MasukSAGEI barely had time to think before Adam reached me.One moment I was standing in the center of the arena, the weight of an era lifted from my shoulders, the next I was in the air.I squealed. Actually squealed.He lifted me clean off the ground, arms firm around my waist, and spun me once—twice—again—until the world blurred into gold and stone and cheering faces.“Adam!” I laughed breathlessly, clutching his shoulders.When he finally set me down, I barely had a second to steady myself before his hands framed my face. His eyes—still bright with unshed tears and overwhelming pride—searched mine as if to confirm I was real.“I am so proud of you,” he said.The words struck deeper than all the chants of justice. Before I could respond, he sealed his lips over mine.The kiss was intimate and claiming and full of everything we had both nearly lost. I fell into it without thought, my arms winding around his neck, fingers tangling in his hair as the world around us roared in approval.T
SAGE“Justice! Justice! Justice!”The chant rolled through the arena like a living thing, rising and falling in waves, thick with relief, rage, and triumph. I heard it. Of course I heard it. The sound vibrated through stone and bone alike. But I found myself only half-present in it, because the four towering beasts surrounding me were far more engaging.Their minds brushed against mine—not words exactly, but impressions, images, emotions layered atop one another in a strange, shared mental platform that felt as natural as breathing. Congratulations pulsed warmly from them, deep and rumbling like distant thunder. Beneath that was something else. A question.Why did you take so long to free us from her evilness?There was no accusation in it. Only curiosity. And something that might have been mild reproach.I smiled up at the molten-scaled one, running my hand along the heated ridge of its snout. “I am sorry,” I told them silently, pushing the thought outward so all four could feel it
ADAMI had seen warriors before. But I had never seen anything like Sage.She hovered above the arena like something carved from light itself—golden fire licking over her skin, her hair lifting in an unseen current, her eyes burning with a power that was not merely magic.It was divinity.My chest felt too small to contain what billowed inside it. Awe. Pride. And something deeper—something dangerously close to reverence.She was magnificent!And she was mine. My mate.The word still felt fragile in my mind, like if I held it too tightly it would shatter.Years ago, I had felt my heart lurch at the sight of her—before I knew her name, before I understood fate had already written her into my bones. And then she had been gone. Lost. And I had carried that hollow ache longer than I admitted to anyone. But now?Now she stood in the center of the arena, blazing like a newborn sun, and I lived on the razor’s edge of disbelief that I had found her again. That this time, she would stay.That
SAGEDig into my wells?Even in the middle of the battlefield, the instruction felt maddeningly vague, but the question barely had time to fully form in my head before the air shifted—thickened—and the Queen’s voice rose into the sky, low and guttural, chanting words that made my skin crawl. Dark words. Ancient. Wrong. Panic flared immediately, proving El was right: the Queen was gearing up for her final blow. “Focus,” El urged inside me. I tried—Goddess, I tried—but my pulse was racing too fast, my thoughts were too scattered, and my nerves were too raw from the relentless drain of black magic. The Queen’s power was building, swelling, and every instinct in me screamed that if I didn’t move soon, this would end badly. Very badly.El, I called, desperation threading through the thought, can’t you dig into it yourself? There was a pause, and then she answered gently, "No, Sage. This is yours. Only you can reach it." My jaw tightened because, of course, it couldn’t be easy, but El
SAGEFighting against black magic was… draining. The realization hit me dimly as I lay sprawled against the scorched earth, my vision swimming, the world tilting in and out of focus. The taste of iron filled my mouth and my limbs felt heavy—too heavy—like something unseen was steadily siphoning strength straight from my bones. Shapes blurred above me and voices echoed like they were underwater. "Yes," El’s voice came tightly. "It is draining you. That strike was meant to leech your power." I forced air into my lungs as she continued, "You must attack her at full force. If you allow her to keep pressing like this, she will bleed you dry… and then she will kill you."A cold clarity cut through the haze; I nodded weakly and pushed myself upright just as the Queen’s amplified voice rang across the arena. “Is this the leader you want?” she mocked the crowd. “This… fragile thing?” Laughter rippled from her side of the field, but I didn’t answer and I didn’t waste breath. Instead, I le
SAGESilence fell across the field the moment the six men stepped into the arena.I saw relief flood Adam’s face so openly it made something deep in my chest soften. The tight coil of tension I had been carrying since dawn loosened in one sharp pull.I didn’t think about my next act. I only moved. Fast. Closing the distance between us in hurried strides until I finally crashed into him, my lips wide in a smile.His arms came around me instantly, tightly, desperately. Like he had been holding himself together by sheer force of will and could finally let go.And gods, I felt it. That quiet, bone-deep rightness. That sense of coming home. Of being whole, complete.I breathed him in, steadying myself, and for a brief moment the world outside his arms simply… faded.When I finally pulled back, it was slow, reluctant. “Why are you here early?” I asked, though my voice carried warmth.I quickly exchanged brief pleasantries with Feliq and his two warriors, then Adam’s brothers, offering each







