Page 71 of Rise of a Fallen Man

Even after the cage and the man-beast inside it slid back into the floor of the arena, the chanting of his name didn’t quiet down. It rolled and undulated over the crowd that demanded to see their hero again. The pull in my chest resonated with the crowd’s demands. I missed him too, the moment he was gone.

“Why did they put him away?” Leafar wondered as the gladiators exited the arena and a set of props appeared for the first act of the show.

I leaned back in my chair, summoning patience. “The games master must be saving the best for last.”

Chapter 19

Salas

Deep in the bowels of the elaborate web of tunnels under the arena, I sat on the floor of the cage with my back pressed against the bars.

An energetic staccato of heels clicking against the stone floor came from one of the tunnels. Then Lerrel emerged, carrying a metal mug.

“They liked your swordplay.” She grinned, crouching by the cage to hand me the mug through the bars.

“It looks like they did.” I’d finally finished my swords, and they turned out functional and quite musical.

“We’re sold out for the rest of the year. Can you believe it? Every single ticket is gone. I’m trying to figure out how to add a few more rows of seating. Maybe at the top?”

“As long as it’s still safe. Not too high.” I took a sip of water from the mug. All that roaring and growling I did in the arena dried my throat.

“Right. We may have to rethink your dragon act if we put seats that high. But isn’t it exciting?” She jerked her head, tousling her curls. “So many people want to see you! The royal couple is here too today. Two royal couples, actually. The princess and her new husband came along as well.”

Her husband.

The word scraped at my hearing. I struggled to accept the fact that Ari was a married woman now.

The last time I saw her, it felt like no time had passed and nothing between us changed when so many changes hadhappened lately. Every moment we were together, both in my room and later in the carriage, I had to remind myself she wasn’t mine. I had no right to hold her hand, to wish to kiss her, or to remember how it felt to hold her naked body in my arms. Yet those were the memories I’d cherish to my grave.

“Well...” Lerrel got up to her feet. “Are you sure you want to stay here until it’s your turn?”

“Yes. I may as well.” I took another sip of water.

Metal chains rattled through the tunnels, pulling props up or down for the next act in the arena above.

“Suit yourself. I should go check how it’s going up there. Do you need me to send someone down here to bring you anything?”

“No. Thanks. I’m good.”

My act was the last one in the games, and I liked having this time of peace and quiet to calm my nerves and collect my thoughts before the performance. Because that was what all of it was—a performance. Even when gladiators got injured, even if they died, ultimately, it was all about how it all looked for the audience.

And tonight, Ari was in the audience too.

Lerrel didn’t need to tell me that. I knew the princess was here. Every time the cage rose from the ground, the royal sitting platform was the first thing I looked at. For the past four weeks, it remained empty. But today, she was there, dressed in a shimmering, pale-blue gown, like a fairy princess surrounded by the colorful royal court which now also included her husband.

When I saw them together the last time, the day we brought Rotcod to the palace, the prince came out, but Ari didn’t kiss him in greeting. She didn’t take his hand. She didn’t look at him the way she looked at me, like I was the only person in the world and no one else mattered.

It was no wonder that when she felt scared and vulnerable, she didn’t come to him to cry on his chest. She came to me.

“I don’t deserve you,” the princess had said to a fallen man.

My sense of self-worth had changed over the years. One couldn’t live in a society and be completely unaffected by its judgment. When I was younger, the slurs and curses people tossed my way hurt more. As I grew older, my skin grew thicker, better protecting me from the darts of scorn and hate.

However, I never thought of myself as worthless, not even when I was told I didn’t deserve to be alive. Even in my darkest days, I always believed that everyone’s life was worth living, even the life like mine.

Until that day, however, no woman had ever told me she didn’t deserve me. Ari’s words kept echoing in my head, resonating through my chest with feelings I knew I shouldn’t allow myself to have.

In the orchestrated rumbling and clanking of metal that filled the tunnels, I recognized the hissing of receding lava that came at the end of Falo’s act.

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