Page 84 of Rise of a Fallen Man

Ari slipped her arm into the crook of Madam Trela’s elbow. “I’ll walk with you, if you don’t mind, madam.”

“Of course, Your Highness.” The Head of the City Guards looked a bit stunned by the princess’s attention, but she allowed Ari to lead her out of the room, following Lerrel and me.

“Well, that went well,” Lerrel chatted excitedly in a half-whisper, dragging me along the corridor toward the main hall. “You’ll get a metal, and the games will live another day. We’ll need to figure out what the fuck we’re going to perform tomorrow. There’s really no time to prepare anything new.”

Tuning her out, I focused on what Ari was saying to Madam Trela behind us.

“...I request you’ll look into it immediately.”

“You want me to go ahead with this investigation, Your Highness? Without the queen’s direct order?”

“Yes. Please go ahead with it on my order alone for now. You’ll report the results directly to me too.”

She did it. Das’s past was going to be investigated. Ari believed it was important.

“Raeb?” Lerrel tugged on my arm. “We need to hurry. I have a show to pull off in less than twenty-four hours, remember? And I still need to stop by at the palace stables to see if we can use their horses tomorrow instead of bringing ours all the way out here.”

“You don’t need me at the stables, do you? I’ll wait for you in the carriage.”

“Are you going straight to the carriage right now?”

“Right after I’ll say a quick thank you to Madam Trela for talking to the queen about me. I didn’t get a chance to do it during the meeting.” Lerrel seemed to hesitate, so I added quickly, “It can’t hurt to stay in good graces with the city guards. We shouldn’t take for granted good relationships with anyone in our current situation, should we?”

“Goddess knows you’re right.” Lerrel heaved a sigh. “You may be my best bet to salvage this shitty situation right now.Without you, we’d be done the moment the princess was taken. If she didn’t survive—”

Not wishing to contemplate the scenario of Ari not surviving that day in the arena, I placed a supporting hand on Lerrel’s shoulder. “It’ll be all right, master. We’re getting a medal tomorrow. You saved the games.”

“May Goddess hear you and help us.” She patted my hand on her shoulder. “Go, be nice to the Head of the City Guards, then go straight to our carriage. The last thing I need right now is someone catching you loitering in the queen’s palace unsupervised. I’ll see you in a few minutes. It won’t take me long.”

I had no plan. All I wanted was to see Ari one more time before leaving the palace. The most I hoped for was to say hi to her without people policing every word or gesture passed between us.

The voices from the corridor behind me had quieted by now. Then I heard a door opening and closing and several sets of footsteps spreading in different directions.

Did I miss my chance? Had Ari departed along a different corridor?

As one set of footsteps approached, I stepped from the main hall into the one crossing it to get out of sight of the person approaching. If it was anyone else but Ari, they didn’t need to see me “loitering” around.

The new corridor appeared to be guarded by warriors in old-fashioned, all-body armor on both sides. Then I realized these were just empty armor suits displayed from the days long gone, with Rorrim banners and historical tapestries hanging between them along the walls.

The footprints came closer, then the princess passed me by.

“Ari.”

She turned and saw me.

“Salas?”

No one ever looked at me the way Ari did, like she finally spotted sunshine at the end of a long, devastating storm. Her shoulders relaxed, her eyes lit up, her lips curved into a gentle smile.

“You...” She stepped closer, and my hands ended up on her waist as if that was where they belonged.

“Is it not enough for you to wrestle bears and dragons in the arena that you have to fight the serial killers in the streets too?” she scolded softly, cupping my face.

“Thank you. For the investigation.”

“It has to be done,” she said resolutely.

Yet no one of the important women in the meeting this morning understood that. Whatever happened to Das could be happening to others right now, but they were likely employed in fun houses, and saving lives of whores clearly held no value for the state.

---