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Zander shifts slightly beside me, barely perceptible, but I feel it, the preparation, the unspoken warning. Ash doesn’t move, his face unreadable, but I know he is ready too.

Keagan’s smirk widens. He sees it all. He welcomes it. “Go on, then.” He spreads his arms wide, daring us to strike first. “Let’s make this fun.”

Zander doesn’t move. His hesitation is a fraction of a second, a moment so brief I almost miss it. But Keagan doesn’t. His eyes gleam with knowing, with cruel delight.

I don’t wait. With a sharp breath, I send a pulse through the ground, vibrations rippling toward him in a deafening shockwave. The force slams into his chest, staggering him but not for long.

Keagan’s laugh rings through the clearing, sharp as a blade. “Oh, that’s interesting.” His grin is all teeth as he lunges.

I barely have time to shift, ducking as his sword whistles past my ear. Before I can counter, he pivots, impossibly fast for someone his size, and slams his elbow into my ribs. The impact steals my breath, sends me reeling, but I have no time to recover before his fist follows, cracking across my jaw. The taste of blood floods my mouth.

Zander moves then, finally, his hesitation burning away in the heat of battle. He strikes low and fast, his twin blades a blur. Keagan catches one with his gauntlet, twisting with an unnatural grace, but the second blade bites deep.

Keagan lets out a grunt as Zander’s dagger buries into his side, but instead of retreating, he shudders with something close to pleasure. “Yes,” he hisses, breathless, exhilarated. “That’s more like it.”

Then he drives his knee into Zander’s gut.

Zander chokes, his body folding over the impact. Keagan doesn’t let up. He catches Zander by the collar and flings him across the clearing like a rag doll.

Ash steps in, his power warping the air. The ground beneath Keagan trembles, gravity pressing down with crushing force, just enough to slow him.

I weave sound into a razor-edged blast, sending it slicing through the air. It hits him, staggering him, but he is already moving, already twisting toward me. His blade lashes out.

I let out a strangled cry as the agony blooms across my arm. Blood gushes, warm and slick, trailing down my fingers.

Keagan grins, his teeth stained red. “You scream so pretty,” he taunts, his voice dripping with amusement.

I clench my teeth, shoving the pain away.

Zander is back on his feet with blood smeared across his mouth. He wipes it away, his grip tightening on his weapons.

Keagan’s eyes gleam. “Oh, you’re finally ready to fight?” His voice is mocking, coaxing. “What held you back, Zander? You afraid?”

Zander doesn’t answer. He lunges.

Steel clashes, ringing through the clearing. Keagan meets every strike with ease, his movements fluid, effortless. Zander is relentless, pushing him back, forcing him to react.

Keagan is loving every second.

Every cut that finds his flesh only seems to fuel him. Each wound widens his grin. He is bleeding, but he doesn’t care.

He relishes it.

Ash joins the fray, the gravity around Keagan twisting erratically, disorienting him just long enough for Zander’s blade to carve deep across his shoulder.

Keagan snarls, something shifting in his expression. Then he moves.

Too fast.

He catches Zander by the throat, lifting him off the ground like he weighs nothing.

Zander claws at his wrist, gasping, but Keagan only smirks. “I expected better,” he muses, pressing harder, delighting in the way Zander’s struggles weaken. “All that fire, all that talk. And yet—” he leans in, his voice a whisper against Zander’s ear, slow and taunting, “—you hesitate.”

Keagan chuckles, low and knowing. “Such a shame. I thought you’d fight harder . . . for her.”

Zander’s entire body tenses.

Keagan grins. “Oh? Struck a nerve, did I?” He tilts his head, mock sympathy dripping from his voice. “Does she know, I wonder? What you’ve done? What you’re willing to do?” His grip tightens, his blade pressing just over Zander’s heart. “No, I suppose she doesn’t.”