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It wasn’t the ice or wind or mind powers you had at your disposal. It was how you used your hands and feet.
I never used my ability except in very rare circumstances.
A smile quirked my lips at the thought of Ivy’s hot body. It was the kind of thing poets wrote about.
I wasn’t a man of words. I was a man of action.
And I seriously wanted to take action with her again—as soon as possible.
Ivy was the first Prize I’d claimed in the Pool.
The klaxon sounded and the next fighter stepped forward. He was an archiwan, a master with traps and knives.
I was next. I needed to pump myself up.
I was the champ, I told myself. This was my prison. This was where I belonged. These other fighters were only pretenders. They didn’t deserve to be there.
I dug deep for the anger and fear and hatred that I’d long since learned to harness when I went out to fight.
It was a little harder to reach than usual as images of Ivy kept getting in the way.
I tucked her memories away in a separate box for me to enjoy later. Right now, I needed to focus on the enemy.
Who would it be today? Who was my next victim?
The klaxon sounded and I jogged into the tunnel toward the spear of light at the opposite end.
I thrust with my swords, turning in arches and circles to prepare for the approaching battle.
I emerged into the light. The gate slammed into place behind me. The fighting pit was a reasonably large area with prisoners watching the fight from the second, third, and fourth-floor landings.
They often gambled on who would win. No one bothered to bet on my fights. They had long ago given up losing their money on a result that always turned out the same.
Beyond them, higher in the facility, stood the wide window of the observation deck. The scientists in the lab were too busy with their work to take much notice of the fight. The Supervisor would watch sometimes, but not often.
On the other side of the pit, Ice emerged from his tunnel. His eyes were sparkling blue, his hair white and long and streamed in long strands to his shoulder blades. Touch him, and he was colder than a corpse.
He wasn’t the first prisoner from the Glacial Cluster I had fought and he wouldn’t be the last.
I was in too good a mood to want to put on a good show. I wanted to beat him as quickly as possible and claim my beautiful Prize.
The golden light pulsed in my chest at the thought of being with her soon. I didn’t know exactly what it meant, only that it brought me joy when I thought of her.
The klaxon blared and the fight began.
Ice ran at me. He raised his arms and bellowed as feathers of ice exploded from his fingertips.
I stepped to one side, swung my sword, and the battle was joined.
5
IVY
“You’re not pregnant,” the Supervisor said.
“I know,” I said, rolling my sleeve back down.
He’d just run a pregnancy test on me. It required no peeing and didn’t come with smiley or sad faces. There was zero percent chance of it being wrong, he said. But I didn’t need the machine to know I wasn’t pregnant.
