Page 103 of Bloodguard

Shit.How are we supposed to leave this walled city?

We could find a place to scale the wall, but we can’t abandon the horses. On foot, it would take days to make the trek over the mountains—also, I’ll admit I’ve grown quite fond of my mare and don’t want to leave her behind. We can’t hunker down and hide, either. The penalty for missing an event in the arena is death. Imustget back to Arrow.

“This way,” Caelen instructs, guiding his moon horse along backstreets until we’re approaching the main bailey at an angle.

I spot the platoon of blue-and-green-uniformed soldiers at the same time Caelen does. He growls something I can’t make out.

They block the only open path out of this walled city.

I reach for my sword.

“Wait!” Caelen says.

Then I see her. The Arrow guards have surrounded Giselle. “I’m a citizen of Arrow,” she proclaims. “Get your hands off me!”

“She knows we’re here,” Caelen whispers. “She’s providing us a diversion. Don’t waste it.”

“You dimwitted, arse-sniffing, swine-kissing fools, you have no right to detain me!” She starts pushing and shoving the soldiers as we walk our horses through the crowded courtyard toward the main gate.

Caelen has a bag of gold in his hand, and he drops it into the palm of a Tunder guard stationed near the gate. He’s a giant several feet taller than Luther. The guard strides ahead of us, blocking us from view. We clear the gate.

I know I shouldn’t look back, but I can’t stop myself. That’s Maeve’s sister. I can’t leave her.

The gate is closing. “Caelen…”

“Give it a moment,” he tells me.

His voice is a low, rumbling growl. His beast is at the surface. Maybe that’s his plan—to shift and go back for her.

But if they seal the gate…

The air around me charges like it did in the arena before that mage-made storm. I can smell the change in the air. It reminds me of the days leading up to flood season in Siertos, when heat-lightning would streak across the sky as the clouds continued to circle and grow.

The last thing I see as the gate shuts is Giselle peeling off her gloves.

Right before a massive ball of fire erupts.

chapter 38

Maeve

Leith and Caelen have been gone for hours, but I know it will be many more before they return. The trip takes between seven and eight hours in each direction—and that’s without stopping or taking the time to meet the smuggler, Xavier, if he was even there. I worry that Caelen’s contacts in his homeland may not be reliable or that relations with Arrow might test their loyalties. Every minute that passes feels like days.

I look up from the ledger I’m reading through and stare out of the parlor window. Within that spread of forest lies our spot beside the lake.

My thoughts keep circling to the events of last night with Leith.

The passion he awakened in me is like some invisible ribbon tethering us together. I want to do what we shared again. I want to doeverythingwith my gladiator.

I feel my mouth curving, and I get it now. I understand what makes Leith so arrogant. Be it in the arena, beneath the stars, in a bed, or against the wall, he is…unequaled.

I want to dwell in the blissful memories. I want to take us back to those intimate moments again and again. But as beautiful as the memories of last night are, there are too many other harsh realities staring me in the face.

Leith still faces two matches in the arena.

My birthday is twelve days away—and I can only imagine what will unfold with Soro and Vitor when I’m fully eligible to marry and rule.

Leith’s family is vulnerable.

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