Chapter 22: The River's End

The tournament hall emptied like a punctured lung, the roar of the crowd replaced by the shuffle of feet and the low murmur of conspiracy. Leo stood at the edge of the pit, the staff heavy in his hands, the First Fracture cold against his chest. The coin in his pocket had gone quiet, but the eye in his mind remained open, watchful, unblinking. He didn't feel like a victor. He felt like a man who h...