I called Viktor as I walked out the front door of the stadium. “Sofia?”

  “Did you even get her the equipment?” I seethed into the phone as I marched toward Slava’s car.

  “Yes! I got her the knives and flashbangs! That was all we could get in tim—”

  “What did I say? What did I say about failing me again? You will fix this immediately! Get as many weapons as possible before I visit him tonight, I don’t care what they are! And if Marnus doesn’t win tomorrow, you will be at fault! Agh!” I shouted as I hung up, arriving at Slava’s car a moment later.

  His eyebrow was raised as he leaned casually against the car door.

  “What?” I snapped.

  His eyes narrowed a fraction, “Do not use that tone with my young lady. And I think even America could hear you shouting at whoever you were just calling. Call them back and apologize, or you can walk home,” he said leaning against the car like we had all the time in the world.

  “Excuse me? Slava, you don’t understand! He was the reason Kate lost! The incompetent didn’t give her the right weapons! If Viktor had done as he was told, then that brute would have lost! I wouldn’t have to see his stupid face anymore!”

  He didn’t respond for a moment, and I saw people glancing at us as they walked past.

  He sighed, “You think so? I have my doubts as to whether any more weapons on that poor girl would have made a difference, but now you know for the future,” he said with a shrug, “I fail to see how her losing was his fault though.”

  “Slava, it was his fault! He didn’t do as instructed, he—”

  “Sofia. You just admitted he did as he was told. He gave her the weapons. Stop blaming him for Boris’s victory and call him back! You are better than this temper tantrum, and I did not raise you to be a brat,” heat had crept into his voice as he took a step toward me.

  I waved a dismissive hand. “I don’t want to get into this! Just drive me home, please, or I’m going to stay with Mother,” I said as I walked around the side of the car.

  When I stopped on the other side and tried to open the door, I found it locked. I glared up at Slava, to see hurt and betrayal etched into his face. I froze, the argument dying in my throat as I realized this was the first time I had shut him out. The first time I had ever picked her place over his.

  His eyes narrowed to slits, the halo over his head growing a shade darker. My Slava wasn’t standing there anymore, with his easy charm, his kind smile, and his bad singing. The saint of Kaleidos stood before me, and he found me wanting.

  “You will call that boy back, and you will apologize,” he ordered, staring at me, unblinking.

  I looked him in the eye, then looked at my shoes. I pulled the stream out of my pocket and put it to my ear.

  I waited a few seconds, before I said through gritted teeth, “Hello Viktor. I apologize for speaking to you that way. But you will still follow my instructions from earlier, am I clear?”

  Met with expected silence, I just nodded to no one in particular, “Good.”

  Slava was studying me from over the car roof as I hung up on my imaginary caller. I would not apologize for reprimanding my subordinates when needed, even if it hurt their little feelings.

  “Was that so hard?” he said with an eye roll, climbing in the car with a heavy thud. I followed a second later and turned on the radio. We did not speak the entire drive home.

  The moment I got home, I raced up to my room and slammed the door, ignoring the heavy sigh I heard all the way from the living room. I started relentlessly studying the match I had seen earlier.

  I was attempting to figure out why the foam had had such an effect on him, but every time I went over the moment he struck that fire extinguisher, it seemed nothing more than luck.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  Nevertheless, Kate had done the best by far against the civvie. She had given me extremely valuable information, such as Boris being more dangerous with a shield than without one. But he grows reckless and seems to be far more willing to get hurt. A vulnerability I would exploit to its fullest extent.

  I picked up my water bottle and took a sip, even as a small voice whispered in my ear, You have found many of his weaknesses and many of his strengths. Has it made a difference?

  I tried to ignore the thought, my fingers tightening around my water bottle as I restarted the video for the fifty-seventh time that evening.

  Why didn’t she switch tactics? Why didn’t she try to take the one thing keeping him safe? Why didn’t the bullet travel two centimeters to the right?

  Why, why, why?

