The Guardian They Left for Dead

Chapter 7: The Price of Defiance

The colosseum went silent as Mira stepped onto the platform but soon the shock faded and laughter began.

A servant with magical restraints challenging Asher, the man who had just crushed every warrior before him, sounded more like a joke than a fight.

Asher looked at her plain dress and empty hands, then laughed with the crowd.

“Have the beatings finally damaged your head?”

Mira stopped across from him. “I said I challenge you.”

A noble called from the stands, “Will she fight with a serving tray?”

Another voice followed. “Perhaps she thinks stubbornness is a weapon.”

Mira glanced in their direction. “A noisy market always has more mouths than brains.”

The laughter around died down a bit and she scoffed then turned to face Asher

Asher’s smile thinned. “Where did you find this courage?”

“I would rather die here than spend one night as your mistress.”

The crowd stirred, but Mira was not finished.

“And wipe that proud look off your face. You defeated frightened men and almost broke your arm congratulating yourself. Jayden would have ended this competition before your bootlickers finished shouting your name.”

Asher’s eyes turned cold.

“You still compare me to him?”

“Compare?” Mira gave him a disgusted look. “A dog standing on a mountain does not become a wolf.”

His jaw tightened. “You have always had a filthy mouth.”

“And you have always had a weak heart. That is why every word hurts.”

Ice cracked beneath Asher’s feet.

He crossed the platform in an instant and struck her shoulder. Mira flew backward, hit the stone and rolled, but she forced herself onto one knee before the pain could settle.

“Yield,” Asher ordered.

She wiped the blood from her mouth. “You first.”

His fist sent her down again.

This time, a kick followed. It struck her ribs and threw her across the platform while the restraints around her wrists burned, sealing away the little magic she still possessed.

“You cannot use your power,” Asher said as he approached. “You can barely stand. What did you expect to achieve?”

Mira pushed herself up, shaking.

“To remind everyone that even in chains, I still have more spine than you.”

An ice spear formed in his hand and he drove it forward, but Mira twisted aside. The blade missed her heart and tore through her side instead.

Blood spread across her dress.

Asher struck her shoulder with the spear shaft, then swept her legs from beneath her. She fell hard, yet when he told her to stay down, her fingers pressed against the stone again.

She rose and whispers passed through the crowd.

“She cannot win.”

“Why won’t she surrender?”

"Well... she definitely has a strong spirit to be able to fight despite the restraints."

Mira heard them but she did not care.

Asher looked at her with growing anger. He had expected her defiance to break after one blow. Instead, every time she fell, she rose with the same hatred in her eyes. This was embarrassing for him.

He threw the ice spear aside and caught her by the throat then he lifted her from the ground.

Mira’s feet left the platform.

“Say it,” he ordered. “Say I am stronger than Jayden Jian.”

Mira struggled for breath, but a smile still appeared on her bloodied lips.

“You need a dying woman to tell you that?” she whispered. “How embarrassing.”

Asher slammed her onto the stone and the platform cracked beneath her back.

Mira’s vision blurred and for several seconds, she could not breathe.

Asher crouched beside her, his voice low enough that only those nearest could hear.

“You do not care what happens to you. Fine.”

His hand caught her chin and forced her face toward him.

“But what about your daughter?”

Mira froze and Asher saw it and a cruel smile slowly returned to his face.

“There it is,” he murmured. “At last, something you fear.”

“Do not touch her.”

Her voice was weak, but the warning in it was real and Asher laughed.

“You are lying here half-dead and still giving orders?”

Mira tried to rise, but he pressed one knee against her wounded side and forced her down.

“If you keep resisting me, I will send men back to Voss Manor,” he said. “have that little girl dragged out of whatever corner they keep her in. No food or warmth and no one to answer when she cries, I might even throw her to the beasts.”

Mira’s face lost all colour and Asher leaned closer.

“And when she asks for her mother, they will tell her you chose your pride over her.”

Tears gathered in Mira’s eyes.

“You bastard!”

“Yes,” Asher said. “But I am the bastard holding her life.”

Mira’s breathing broke.

She had endured being beaten, starved and chained. She could endure more and die here and still spit in his face but Nia could not protect herself.

Mira shut her eyes and an old saying her mother once told her passed through her mind.

A tree may bend beneath the storm, but that does not mean its roots have surrendered.

