Blood Lands (Savage Lands #5)
Stacey Marie Brown
Chapter 1
Let the games begin...”
This resonated through the arena, riding over my chest in deadly strides. The call for battle. The declaration of war.
A war I would not win.
There was no winning here and no survival in any sense, especially not for my soul. But I realized there was a line I would stop at. One where I’d choose death because I wouldn’t be living, even if I survived.
What Istvan Markos was doing was horrific—pitting us three against each other in his newly updated version of the Games to see where our true loyalties fell.
My attention went from Hanna to Scorpion, terror and disbelief holding them like statues. They could never have expected what was really happening. The ultimate choice they would have to make.
One I already had to make tonight.
Zuz’s dead body still laid at my feet; her blood had sprayed over me and soaked into the dirt around her corpse.
“Fight!” Istvan ordered us, jolting both Hanna and Scorpion, their eyes going wild. “Or you all die.”
Through red-tinged lashes, my gaze went up to my old guardian, steady in my fury. The bloody hairpin dropped from my fingers, plunking in the dirt.
Istvan’s lip pulled up, his hand digging into the arm of his new young fiancée, Olena, the princess of Ukraine. I guess with Caden gone, Istvan strategically took the opportunity to gain Ukraine instead, easily replacing Rebeka.
“I said, fight soldier,” he barked at me. His happy pretense with his new bride dissolved as he pulled away from her, leaning on the railing. “I gave an order.”
“That’s the thing, Istvan,” I called him by his first name to others, but very rarely to his face. He demanded respect for his title, even from Caden when we were in public, and by his expression, he didn’t like the informality of it. “I’m not your soldier. Not anymore.”
Markos’s shoulders rose at my insolence, his lids lowering into slits.
“Then I guess you die.” He gripped the railing tightly.
“It’s what you wanted anyway, right?” I snipped back. “Me to be killed by fae so you could manipulate Caden’s emotions? Twist him into the biggest advocate to destroy the fae no matter the costs…to avenge me?”
Where was Caden? I’d figure as his new right-hand man, he’d be here, making sure I “got what I deserved.”
Istvan straightened up, his mind probably going back to the private conversation he had with Kalaraja in his office months ago, when I was hiding behind a curtain. The realization hit him that they had not been alone, and I had overheard everything.
“Now I don’t need to.” He quickly recovered any momentary surprise, his mouth quirking in arrogance. “You did it for me by taking him hostage, didn’t you? Now he despises you. Turned his back on you.” The jab hit harder than I let on. “Wants you dead.”
Caden protected me that night. He could have told Istvan I had the nectar, but he didn’t. Why? And why wasn’t he here if he wanted to watch me die? What was going on at HDF?
“Then where is he? Is it awkward now you’re fucking his fiancée?” I motioned to him and Olena. Her cheeks reddened, hate streaking her beautiful face. “Where is Rebeka, Istvan?”
Anger flamed in his face. “Kill her.” He nodded at Scorpion and Hanna as if they were his personal assassins.
“Fuck. You.” Scorpion sneered at him with a vengeance that would frighten anyone. The man was intense—tattoos covered almost every inch of his over six-foot frame. Dirty, scruffy, and scarred, with his brown hair knotted back out of his face. But all I saw was someone I cared about. Loved. I wouldn’t say exactly like a brother, because he was damn hot. Our connection made him family to me, someone I would kill for. I could never hurt him, just like I could never hurt Warwick.
They were a part of me.
Istvan kept his expression even, not allowing himself to respond to Scorpion. His gaze moved to Hanna. “Guess it’s up to you.”
Betrayal and hate shone brightly on her face, her head shaking as she stepped closer to us. “No.”
“No?” Istvan’s eyebrow curved up. “Are you sure?”
Hanna’s mouth thinned as she jutted up her chin. I saw Scorpion’s gaze slide to her. She didn’t even look back at him, but I felt something there. Istvan must have sensed something as well, his focus darting from one to another, an eyebrow curving up, his nose wrinkling.
