Chapter 23
*Jiselle*
Nate rolled his shoulders and wiped a smear of blood from his cheek as he faced Instructor Bastian.
“I don’t need to rest or hydrate,” he said, his voice steady, controlled as he snapped his gaze back to Max. “I can do the challenge now.”
His glare was deadly. So was Max’s. But where Nate’s eyes were sharp, controlled rage, Max’s were darker, deeper–promising something I wasn’t sure I wanted to understand. Curses echoed through the training ground as Bastian barely glanced up before announcing, “Maximus Laker has challenged Nathaniel Morningstar.”
A shudder passed through the crowd, the second to fourth years exchanging uneasy glances and annoyed groans.
I frowned. “Why is everyone groaning?” I asked Evan, who stood beside Eva.
Evan exhaled, rubbing a hand over his face like he was already exhausted. “I can’t… tell you everything, but let’s just say, we’re going to be here a while.”
“Why?” My heart skipped a beat. “Does it get messy?”
He chuckled, shaking his head. “Relax, there’s barely ever any blood when these two fight. Sometimes.” Then his face turned serious. “Basically… they fight on the same level. Neither of them has ever won against the other.”
I stared. “Ever?”
“Ever,” he confirmed. “That’s why this is going to take forever–until Bastian calls it a draw.”
I swallowed. “That’s… impossible.”
“You’re telling me neither of them has gotten better than the other in three years? Not even once?” Eva asked right before I did. Because, how?
Evan shrugged. “It’s complicated.”
I didn’t like that answer.
Bastian’s voice cut through my thoughts. “Okay, you know two the rules. If you were in your years, you could do anything you please. But as for today, remember who’s present.”
My brows furrowed. Who’s present? Did he mean… me?
No. He didn’t care about me, and he didn’t seem like the type to be concerned about student relationships. It was cocky of me to assume our instructor would give any consideration to me.
But the school heads were nowhere around, and no new faces lingered. So, who was
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he telling them to remember?
“First years,” Evan muttered under his breath, as if reading my confusion.
That only made it worse. Why would it matter that we were here? Unless… unless it had something to do with whatever secret they were hiding at this damn school.
Fear clawed at my heart as they circled each other. This could end really badly. I just needed to know thing, since neither of them would tell me.
“Why do they hate each other so much?” I asked Evan quickly. “What is it that they can‘ t get along with?”
The apology in his eyes made my stomach drop. “I-”
“You can’t tell me.” I sighed as Bastian called the match to begin.
It didn’t make any sense I tried to drag it out of him. He would probably just die, too. So it wasn’t just Nate and Max who were bound by the blood oath. Were… all of them?
The second Bastian’s hand dropped, they were on each other.
They moved fast, so fast that for a moment, I couldn’t tell where one began and the other ended. A blur of motion.
Nate dodged Max’s first strike with ease that looked practiced, but Max countered, his own movements just as smooth. Their limbs clashed, fists meeting forearms, kicks being blocked and redirected in perfect synchronization. Like a rehearsed dance, only lethal.
I had watched both of them fight before, but I had never seen them fight like this. It made me realize they were always taking it easy on their opponents if they really fought like… that!
And from what Instructor Bastain said, they weren’t even fighting at their best ability due to our presence.
How on earth was this… possible? How could they fight like that? So lethal yet so… rehearsed, as if they had the same mind.
Every strike was precise. Every dodge calculated.
They knew each other.
Not just in the way of opponents but like two forces who had been battling for years, like they could predict each other’s moves before they were even made.
It was mesmerizing, beautiful, and terrifying.
“This… this can’t be normal,” I murmured.
Eva’s face was pale. “It’s not.”
The look on every other first–year’s face mimicked ours.
I turned to her sharply. “Do you know how? Max ever spoke to you about this?”
to
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She shook her head. “No. But something is weird.”
I turned back just in time to see Nate narrowly avoid a hit that would have crushed his ribs, only to counter with a brutal elbow to Max’s jaw. The sound cracked through the air, but Max barely flinched before he landed a knee into Nate’s stomach.
The second and third years were stunned, gosh, even Bastain. And that told me one thing- no one had ever seen it get this far before. Evan had said that there was barely any blood.
I turned back to Evan. “Do they… do they feed your wolves something when you go into second year?”
Evan let out a short laugh, then his face darkened. “No matter what you do, don’t question anything. Don’t look into it. Just… wait until it’s your time.”
His expression was pained, like he was remembering something–or someone. A loud gasp ripped through the crowd.
Nate had Max in a headlock, but it lasted only a second before Max somehow spun and drove his knee into Nate’s chin, sending him stumbling backward. Blood dripped from his lip, and Nate wiped it away with the back of his hand, his face unreadable.
I swallowed hard. This was about me.
The reason there was more blood than anyone who has been here for years has seen. The fact that the fight was lethal and terrifying, apparently more than usual.
It was because of me.
I could see it in the way Max fought–furious, relentless. In the way Nate kept his focus even as his eyes flicked toward me every time I moved.
I hated this.
Before I knew what I was doing, I was moving toward the ring. I had to stop this.
Nate’s eyes snapped to me for a second, widening in panic and warning to stay away.
That second was all Max needed. He leveled a kick that sent Nate falling back, but just as Max followed up with a punch, Nate moved with a flip and kick of his own, faster than I’d ever seen, sending them both flying in opposite directions.
I clutched my chest, panic swelling. If they didn’t stop, they’d kill each other.
“Okay, stop!” I shouted, looking desperately at Bastian, who was still … stunned.
That’s when I knew for sure this would only end with both of them dead. I didn’t know how I knew, I just… knew. Like some sort of supernova. They couldn’t overpower each other, so they’d destroy each other.
“Stop!” I shouted, but they kept moving. I turned to Bastain again, though he barely ever regarded me. “Please, let them stop!” I begged.
Bastian exhaled sharply, finally snapping back to reality.
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“Draw!” he shouted, and relief crashed through me as both of them stopped.
Nate spit blood onto the grass, glaring at Max. Max just wiped his lip, his eyes already looking for me.
Before I could react, Max was there, standing in front of me, his hands cupping my face.
My breath hitched as he wiped away the tears I hadn’t realized were falling.
“Why would you do that?!” I snapped hitting against his chest in frustration. “Why would you challenge him?!”
His eyes darkened. “He messed with what’s mine.”
“He didn’t choose the challenge! It was assigned!” I yelled, my voice shaking, and he grabbed my wrists.
Was I mad at Max? No. Not really.
Was I terrified that they were going to kill each other, I couldn’t have stopped it? Yes.
“Why did you think you could win when you two obviously can’t beat each other?!”
Max exhaled heavily. “I was pissed enough to try.”
I shook my head. “You’re reckless and stupid, and I hate that you’re so impulsive!”
He kissed my knuckles and pulled me against his chest, his arms locking me there, and despite everything, I let him. I needed to feel that he was okay.
“I’m sorry I worried you,” he murmured, pressing a kiss to my hair. “I’m sorry.”
I relaxed into him, and he just held me there as Bastain called the next couple of challenges. I stayed impossibly still until I completely calmed down and my breathing grew leveled. Until I was sure that they were both alive, and whatever force they were
didn’t kill each other.
But I hated that I couldn’t help myself when I looked over Max’s shoulder.
Searching for Nate, to ensure he was okay, too.
