Crucible of Fate

normal.
    Lush papyrus and shower trees trimmed both sides of the main courtyard, shading it in the afternoon. When I reached it, I saw Mikhail on one end and another man maybe fifty feet away. Taj was behind my sylvan, who was stripping off his clothes.
    “Wait!” I yelled from the top step that led down to the cobblestone quad.
    Samani was on the first landing, bent over the railing, crying. “Please!”
    “I said no!” Mikhail barked.
    I stopped beside her and put a hand on her back. “What?”
    She was trembling. “I’m forbidden from going down there, and he can order me to stay here because a hathen is below a sylvan and so he—”
    “I give you permission.”
    She moved fast, wheeling around and then flying down the steps. I leaned over the side to watch her descend. 
    “Do you love him?” I called after her. 
    “Oh, you have no idea,” she shouted back as she reached the bottom and then ran over to him.
    My sylvan pivoted around, and Samani froze, shivering, every part of her, I could tell, screaming for her to move, to go to his side.
    “Mikhail, you dick!” I yelled. “Why didn’t you fucking tell me?”
    All eyes on me, every single one.
    “It was not my semel’s affair, and is still not,” he assured me as he yanked off his shirt, flung it at Taj, and then started on his belt.
    “Who is the challenger?” I inquired as I came down the stairs, followed closely by Kabore. My guards kept Koren from trailing along.
    “Traore Uago, Ammon’s old sylvan.”
    I couldn’t see Mikhail for a few seconds while I descended the winding stairs before arriving on the sandy ground, but I heard him and started toward where he and my sheseru stood.
    “Taj.”
    He gave me his attention.
    “Bring the old sylvan and his second down here.”
    As he left, I saw Mikhail’s eyes flick to Samani.
    She lifted her chin even as it quivered.
    “Claim her now and I will strip her of her station as hathen and she will be only your intended mate, with no other duty. I will perform the ritual of handfasting when Yuri gets home, as the ritual, performed by a semel, must be witnessed by his mate. So says the law.”
    “No,” Samani rasped, her wet eyes beseeching. “I have a say too.”
    “Done,” Mikhail said, reaching out a hand to her. “Come and be mine.”
    She was torn. If she accepted her demotion, she would be Mikhail’s intended mate, and no one but he would have dominion over her. But… she would have to do whatever he told her, follow whatever course he laid out. Most women did not accept the role of betrothed anymore, as it gave their intended the right to do with them as they pleased. Normally only those marrying semels accepted the ritual of handfasting—they already were bound to the semel whether by being a member of his tribe or by being his intended.
    “Samani,” Mikhail said, and I saw his eyes soften in a way I didn’t think they could. I had no idea his gaze could ever melt at the sight of another.
    She flung herself into his arms, and he clutched her tight to his heart. They were beautiful together: her dark skin compared to his fair coloring created a gorgeous contrast. The way he held her, as though she were a precious, fragile thing, pleased me. I loved seeing Mikhail’s heart beating out there in the open, enjoyed his vulnerability as he buried his face in the hair of the woman he loved. I wished Yuri were there to see it.
    “You belong to me now,” Mikhail assured her. “And you’ll have the life back that Ammon El Masry took from you when your father sold you to him.”
    I knew that part of the story because she had shared it with me. Her father had covered his gambling debts with the semel-aten by selling his daughter. She had been studying abroad when suddenly her werepanther life intruded on her human one, and she went to live in the home of the semel-aten, expected to be a harem girl and service not only Ammon El Masry but any of his guests as well.
    “You don’t understand,” she wept. “I just want you, you ignorant man.”
    He laughed softly as she coiled her arms around his neck and hung on for dear life.
    I threw up my hands. “I miss everything.”
    I noticed Koren chuckling as Taj brought Traore Uago and his second to me. Each seemed ready for his challenge.
    “My sylvan isn’t going to fight today,” I announced. “I am.”
    Several in attendance gasped, Mikhail’s head jerked up, and everyone started yelling at once.
    “Silence!” Taj roared,