“I see.” Istvan’s features hardened. “You might want to rethink that, my dear.” His head lifted to the stands, his chin dipping. A scream pierced the hushed room, where everyone had been silent, watching the drama unfold. Commotion stirred up in the seating area; a man hollering…as he was moved into the aisle.
Familiar faces came into view, my stomach sinking with dread at the understanding of what Istvan was doing. It took Hanna a little longer to comprehend—for her eyes and mind to register what she was seeing was real.
Two guards held guns to her parent’s heads. Nora and Albert Molnár, standing petrified, staring down at their daughter.
“Mom? Dad?” Her head wagged in confusion as truth slowly ebbed into understanding, her gaze darting back to Istvan with fear and hate.
“Still no?” Istvan pinned his lips, flicking his head back at the guards. “Kill them.”
“Noooooo!” Hanna bellowed, her back curving as her worst nightmare played out, guttural pain streaking her face. “No! Please don’t hurt them. Please!” She begged. “Please!”
His self-satisfaction bloomed in the air, as rancid as body odor. It was an inconceivable choice he just laid at her feet, but one she would have to make.
“If you kill them,” he gestured to Scorpion and me. “You and your parents live. If you refuse, you all die.”
Tears streaking down Hanna’s face, she turned to look at both of us. I could see the agony and torment. I understood it. I also knew who she would choose.
“Please,” she beseeched Markos, her glistening eyes going up to her parents. “They’ve done nothing to you. Let them go!”
“You have two options, Hanna. Choose one. Or I will do it for you.”
A cry from Nora snapped me back up to them. The soldier holding her cracked the handle of the gun across the back of her head, and she stumbled to the side.
“Stop, please!” I heard Hanna wail, but all I could focus on was the guard. His eyes were wide and crazed, his body twitching with violence, as if at any moment he would turn feral. He was itching for blood, craving carnage.
“Just me!” Instead of Istvan, it was Scorpion’s voice that boomed out, jerking my head to him. His shoulders spread, chest puffed. His eyes were on Hanna, indicating he would be the sacrificial lamb. “Hanna can fight me…leave Brexley out of this.”
She stared back at him, expression unreadable, though her chest pitched in and out with distress and grief.
“You dare tell me what to do?” Markos barked, anger reddening his face. “You are nothing, fae. You think I care anything about your life or death? You are here for amusement only.” Istvan twisted his attention to Hanna. “I thought you would want to kill him, Hanna. He was the one who guarded you when you were being held prisoner. That is what you told me, right?” His question was a challenge. A single hitch in his tone.
A test.
Confused, Hanna’s mouth opened and shut.
No doubt she had told Istvan everything when she was being debriefed, being the perfect obedient soldier. It was what we were trained to do. No questions asked.
She didn’t know it was her death warrant and would be used against her. He got whatever information he needed out of her, and now she was worthless to him. Something to discard. Especially now if he thought her in any way “compromised.” And because her parents were imprisoned, Hanna’s return was a gaffe he couldn’t have. She wouldn’t have accepted their disappearance or whatever story Istvan claimed about them. She would have been a thorn in his side. Another reason to dispose of her.
“Here is your chance, if you really meant what you said, private Molnár. You stated you hated the fae, especially him.” Istvan motioned to Scorpion. “Wished him dead. Here is your revenge. Kill the vile trash.”
Hanna glanced over at Scorpion, their eyes meeting for a moment. Her body shifted with hesitation.
Weakness.
Istvan could smell it from miles away.
“Do not tell me you have grown soft for these monsters?” Istvan clutched the railing, baring his teeth. “Have they tricked your brain into thinking they are human like us? Have you become a traitor fae lover as well?”
“No-no.” Hanna’s head wagged, her voice cracking in half before her expression locked down. “No, sir.”