wrists and ankles rattled, echoing through the underground caverns of the Arena as I shuffled along.
We moved in a single file, Father and Autumn at my back, Aleksandr and Lukyan at my front. Our cuffs were all locked together. Connected to make it harder to run if we tried to escape. Pointless considering we would never try to escape without Illayana.
Ten A-Team soldiers escorted us, five leading the charge and five covering the rear. Every single one of them was armed with a high-powered machine gun, their focus unwavering. They hadn’t told us where they were taking us, but then again, they didn’t really have to. I could hear the roar of the crowd from all the way down there.
The next round of Talon’s games was about to begin…and we were the main attraction.
Lukyan glanced over his shoulder. “You gotta admit, impending death aside and all, this place is pretty fucking cool.”
I glared, opening my mouth.
“I know, I know. ‘Shut up, Lukyan’,” he said, rolling his eyes before turning back around.
Aleksandr grunted in agreement at his words.
To be fair, I did agree with Lukyan. If you took out who made the Arena and what was about to happen, the place was pretty awesome. But, like always, Lukyan’s timing was off. There was a time and place for it, and that wasn’t while we were getting marched to our death.
I had no idea how much time had passed since our capture. There was no way to differentiate night and day down there. But based on the amount of meals we’d received, I’d say it had been roughly two days. During that time, I’d done nothing but work out, pray Illayana was okay and think about Tatiana.
The chances of us getting out of there alive were basically non-existent. Even if someone was going to try and rescue us, they had no idea where we were. I’d come to terms with it and accepted that I was going to die very, very soon. The only thing I cared about was how it was going to affect Tatiana.
My beautiful, golden-haired goddess. I’d promised her I would come back to her. That’s what hurt the most. In my final moments, I would let her down…again.
No one else had come to visit us since Talon and Dominik. Our food was even delivered by one of the A-team soldiers, like Talon didn’t trust anyone else to come near us (probably smart, given how I managed to get in there).
Lukyan had been surprisingly…tolerable during our time locked in the cells. He’d barely said two words, in fact. I think, like the rest of us, he was too worried about Illayana to really focus on anything else.
We were led down gloomy corridors and up spiral staircases (presumably because we all couldn’t fit in the elevators at once), until we finally stopped in front of a heavy cage door. Through the metal bars, I could see a huge sand field encircled by flaming tiki torches. Racks of weapons were off the side, along with shields of all different shapes and sizes.
It was giving a very “roman gladiator” kind of vibe, which made the TVs mounted high on the walls seem completely out of place.
“This is where we come to train every day before the games begin,” Father said from over my shoulder.
“Talon let you train?” Lukyan stared ahead at the field with an almost dream-like expression on his face.
“Of course he did. Above all else, Talon wants to put on a good show. He can’t do that if the fighters are malnourished and out of practice. It’s one of the reasons why he feeds us so well. It wouldn’t look good if the fighters pass out from dehydration and starvation two minutes into the fight.” He pointed at what looked like a huge concrete door that took up half the wall. “That’s the entrance into the main fighting area, where everyone watches. We train here before the fights start to warm up, and then we’re ushered through the door out into the public.”
“He wasn’t worried you guys might use those weapons over there to try to escape?” I asked.
The chains rattled as he lifted his arm to tap the collar around his neck. “These prevented that. The collars aren’t removed until we’re about to step into the arena.”
One of the guards turned the crank and the cage door began to rise with a groan. One by one, they unlocked our cuffs, pushing us into the sand field.
First Lukyan, who hadn’t been prepared for it and he stumbled forward, landing roughly on his hands and knees with a grunt.
Next Aleksandr. The same guard who shoved Lukyan undid his cuffs. The moment my brother was free, he grabbed the guard by his tactical vest, yanked him forward and smashed his forehead right into his nose, breaking it. The guard cried out in pain. Aleksandr shoved him away and then went right to Lukyan, helping him up.
The other guards had their guns up and aimed at us instantly, expecting us all to start fighting and trying to escape, but that wasn’t what that was about. Aleksandr wasn’t trying to escape. He just wanted to punish the guard for hurting Lukyan. His overprotectiveness covered all those he loved. Plus, we would never try to escape without Illayana.
