Chapter 56

**Sloane**

They line them up in two rows across the yard, wraiths I trained beside years ago, wraiths who will take a pound of flesh if it buys them one rung up in Dmitri’s ledger.

“Begin,” Dmitri says, and the whistle rips through the air.

Rafe comes first. He’s got thick wrists, heavy shoulders, and slow feet. He swings for my head the way he always does. I step inside the arc of his punch and