Page 39 of Claiming Sarah

“Jac, no,” she said, frowning at me. “I’ll do it, I just—”

I leaned down to her ear. “Not happening, baby, so it’s best to let me do this without argument. If we argue in front of Helios, it will make us look weak.”

“Fine.” She huffed her breath out of her nose in frustration, clearly not happy with me usurping her authority. “Jacaranda Cozz will be my champion in the arena.”

“Very well.” Helios clapped, and four living guards came to his side. “Take that one to the arena to prepare for his fight. Take the rest by carriage to the arena, so they may watch their champion fall.” Two guards came to collect me, while the other two left to fetch a carriage.

I turned to Deacon and Sarah. “I’ll be fine. Watch out for each other.”

“Wait.” Sarah grabbed me by my collar and brought me down to her height for a kiss. Nearby, Ladrians gasped at the scandalous sight, but she ignored their shock, her gaze filled with worry when she met mine. “Don’t do this if you think it will go badly. Escape, do whatever you need to—”

I kissed her again and stroked my fingers along her soft cheek. “Don’t worry about me. I can handle myself in a fight. You and Deacon be careful and watch your backs.”

She swallowed hard and nodded as Deacon took her hand in his, just as the guards nudged me away from the group.

I grumbled, pulling my shoulder away from their pushing hands. “I’m going.”

I honestly didn’t know if they were taking me to the arena, or someplace to be executed. Helios’ story about needing a fighter would have been the perfect ploy to separate a fighter from our crew. But I marched with the two guards despite my doubts.

The streets of Faithless reminded me of Yesanol—dirty, full of people, gray, in every direction. Buildings varied in size, from single story to multiple. Vendors hawked, thrusting handful of goods in front of me. Not long ago, they would have ignored me as much as they ignored the guards. But being back in Deacon’s employ, my clothes were well-kempt, my hair was trimmed, I looked healthier.

I looked like I had wealth and status.

It was a strange thing to be viewed that way. Memories of my boyhood, before I had been given to Deacon’s father as a child, flooded to the front of my mind. Days when I, too, had hawked my family’s goods—my mother’s questionable neneed. I was four or five, barefoot, shouting at strangers for them to buy her cheap liquor. It was strong enough to degrease an engine and not fit for Ladrian consumption whatsoever, but we tried.

“What are you staring for, fighter?” one of the guards taunted. “Your tail up your bum?”

I rolled my eyes, realizing I had stopped in front of a vegetable stand. “Lead the way.”

Two streets further, and a turn to the east, and suddenly, the arena loomed overhead. It was bigger than the one in Yesanol. “You folks are serious about your fights, aren’t you?”

“Best sport there is,” one of the guards said.

“The only real sport left, besides split disk,” his sidekick added.

“Anyone know what the latest score was on the Drecks game?” I asked.

One guard snorted. “You think they broadcast split disk to Halla?”

“Guess not.”

They walked me up to a window next to the gate where a girl sat, waiting for tickets. “This one is fighting for the contra.”

She frowned at the guards. “Huh?”

“Just add him to the fighters, Erinye,” the guard groused.

“Aye.” She nodded and typed onto a touchpad. “Need a name.”

“Jacaranda Cozz.”

A moment later she glanced up. “You are entered. You two, take him below.”

“Below?” I asked, because that didn’t sound so good.

But the guards didn’t reply and nudged me again, until I went with them. The side entrance opened up to stairs that dropped into darkness beneath the arena. Once we were down below, a faint light came on and it moved ahead of us, leading us to our destination, which was a large metal door. A guard knocked, and as the door creaked open, steam poured out.

Inside were girls. A lot of girls. Laughing, chatting, strolling, moaning girls. There was also the occasional male fighter, but mostly what I saw was girls.

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