When the other guards realised we weren’t trying to make a run for it, they finished unlocking us, opting not to shove us inside like the first guard had done, allowing us to walk in at our own pace.
The cage door slammed down with an ominous bang. The guards dispersed, leaving us alone.
“I don’t see Illayana,” Lukyan said, looking around the room.
Neither did I. If she wasn’t there, then where the fuck was she? My mind went to dark, evil places. Places where unthinkable things happened. I tried to block it out.
Talon wouldn’t do that. He wanted Father to suffer by watching us die. That included Illayana. Still, she’d been gone for nearly two whole days. What had Talon done to her in that time?
“She’ll be here.” Aleksandr’s voice sounded more confident than I’m sure he felt.
“Yes. She will,” Father agreed.
The woman, Autumn, stood at my father’s side, stance strong. I wasn’t sure if she could be trusted yet. Yes, she had agreed to fight with us instead of against us. But still, we didn’t know her. There was every chance she could turn around and stab us in the back.
“Go warm up. I don’t know when we’ll be called to the Arena, but I want you all to be ready when we are,” Father commanded.
We all bowed our heads. “Yes, Father.”
He grabbed my arm, stopping me from walking away like Aleksandr and Lukyan. I frowned, looking down at his hand in confusion.
“Give me a moment alone with my son,” he told Autumn.
She saluted him. “As his Royal Grouchiness commands.” Then she bowed eloquently before walking away.
Father shook his head, mild amusement on his lips before it vanished. He levelled his gaze on me, seriousness burning in his eyes. “Are you sure you’re okay with what we all discussed last night?”
Ah. We’d all had a family talk about what we were going to do when the games started. We weren’t exactly sure what Talon had planned, but there were really only two options.
He could either pit us against others. Our family versus the other fighters.
Or…he could pit us against each other. A fight to the death between us, where only one came out victorious.
Of course, we all hoped that wouldn’t be the option, but there was every likelihood that it could be.
If it was…well, we needed to be prepared. So, last night, we’d come up with a plan.
“I’m sure.” I gave him a small smile. “I’m not capable of killing any of you.”
“Nor am I.” He squeezed my shoulder. “It’s a father’s job to protect his children, and I am so sorry that it is a job I have failed miserably.”
“Father—”
He held his palm up, silencing me. “If I thought for even a moment it would make any difference, I would beg Talon to let you all go.”
I internally scoffed. There was nothing anyone could say or do that would make Talon let us go. He was determined to make my father suffer, and we provided him the perfect way to do that.
“But we both know that’s pointless. I wish this was never a position you had to be in—”
“Father,” I pressed, voice stern. He stopped his rambling and looked me in the eyes. That emotionless mask he always kept on his face was gone. He was showing me everything. For the first time in my life, he was sharing his emotions with me. Sadness. Hopelessness. Desperation. Love. It was all right there. He was holding nothing back, letting me see it all.
“We all agreed. If only one of us can get out of this place alive, it’s Illayana.” It had been a unanimous decision.
If, worst case scenario, Talon decided to pit us against each other for the games—something every single one of us was incapable of doing—we decided to sacrifice ourselves, so Illayana would be the last one standing.
Father didn’t want any of us to die. In fact, when Aleksandr first suggested the idea, he flat out refused. He tried coming up with other solutions, other ideas, but they all fell short.
“We’ll try and escape.”
“We’ll demand a different game.”
“We’ll refuse to fight.”
He knew as well as I did that, if we refused to fight, Talon would just kill us all. At least that way, Illayana might live. She might survive. So the plan was simple. Father would hold Illayana back while The Crimson Death took our lives quickly and painlessly—something the woman claimed she could do easily—and then Father would kill her before finally killing himself, leaving Illayana to be the last one standing. That last bit of the plan had been organised when Autumn was asleep. We needed her to do the killing because none of us were capable of hurting each other like that. But once she served her purpose, Father would end her so that Illayana could live.