When Mira opened her eyes again, the fire inside them had not died but only gone deeper.

“What do you want?” she asked.

Asher smiled and stood.

“Louder.”

Mira swallowed the blood in her mouth. “What do you want?!”

“I want you to admit you were wrong.”

Silence spread through the colosseum and Asher pointed to the ground before him.

“Kneel properly.”

Mira was already on the ground, but she understood what he meant.

He wanted submission and not defeat so she slowly pushed herself upright, then lowered both knees to the stone.

The crowd watched.

Asher’s smile widened. “Now say Jayden Jian abandoned you.”

Mira looked up at him and her hands shook.

“Say it,” he repeated, “or your daughter pays for your pride.”

A tear slid down Mira’s cheek.

“Jayden…” Her voice caught.

Asher waited.

Mira lowered her head. “Jayden abandoned me.”

The words nearly tore her apart but Asher looked pleased. “And?”

She said nothing then his eyes narrowed. “And you will serve me.”

Mira’s jaw tightened.

“I will serve you.”

“Like a loyal woman?”

Mira’s nails dug into her palms.

“Yes.”

Asher looked around at the crowd, enjoying the silence but still, it was not enough.

“Bow.”

Mira remained still.

Asher’s voice lowered. “Your daughter.”

Slowly and painfully, Mira bent forward until both hands touched the bloodstained stone.

Laughter rose from several seats and Asher let it continue but then he stepped closer and placed one boot on her shoulder, forcing her lower.

“This is where loyalty to a dead man brings a woman,” he announced. “Remember it well.”

Mira’s whole body trembled not from fear but from the effort it took not to bite through her own tongue.

Asher finally lifted his foot.

“Good,” he said. “Now perhaps I believe you.”

Mira slowly raised her head, tears and hatred burning in her eyes.

“You promised,” she whispered. “I did everything you asked. Leave my daughter alone.”

Asher stared at her for a moment, then laughed.

“No.”

Mira froze,the word struck harder than his fists.

She had knelt before him, bowed her head and forced herself to say Jayden abandoned her. She had swallowed every bit of humiliation because she believed it would protect Nia but Asher had never planned to keep his word.

“You lied,” she breathed.

“And you believed me.”

Rage tore through her. Mira pushed herself up and lunged at him, but the restraints around her wrists flashed and slammed her back onto her knees.

“You coward!” she screamed. “You could not break me, so you hid behind a child!”

Asher grabbed her hair and forced her head back.

“Look around you,” he said. “You knelt. You begged. I broke you before everyone.”

Mira’s body trembled. She wanted to tear his throat open, but she could barely move. Worse, she had no idea whether Nia was still in house Voss or he has her

“What happened to my daughter?” Her anger cracked beneath the fear. “Where is she?”

Asher released her with a cruel smile. “Perhaps she is still alive.”

The blood drained from Mira’s face.

“Perhaps?”

“You should have thought of her before challenging me.”

Tears spilled down Mira’s face, but there was nothing weak in the way she looked at him. It was the despair of a mother trapped too far away to protect her child, mixed with the rage of a woman who had just realised every humiliation had been part of his game.

“You are less than an animal,” she said. “Even a rabid dog knows not to bite a child to prove its strength.”

Asher’s expression hardened and he turned his palm upward, and a long blade of ice formed in his grip.

“You are still too wild,” he said. “A woman who obeys only because she is threatened will bite the moment her chain loosens.”

Mira stared at the blade, then back at him.

“You made me submit.”

“And now I know you can be broken.”

Her lips trembled with rage. “You did not break me. You only proved that your word is worth less than the dirt beneath my knees.”

The crowd fell silent and Asher’s eyes became murderous.

The ice blade sharpened, glowing with killing force as he raised it above her.

“I do not keep disloyal things.”

Mira tried to move, but the restraints tightened and locked her in place. She could only watch the blade rise while Nia’s face filled her mind.

Her daughter waiting for her, crying alone and believing her mother would return.

Mira’s anger collapsed into raw helplessness.

“Nia…” she breathed tears slipping down.

Asher smiled coldly.

“Do not worry, bitch. Your daughter will follow soon.”

Mira’s eyes widened.

“You promised me!”

The blade came down but suddenly, a tiny black stone cut through the air.

Crack!

It struck the ice blade and shattered it into countless frozen pieces before the weapon could touch Mira.