender spot on his skull. Warm liquid coated my fingers as Bastion winced, easing my arm away from his injury.
Zoran clicked his tongue in aggravation. "That heart of yours is going to be the death of both of us," he declared, facing his back to me as he dragged a hand through his hair.
"Zoran's right," Bastion agreed, "I'm the very thing you despise the most, yet you're checking to make sure I'm alright. You need to be careful. I've sat in on enough Consul meetings to know your father well enough to assume he is dead set on marrying you off to Shade. The demon prince will take your heart and rip it right out of your chest if you let him. Now leave me and get out of here with him."
I stood, grasping his upper arms as I tried to pry him off the ground. "You're coming with us."
"I'll be killed the second I step foot back in the empire. I'm better off in Ravos trying to protect Penn. I'm sorry about the ring, but I know you'd want Penn to live, too."
I nodded and released him, following Zoran down the hall. "Goodbye, Bastion."
The scraping of claws echoed from the entrance of the tunnel as the yowling of hundreds of demons approached. I paused halfway down the tunnel and met Bastion's eyes. Offering me a smile, he said, "Relax, I'm one of them. Go."
"But – "
"Go, Aeryn! The king is on his way!"
With one final glance, I turned on my heel and sprinted after Zoran.
"Nice of you to join me," he muttered, lengthening his strides, "I thought you were going to figure out a way to bond with the demon shifter instead."
I hit his arm, matching his quick pace as I refuted, "Knock it off. I didn't actually mean I wanted to be Bastion's Champion. His Insignia is – was – more beneficial for the Consul than the Force."
Zoran didn't respond and I pointed out, "What happened to trusting each other, hm? It sounds like you're doubting whose side I'm on."
One second Zoran and I were sharing a vulnerable moment in the hot spring with the Dracnae and the next we were running for our lives while arguing.
"Let's see how well we do collaborating with each other," he said, "because it's starting to seem like we won't even be able to pass the first phase of the Test of Talons if we keep questioning our trust."
"We just worked together to get ourselves out of another demon ambush."
"We're not out of it yet."
As if on que, more wails ricocheted off the walls of the passageway.
"Alright, so queue Phase Two: Zoran and Aeryn successfully cooperate together to flee the Ravos demons."
Zoran didn't justify my statement with a response of his own. Instead, he stopped in his tracks and leaned his weapons against the wall, and unbound the wrist strap of his fingerless, power-blocking glove. Stretching his fingers, he opened and closed his hand a few times, then rubbed the center of his palm. I'd been wondering why he always had on the second glove, but he dismissed it as a way to ensure his power didn't come out too strong.
Did that mean Zoran's power was always functioning at half strength with the glove blocking some of his essence from amplifying the Insignia? If that was the case, then he was much more powerful than he'd been letting on.
"That feels better," he said, cracking his knuckles.
Sharp talons clattered against the limestone and I flicked the throwing stars from my wrists into my hands as I braced myself in a ready stance beside Zoran who raised his longswords in front of him. He unfurled his wings and stepped in front of me, blocking me with them.
"This is not a symbol of trust, nor is it any way to work with me," I said, placing my hand against one wing to navigate around the massive extension. My fingers slid across the leathery wing and met a couple fuzzy soft spots. Surprised, I gaped at the patches of black feathers in sporadic placements on both wings.
"Fine, just try not to get yourself killed," he relented, collapsing his wings against his back as the terrifying sight of Cursed demons came into view. They rounded the corner, trampling over each other in a rush of grating teeth, unnerving snarls, and erratic movements.
I didn't want to think about what this mass of demons meant for Bastion's fate.
"Speak for yourself," I countered, tossing the stars at the first pair of demons to reach us. The weapons spun and sliced clean through their necks, decapitating their heads as Zoran met a group of four, sweeping his swords through their midsections. The demons dropped, legs severed from their bodies, but they crawled forward with their arms outstretched in front of them and talons digging into the ground to drag their detached torsos. Icicles formed from the ceiling and dropped, imbedding themselves at the bottom of the demons' skulls. They stilled, but were replaced by twice as many demons.
Zoran commanded, "Back up. This calls for frost fire."
I obliged, standing a couple feet back as he widened his jaw and curled his lips back for his fangs to be in full view.
A puff of smoke exited his mouth and he cursed, "What the hell?"
"Frost fire requires a lot of energy, especially when first learning how to control it," I said, remembering the first few times Serene had used it and had to take hour long naps between uses. "You have a cooldown of sorts."
"Well screw that."
A demon crouched to all fours and launched itself at Zoran. I jumped in front of him, intercepting the attack as I wielded my ruben dagger, bringing it up to meet the demon in midair. I jammed the blade under its chin and twisted. The demon twitched before slouching around the weapon. I held it at arm's length and planted my foot on its chest, sliding it off my dagger.
"And terminate Phase Three: willing to die for each other," I said, kicking the lifeless lump. "I think saving your life counts for all three stages of the Test."
"Touché, princess," Zoran commended, staring at the dead demon with satisfaction, "Touché."
Nothing could have prepared me for what happened next.
The wave of demons multiplied and overtook the entire tunnel as they sprinted at us with terrifying speed. Within seconds, they were upon us. The Cursed demons flung themselves in the air and tackled us to the ground as they piled on top of us, jaws snapping at our throats as venom budded on the tips of their fangs.
The air whooshed from my lungs as they pressed down on me and I panicked, unable to catch my breath. I swung my arms in wild arcs, knocking some away just for more to descend on me, adding to the stack of demons already weighing down on me.
I was blinded by a brilliant flash of violet light and the unbearable load on my body eased as a strong gust of wind ruffled the robes of Bastion's cloak around me. Patting my chest to make sure I was still alive, I sat up and found Zoran standing, bare chest heaving with each deep breath he took in rapid succession. The bodies of every demon were flattened against the ground in unrecognizable splotches of blackness, as if they had been obliterated by an atomic bomb and the remnants of their bodies had been burned into the limestone.
Wisps of smoke coiled from the imprints of the demons' carcasses and my mouth dropped open as I stared at him in unabashed astonishment.
No, it wasn't the defined abdominal muscles rippling across his stomach or the sweat pouring over his muscular chest that captured my undivided attention. Under normal circumstances, I would have taken my time to trace every muscle on him with my eyes – not that I found him attractive.
It was the purple glow emanating from his other hand that made me blink in disbelief.
"You have two powers!" I exclaimed.
"Surprise. Another secret you need to keep."
--------------