Chapter 11: The Sacred Combat

The Alphas and nobles scrambled backward in a sudden panic, clearing a wide circle on the polished marble floor. Nikolai stepped to the outer perimeter, his broad arms crossed over his chest, his sharp golden eyes locked dead on Lord Ironfang and the surrounding guards to ensure no one dared to interfere.

Elder Vance stepped into the center of the ring, raising his wooden staff high between us. "By the ancient laws of Mount Voros, this duel ends only by submission, exile, or death. No external magic beyond your inner wolf and true bloodline may be used." He slammed his staff onto the stone floor with a echoing thud. "Begin!"

Lucas moved instantly. He exploded forward with terrifying Alpha speed, bringing his heavy broadsword down in a deadly vertical arc aimed straight for my shoulder.

Instead of trying to block his brute strength head-on, I ducked beneath his guard, the star-iron blade humming as I sliced across his leather chest armor. Sparking violet light bit deep into his flank, forcing him to leap backward with a harsh, sharp grunt of pain. Blood instantly soaked through his tunic.

"You've gotten fast, Elora," Lucas growled, his silver eyes flashing with pure rage as his inner wolf pushed to the surface. Muscles surged under his skin as he partially activated his Alpha form, his frame expanding with terrifying, lethal power.

"I had to," I replied coldly, circling him like a hawk tracking prey. "While you were playing King in your palace, I was learning how to hunt one."

Lucas lunged again, executing a flurry of brutal, practiced strikes. Clang! Clang! Clang! Metal slammed against metal, sending showers of bright sparks cascading across the Great Hall. His blows were heavy enough to shatter normal bone, but the Crescent magic coursing through my blood absorbed the shock, fanning the violet flames along my star-iron blade.

He feinted sharply to the right, then delivered a brutal side-kick to my ribs. The impact knocked the wind from my lungs, sending me skidding across the slippery marble, my boots catching dangerously near the edge of the elevated dais.

"Yield, Elora!" Lucas shouted, his chest heaving, blood dripping steadily from the gash on his side onto the pristine white stone floor. "I don't want to kill you! Take Nikolai, leave the territory, and I will let you live!"

"You never let me do anything, Lucas," I hissed, pushing myself up off the cold stone as my inner wolf roared inside my mind.

I let go of every last restraint. The crimson crescent mark on my collarbone exploded in a blinding flare of light. Brilliant violet aura wrapped around my body like ethereal armor, raising the ambient temperature in the cavernous room until the very air shivered with ozone.

I blurred forward with supernatural speed.

Before Lucas could bring his heavy broadsword up to parry, I struck three times in rapid, devastating succession. Crack! The Sovereign's Edge shattered his forged silver sword into a dozen broken shards that rained down upon the floor. I spun on my heel, bringing the flat side of my flaming blade hard against his jaw, sending him crashing heavily onto his back in the center of the hall.

An instant, breathless silence fell over the gathered nobility.

I stepped over his fallen frame, pressing the glowing, razor-sharp tip of the Sovereign's Edge directly against the hollow of his throat.

Lucas lay sprawled on the marble floor, his Alpha aura completely shattered, staring up at me with wide silver eyes filled with shock, agonizing defeat, and a strange, quiet acceptance. The thin, painful stub of our severed mate bond finally snapped completely in two, leaving behind nothing but vast, open space in my chest.

"Submit," I demanded, my voice echoing with pure royal authority that demanded obedience.

Lucas swallowed hard, the radiant heat of the star-iron blade blistering the skin on his neck. Slowly, his clenched hands loosened, resting flat on the blood-stained stone.

"I submit," Lucas rasped, his head tilting back in total defeat. "The crown is yours... Queen Elora."