The Arena was full of impatient chanting, but thanks to the clever architecture that carefully directed the sound, the drunken laughter from the box was nearly loud enough to cover the crowd’s demand for more death. The last match had been a particularly bloody one—the monster had decided to play with its food—and it was taking the arena attendants an especially long time to turn the sand enough to cover the rivers of black and red.
That laughter became confused murmurs when a Royal Guard in full gear strode into the box. And a moment later, their booming voice made more so by the curving stone of the walls, silenced the entire Arena.
“Announcing the Crown Prince, His Highness Richard Lucian Earthbreaker!”
Fortunately for everyone, the jeers and curses tossed out by the crowd were hidden beneath a blanket of cheers. Lushale had many strong feelings about the Earthbreakers and their Crown Prince in particular, in both directions. Especially here in Broken Earth.
The nobles in the box scrambled to their feet as Richard strode to the front of the box and raised a hand. The roar of the crowd surged at the sight of their prince in his blood-red suit.
“Your Highness!” Lord Warin said, startled. “We hadn’t heard word that you’d be joining us—we would have waited to begin the—”
Richard gestured to those in the front row of seats and commanded, “Move.”
They all shuffled aside quickly.
Richard directed his entourage forward with two fingers.
Stunned, Warin muttered, “Lord Vigore…”
Z wore a plain white chiton and general disheveled air, which did not match the confident smirk on their face. They winked and said, “Forgive our late arrival, Warin, the full moon has us all acting a bit oddly beneath it. The night barely feels real, does it?”
Warin relaxed and returned Z’s smile, but only until Jac and Ishe stepped forward as well, dressed in their own simple chitons. Jac freed Puissance from her sheath and set the hammer head down before taking her seat.
“You’ve arrived at the moment of our final sacrifice,” Warin said, giving Richard a slight bow even as he eyed Jac and Ishe warily. “Please, Your Highness, call out our last gift. The woman has wronged you and our queen more than anyone, it’s only right you’re here to witness her death.”
Richard raised a hand, standing every inch a prince from the shiny bronze hair to the arrogant lift of his chin to the broadness of his shoulders and the straightness of his posture. As happened most times Jac looked at Richard, the swift, vicious urge to smash him into pink paste with her hammer swept through her. The crowd quieted somewhat, waiting on the words that would fall from his mouth.
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“Tonight, beneath this Full Dry Moon,” he spoke loud and sure, “we wet this Broken Earth with rivers of rebel blood to honor the Daughter Iabelia, and to celebrate Order! The Order that raised walls across Lushale with the Earthbreaker name!”
He paused to let the clamor from the crowd swell. Drunk off wine and blood, the stands dared to scream their true feelings—of both praise and rage. The crowd writhed, ripping their own clothes and throwing whatever was in hand. More than a few fights started up.
“There is no Chaos that can overcome Order! No Dark that can live in the Light!” Richard turned his head just enough to throw Z a wicked glare over his shoulder. “But if these rebels want to live in the Darkness—let them die in it as well!”
The gates screeched open, and the woman who walked out onto the sands seemed to take the whole Arena off guard. She was lean and tall, and walked with her head held as high and proud as Richard’s. Long, dirty-blonde hair hung down her front, the only thing covering her breasts. They’d given her a loincloth to cover herself and nothing else, so the violence all over her body was on full display. Her right hand gripped a short sword, dull and chipped.
And she stared Richard right in the eye.
Sudden, alarming emotion swept over Jac at the sight of her. She felt sick. Hot and cold at once. Felt an ache welling in her chest. And she had no idea why.
All eyes in the box snapped to Richard, who just stared back at the woman, the moonlight illuminating the color rising in his face. Fuck.
The woman raised her sword, and let it kiss her neck. Jac’s stomach turned—no. This proud, broken woman wasn’t going to let it end like that, was she?
But the woman only grabbed her hair with her other hand, pulled it taut, and slashed. Next, she grabbed the other side of her hair as well and severed that too. Then she tossed the last of her modesty away, leaving nothing to hide her chest.
Jac realized the woman was crying.
It was obvious that Richard was fighting to keep his voice even, but the rage rattled his words like an earthquake. “For your betrayal of your country—!”
“You have betrayed your country!” she screamed, pointing her sword up at him. “And the queen her queendom! She kidnaps our children, marks our bodies, collars our necks—how am I, the one who wants freedom for her people, the traitor? How is Daivad the traitor?”
Fuck.
Jac straightened, one hand closing around Puissance’s handle. She was so focused on Richard, waiting for the explosion, she didn’t even think about the fact that her contract would never allow her to use her magic against him.
For several long, trembling moments, Richard was silent. When he finally spoke, it was low and shaking, but the Arena had gone so silent that every word was clear. “If you want to walk my bastardbeast little brother’s footsteps, then let me give you a glimpse of where his path leads in the near future. Where it ends.”
Then, he shrieked loud enough to make the whole Arena jump, “Open every cage! Unchain every beast! Set them all upon this bitch, and watch how the Chaos repays her worship! NOW!”
A rumbling began, enough to shudder the very stone they sat on. And then the shrieks, the howling, the unholy sounds of a dozen starving monsters bubbled from behind the gates. The rebel stood tall, kept her eyes on Richard the entire time. Even as the gates swung open and snarling nightbeasts with slavering jaws surged out.
It wasn’t until the first beast, an enormous feline creature with flashing red eyes and foot-long fangs bursting from its lips, rushed forward that she twirled her little sword and whirled. Beaten, bruised, dirty, broken, and still the woman moved with an elegance that almost reminded Jac of—Tobei.