It was a horrible plan, one we prayed we wouldn’t have to implement. But Aleksandr, Lukyan, my father and I weren’t physically or mentally capable of killing each other. If Talon chose to have us fight each other, we would have no other choice but to go through with it.
Father leant forward and rested his forehead against mine. He closed his eyes, taking a big, deep breath in before he whispered three words I’d never heard him say to me before.
‘YA tebya lyublyu.’ I love you.
And then he was gone, leaving me to stare dumbfounded after him with my mouth hanging wide open.
Oh, he must be really, really worried we aren’t going to make it through this alive.
He went to Aleksandr next, pulling him aside to have the same conversation he’d just had with me. My suspicions were confirmed when a look of pure and utter shock flashed across my brother’s face, no doubt from Father’s declaration of love.
It wasn’t like we didn’t know he loved us. Of course we did. He showed us that in the way he fiercely protected us, in the way he cared for us. He’d just never said the actual words before.
When he got to Lukyan…well…it’s Lukyan. The idiot acted exactly how I predicted he would.
“Oh my god! I love you, too!” he screamed, throwing his arms around Father in a huge bear hug.
Father grunted, stumbling back from the force of it but didn’t push him away, patting his back lightly with a small smile on his lips.
“Ladies and gentleman, are we ready for the next round of the Til Death Games?!”
We all looked up at the set of TVs hanging on the wall, seeing a man dressed in a tuxedo and holding a microphone, displaying on each screen. Tension descended over us as the man announced the events of the night, saying that there was something special planned for everyone. That it would be a night no one would ever forget. That something that had never happened before in the history of the games was about to take place.
I found his voice irritating. If I somehow made it out of this, I was going to take his voice box so he could never talk again. I’m sure I’d be doing everyone a fucking favour. Maybe—
“Father!”
At that voice, we all spun, seeing Illayana running towards us from another entrance. Behind her marched a line of A-Team soldiers, all armed.
“Illayana!” Father caught her when she jumped into his arms.
Relief literally took my breath away. My body slumped slightly, my hand grasping at my chest.
She is okay. She is okay.
We crowded her, asking her a million questions.
“Are you alright?”
“What happened?”
“Did he touch you? I’ll fucking kill him.”
Illayana laughed softly at our fretting. That is a good sign, right?
She didn’t look any worse for wear. She was still in the same clothes she was wearing before she was taken from the cells. There was no blood and no bruises. If someone tried to take her against her will, she would have fought back. Hard.
“I’m fine,” she said, stepping back out of Father’s arms. “Talon didn’t touch me. That’s not what he wanted me for. He just wanted to fuck with you all. Rile you up for the games. Plus, I told him I’d die before I let any man touch me, and he said that would interfere with what he had planned, so he just left me locked up in a room the whole time.”
We released a collective sigh, all beyond pleased to hear she hadn’t been hurt.
Before we could say anything else, one of the soldiers barked out a command. “You two, against the wall.” —he pointed to Autumn and Father— “You four, over near the door.”
None of us moved.
“Now!” he demanded, waving his gun around.
Aleksandr, Lukyan, Illayana and I all looked to our Father and waited. When he gave the slightest nod of his head, we moved to where the guard indicated.
Father and Autumn went to the wall and placed their palms against it, spreading their legs as if they were about to be searched. They clearly knew what was to come next, having obviously been through the process before.
A guard approached them each from behind and used a key to unlock their collars. Father stretched out his neck when the device was finally removed, Autumn doing the same. The guards kept their guns trained on all of us as they herded Father and Autumn over to the rest of us.
Apprehension bubbled up inside me. The roar of the crowd was so loud that the walls shook as the announcer continued his speech, riling them up more and more with every word he said. I shifted from one foot to the other, adrenaline surging in my veins. My siblings did the same, determination and anger burning on their faces.
I despised every bit of it. I hated that there was nothing we could do. The hopelessness. The helplessness. Either we fought or we died. There was no in between.
“Introducing the next competitors of the Til Death Games, The Crimson Death and the most notorious family in the Bratva, The Volkovs!”