  Why won’t he just fall?

  The video played Kate bravely running forward, screaming her warcry as if she wasn’t about to be killed with a single slap from a half-dead man. My water bottle shattered in my hand as the slap landed, the water spilling treacherously down my legs as I breathed deeply, in a vain attempt at calming myself.

  This is what the civvie does to me? Make me a fool who can’t keep her temper in check? I control him, not the other way around.

  I redressed, throwing all my clothes onto the floor just outside my room as I sent a text, Pick me up. I wish to speak with Marnus.

  I threw a coin onto the floor and waited patiently.

  Viktor arrived not a moment later, looking at everything but me. As his eyes fixated on his shoes, I thought about apologizing. About letting him know his contributions were necessary, that I was thankful he was fetching me so late at night with only half-hearted complaints. Instead I just gave him a cold stare, grabbing his shoulder.

  “What are you waiting for?” I growled.

  He flinched at my voice, but a moment later I was standing in a familiar scene in an unfamiliar room, everything almost bare except for a pistol openly lying on a desk, a half-naked man looking startled and Bongi, leaning casually against the door.

  I spoke calmly to the man trying to hide under his covers, “Get up.”

  He scrambled out of bed, saluting even as he tried to hide the manhood poking out of his boxers.

  “You will fight the civvie tomorrow. And you must win. There are no second chances now, and you can not lose.”

  “I will certainly try ma’am!” he said, lip quivering, his eyes wide with panic.

  I made him hold my gaze, “While your victory yesterday was shameful, put it out of your mind. When you are fighting with him tomorrow, you will use every underhanded trick you can think of. Now here’s what you're going to do…”

  I was halfway through my explanation of what he would do if the civvie had a shield or not when the door flew open. Bongi shoved forward a few stumbling steps, righting himself next to me. And in walked Colonel Walker, a thin frown hidden behind hateful eyes.

  He stopped in the middle of the room, “I gave you a direct! Order!” he seethed, his voice low yet echoing off each wall, “Did I not! You were not to interfere. Thank whatever cunt exists in the sky I didn’t catch you with weapons.”

  He looked at the other two men trying to slink away with open disgust.

  “Marnus, stop saluting. You three, come with me. We need to have a long discussion about your interference.”

  The other two’s eyes were wide, like they had just seen a ghost as he turned and held the door open for us. Viktor stopped breathing, his face contorting into sheer, unadulterated terror.

  We walked towards the door, all of us lining up close together as the world crashed down around me.

  I hadn’t even instructed Marnus on keeping his distance. How would he know what to do? He was going to lose. My brigade, my command... everything was shattering before me, and he would be the sole reason the civvie would wear the black—

  I felt a hand fall on my shoulder, and then I was standing in my room, staring at my bed.

  Too stunned to speak, too stunned to move, all I could feel was the hand on my shoulder start shaking. “What did you do?” I whispered as the day somehow became worse.

  “I… I left,” Viktor whispered back.

  I turned to see Bongi standing with us, his eyes wide like we had just witnessed a murder as he looked to the sky, muttering under his breath, “We are so dead.”

  “Take us back!” I shouted desperately, turning around and grabbing Viktor’s shoulders. “Take us back right now! There’s no telling what he could do!”

  He looked like he wanted to cry, “I can’t. The only coins I got left are in Bongi’s room and my room.”

  I felt my blood boil, before I whirled on Bongi, “How long would it take you to get from here to the stadium? We are twenty-six kilometers away,” I said, running through the math frantically in my head. It would take us a little less than an hour to run back. Maybe forty minutes if we really pushed it.

  “I don’t know, fifteen minutes maybe? Maybe a little faster, but he won’t be there when we arrive.”

  I put my head in my hands, “Okay, it’s okay. I can text him on stream, maybe I can fix—”

  My stream dinged. An unknown profile I knew all too well had sent me a message, my heart tried to thunder out my chest as my hands shook, four words staring up at me.

  You will regret that.