Page 127 of Bloodguard

I kneel or at least try to. The shackles and crowded conditions make it almost impossible.

“What happened to the others?” I ask. “Most here are new.”

Luther shrugs. “Not have more…for all.”

They ran out of medicine is what he means.

Luther keeps his voice low and scoops up a large handful of mud. He throws it at those surrounding us who are straining to hear. They were pretending to speak to each other. But you can’t pretend around Luther. He’s smarter than that.

Most shuffle away. But two—the closest man and the one who got smeared with the most muck—lunge for Luther. He swats the first away with barely a flick of his wrist. The other, I kick in the knee, knocking him face-first into the mud. He’ll be all right if he’s not thrown in the arena right away. But if they pull him now, he won’t stand a chance.

I’m not trying to play the bastard, but if you come at me or mine, you need to come harder than that.

He’s lucky I only hurt his knee.

“Guards not happy,” Luther says. He mulls over how to form his words. “Plants…make us…better.”

“I know,” I agree. Maeve’s work is genius. The remedies are designed to treat not only injuries but underlying infections and even shore up older wounds.

Luther eyes me, knowing I’m holding back information.

“I wasn’t positive the remedies would save all of you,” I say. “I’m glad they did, and that all of you shared them when you didn’t have to.”

“No,” he says. “That you.”

Luther is right, and I don’t think I realized how right he is until now. Maeve’s first treatments were meant for me—to heal my injuries and keep me going. I never intended to let anyone else have them. But when I saw Luther and what Soro’s twisted games had done to him, I had to help. Just like Maeve helped me.

“Do the guards know what you did?” I ask.

Luther shakes his immense head. “No… Hid well,” he says. “Small.”

“They weren’t easy to find,” I interpret for him.

He nods, his small eyes moving left and right before he leans forward. “More?” he asks.

I lower myself as much as I can. To anyone who doesn’t know us, they might mistake us for whispering or possibly kissing. Doesn’t matter to me. Doesn’t matter to Luther, especially when I reach into my waistband and slide the envelope of fresh healing herbs into his new shirt.

“Bad today,” he says. “None come back yet.”

“Do you know what we will face in there?”

“Fire,” Luther replies. “Smell burning.”

Fire is what Maeve learned, too. Hell, I hope that doesn’t mean another fucking dragon.

My stomach sinks at the thought, but it’s how much I hate these treacherous royals that returns it to its place. “Luther,” I say. “What do you think about taking down Vitor and Soro?”

Maeve and I discussed this option should Vitor and the royal court try to deny her the throne. In truth, if we didn’t have an entire royal army to deal with, me and the gladiators would have done this long ago. Maybe all we need is a princess on our side. Maeve wants her Papa Andres free—we all do, even if heisguilty.

I still think there’s more to it.

If Vitor even tries to pull some shit like convincing the court to make him king, I will personally rip the crown from his cold, severed head. Enough is enough. Andres needs his freedom, and Maeve’s people deserve more. I’m not naive—we’re looking to take on a hostile and established regime. But seeing all the good that I can still have, I want others to have it, too.

Do we think we can manage on our own? Hell no. I’m not even sure we can escape these pens without a legion of guards raining down on us should word of an uprising get out too soon. But Luther is a fine place to start, and my fellow gladiators are a way to follow. We all fight. We’re all ruthless. We are exactly what my Maeve needs.

If the damn lords didn’t want an army of trained murderers after them, they shouldn’t have conspired to break our spirits.

And they sure as fuck shouldn’t have driven us to become Bloodguards.

---