Page 154 of Bloodguard

“What?”

Steam funnels from his nose.Poof. Poof. Poof.If he’s laughing at me, I’m going to ram one of his tusks up his nose. “Soro killed Vitor, and Aurora feasted. Gladiators die in the arena, and Aurora nurses from their blood and bones.”

“Do you really think this is motivating me to help you?”

There goes Tut, looking all offended again. Well, too damn bad.

“Aurora was never a threat, Princess,” he says. “When she appeared at all those battles, it was only to feast on the dead. She’s part of the ecosystem. But she was painted as a monster by the monsters who desired to keep her.”

“How did she rise?” I take a moment to compose myself when his mouth shuts tight. I must demonstrate patience, even though I severely lack it. “General Tut, I know you don’t want to tell me. But considering I haven’t sung like a canary to Soro, the least you can do is tell me how.”

“Two soldiers—Bloodguards, actually—bled upon her nest,” he says. “Back before there was a coliseum, when it was just empty ground used for training and tournaments.”

Horror replaces my anger, making my stomach turn.

“When Aurora was killed, Avianna and Vitor waitedfor yearsfor her to be reborn from the ashes,” Tut says. “But she didn’t rise. They carved catacombs into the porous stone beneath your castle so no one could find her and left her ashes on an altar. When those men died, fighting each other for glory and coin, their blood soaked the sand where the arena now stands. Vitor—I think it was him—felt the ground quake. When he went down to the catacombs, he discovered a hatchling had stirred to life and was reaching up to catch the dripping blood of the fallen warriors.”

I rub my face, wanting to scream at how truly sick and twisted this entire tale has been.

“Aurora was gentle,” Tut says, eyeing me like I’m close to the brink of insanity. He’s not wrong. “She let the queen and Vitor hold her. The queen sliced her own arm to nurse her, but Aurora wouldn’t take her blood. They tried animals, with no luck. It wasn’t until they offered her the corpse of a soldier that they figured out that Aurora only fed on the dead…”

“And that’s when their murdering spree began?”

He sighs. “Yes. Servants first, because they were readily accessible and already within the castle… But her true purpose is out there.” He inclines his arm toward the window. “It’s why she soared around the realms. Eating dead things left behind—”

“And thus, creating new life with her spirit,” I finish for him. “Balance.” I curl into my stomach. “They didn’t build the arena around the dead Bloodguards to honor them,” I say. “They did it to feed Aurora.”

“Ya,” Tut says. “The bigger she got, the more she had to eat. And they killed and bled and fed her so that every ounce of magic she could muster would be trapped beneath that cursed arena. So Arrow would grow strong.”

I understand all of it.

The games, the gladiators, the “criminals.”

Every brutal action taken to ensure Arrow’s dominance among the realms.

And look what it has done to the world. If freeing her will balance out the Erth so every realm can thrive, can I really fault Tut for his actions? Like Vitor said, a small sacrifice for the greater good. But what…what if Tut has no plans to free her at all and this is only a cover for something more sinister? Could I live with myself if I was fooled into Arrow’s demise?

“I…I can’t free Aurora,” I say.

“I don’t need you beside me, Your Highness. My people and I just need a distraction. Something that will occupy Soro and his cohorts long enough for us to get to Aurora and set her free.”

His small black eyes blink back at me hopefully.

“I’m listening,” I say, not because I’m going to help him but because I need to figure out what is really going on here.

“All you have to do is keep Soro busy,” he says, licking his fangs. “The only way to Aurora is through the dungeons. Keep Soro with you, distract him and anyone else close to him,please.”

Something isn’t adding up. I clutch my hands to keep them from shaking. This is the moment I’ve dreaded since Tut swore on the honor of his people and I knew he was telling me the truth about Papa. “What will happen to Papa if I say no?” I ask. Save one life for thousands? Grandmother and Vitor did all the wrong things, yet here I wait, tasked with the same choices.

Tut dips his head, and I steel myself for what is coming. Free the phoenix or lose my papa.

“A smart man would use him as leverage,” he says. Slowly, he raises his head. “But Soro took everything from you, and Andres remains that little boy I saw grow into a good man. I’ve made terrible choices, Princess. But I won’t be so terrible to you.”

I don’t fully trust him, even as I fear something worse will happen if I don’t. “I’ll think about it,” I say.

He stands and bows. “That’s all I ask,” he says.

It’s a hell of a thing to ask.

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