Page 36 of Ironhold, Trial Two

“That's what I thought,” Rowan says. “And I guess that's why you've been holding back from me. You've been saving yourself for someone better.”

It's a cruel thing to say, and I step back from him. “I used to think there wasn't anyone better. Now… now I'm not so sure.”

I move away, heading for my room. A part of me wants Rowan to grab me as I go, to pull me back into a kiss. To tell me that he cares about me and he doesn’t mean all of this. More of me is grateful that he doesn’t.

Chapter Twenty One

Rowan does not come near me as we march down to the Colosseum for the final day of this season of games. He walks alone instead, looking as cold and unreachable as some of the marble statues we pass along the way.

I do not go to him. It's obvious that Rowan wants that space, and I can't focus on him right now when I have a life-and-death battle ahead of me. Even now, I don't know what will be involved in my last fight. I've had no chance to prepare for it.

Around us, the crowds are forming. They are not as joyous as they were on the first day but they are still there calling out our names, cheering us if we acknowledge them in the slightest way. Vex is at the front of the procession, taking all that adulation as his own.

The others are responding in their own ways. Alaric is playing up to the crowd as usual, kissing the hands of blushing maidens, bowing before an old woman, looking fierce enough to send a group of small children screaming away from him. He seems to come to life moments like this, but it's hard not to think of the way he was yesterday, of how vulnerable he was. It's hard not to see this all for the act it is.

Ravenna, for once, is not playing up to the crowd, but instead is walking beside Naia, still whispering with her. She moves around various of the others in our procession, never stopping for long, whispering each time as if she has secrets to relay or favors to request.

I make my way over to her.

“What's going on?" I ask her as we continue to make our way into the city.

She shrugs. “I told you before that there is a lot of scope to influence things here in the games. Matches can be influenced. Bets can be placed.”

“So is this where you ask me to throw about?" I say.

Ravenna laughs then. “Oh, I know you wouldn't do that. Especially since all the rumors say that no mercy is to be given to you should you lose. Although the betting was getting stronger on you, before the news about this got out.”

She touches the leather cuff wrapped around my wrist.

“A device to control you. To rein you in. I couldn't imagine someone doing that to my powers.”

She sounds as though she's being sympathetic, but I still can't shake the feeling that there's some greater scheme there. Ravenna has shown that she's always plotting something. Her hand moves to my shoulder.

“I wonder if someone else could cut it off for you. A friend.”

Is she offering to be that friend?

“They would only put it back on me,” I say. “Or they would kill me for being something they couldn't control.”

“But it could be done,” Ravenna insists. “It's worth remembering, in case the need arises.”

She's right. If the situation is desperate enough, maybe I can get someone to cut the cuff off of me. Of course, the price for that would be some further punishment, possibly even being cast out of the arena the way Lord Darius suggested before. As much as I hate what Lady Elara has done to me, I can see that it is the only way I got to stay in the Colosseum.

The vast stone structure of it looms ahead, a reminder of what all of this is about. There are trumpets blaring and people crying out. Fragments of cloth are being thrown in the air. A young man throws one my way, but Ravenna intercepts it, plucking it from the sky and tucking it into her armor as if to claim him as her fan.

We reached the Colosseum, marching through it in front of the citizens and the emperor, before heading beneath it so that we can each prepare for our bouts. Once I'm there in the shadowy space beneath the Colosseum, I start to look around for any clue as to what my bout will be. If I still had my full powers I would reach out for the eyes of the birds around the Colosseum, using them to look at the betting boards perhaps, to find out more.

As it is, I must settle for trying to ask the trainers.

“Who am I fighting?” I ask one. “I still haven't been told.”

He shrugs. “Then maybe they don't want you to be told. Move along and start getting ready.”

My next port of call is the beast pits. They still feel so strange now that I can't reach out to control any of the creatures. I can feel them, I might be able to still communicate with them, but I can't command them the way I could before. I can see Stefano they're among them, feeding the shadow cat, looking worried.

My guess is that my final match will include some sort of beast because both of the others so far have. Possibly Stefano has heard something that will at least give me a clue.

“Lyra,” he says, as he sees me. “They've told me to feed your cat before your bout. Apparently, they don't want it too hungry.”

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