Page 181 of Bloodguard

It’s not much.

It’s just enough.

The rules state I’m supposed to open the crate. Nothing says I have to open it all the way.

The colt uses her back legs to kick, exactly as I thought.

She breaks through, stumbling backward and facing away from me. I don’t wait for her to gather her wits. She’s out. That means I can run anywhere within the circle.

I crash my axe down on the locks of the next crate, which is home to some bellowing, snuffling beast, and circle behind it. Ugeen said I had to open the crate in front of me but never that I couldn’t open others. That eerie laugh grows shriller and closer. She’s tickled pink and coming for me.

But the troll bear I just released is coming forher.

He’s a big boy. A strong boy. The kind of boy that’s more than capable of breaking the rest of the crate door. The door slams into the colt just as she spots me. She may be a killer, but so is the troll bear. He shuts her down, jumping on the remains of the door and pinning her to the sand.

The colt hisses. Yes,hisses. Her long tongue shoots out to ensnare the bear’s throat. The bear must have had a relative killed by a vampire colt, because he reacts instantly, slicing her tongue with sharp claws.

She doesn’t appreciate that, and for all his brawn, the bear lacks serious brains. He smacks at her, disregarding the deadly points protruding from her neck.

My rescue bear ends up stabbing himself through the paw. Twice.

That familiar buzzing sound zings through the sand. It’s time to move.

I don’t wait to see what happens next.

I take off with my buddy the axe and my best friend the sword. I don’t care who wins between the monsters behind me. Either way, the victor will be famished once their fight is done. It’s up to me to provide the meal. I bypass the clawed and splintered crate. I won’t waste my time breaking something open that can break free on its own.

It’s my mistake.

And I pay for it.

I pick the next crate, busting down the hinges secured by the padlocks. Then I press my back against the side wall, waiting for something with fangs to skitter out.

My shoulders droop. It’s quiet. Just as it was when I found Pega and Luther. The door creaks open when I push it with my axe. I don’t have to see the face of the person cowering in the corner to know who it is.

The scars covering his head are telling enough.

chapter 66

Maeve

“Ugeen. Take the queen back to the castle,” Soro says.

Soro doesn’t like me cheering for Leith, but I can’t help it. Just as I can’t help my response. “Fuck off, Soro,” I snap. No way am I leaving Leith.

I cry out in pain when Soro snatches my wrist. “I wasn’t asking.”

“Did you not hear me? I won’t go anywhere—”

His next squeeze breaks the bones in my wrist and brings me to my knees.

“Take her,” Soro orders.

I go back on my promise not to slap the unholy hell out of Ugeen. He falls on his ass, since that’s all this knob knows how to do. I reel on Soro, knowing everyone in the royal boxes is watching and can hear me. I straighten my shoulders and speak clearly for our audience. “You are unworthy to lead Arrow, just like your father before you. You threw in those gladiators—those friends of Leith, who have stood by him—on purpose. You must have known he would fight today.”

“I knew he would hear about the fate of his…friendsat the hand of another gladiator during today’s battle,” he says under his breath with a sneer. “But I never imagined he would enter the arena of his own free will.”

I point an accusing finger at him. “What kind of man—no, what kind ofkingrelies on devious mental games and trickery mere hours before he’s to sit on the throne?” I inch closer and drop my hands to my sides like a disappointed mother whose brat son went too far. “How can I ever trust you? How can our entirekingdomtrust you?”

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