Page 38 of Ironhold, Trial Three

“Perhaps the emperor is going to say that even the best of us can be sacrifice for the entertainment of the crowd,” I suggest.

Alaric shakes his head. “I won't believe that until I see it. It must be something else.”

"It will be a one-on-one fight," Ravenna says, with surprising certainty as she sweeps past to join some of the other nobles at the far end of the hall.

“How can you know that?” Alaric asks her.

She just smiles at him in response.

I want to go after her and try to force answers out of her, but I don't have any way to do so. I can't make her tell me anything, and I won't be able to trust anything she does say. It means it's useless trying to talk to her about it.

In any case someone who is worth rather more of my attention walks into the dining hall in that moment.

Rowan strides in as if he had never been injured. The healers of Ironhold are good at their work, especially in a way it comes to major injuries such as his broken leg. They don't care so much about minor cuts or scarring, those things won't stop a gladiator from fighting, but broken limbs are something they have learned to heal cleanly. It means that gladiators can fight on in their next season, providing more entertainment for the crowd.

Robin should look happy that he's back to full health, that he's safe once more, and will soon be able to fight again, but instead he looks furious.

“They aren't going to let me fight tomorrow,” he says.

I realize that no one has told him the news, that no one has spoken to him until now about the decision made about his participation in these trials.

“I know,” I say. “I'm sorry, Rowan.”

Rowan shakes his head. “But I'm fit. I'm in one piece. Why wouldn't they let me finish?”

I can hear the near desperation in his voice. I can understand why: after everything he's been through, he wants to get one step closer to his freedom. That is exactly what they're denying him by refusing to let him continue.

“It's intended as a punishment,” I say. “The emperor is angry about us both cheating death in our bout, so he has declared that you are the loser and can't continue.”

Rowan looks even more unhappy about that. "And so I'm going to be stuck here for another season, at least after the rest of you."

It isn't just time, though, because another season means another set of bouts, more chances that he might be killed in the colosseum. Even Alaric looks a little sympathetic to his plight.

“What you did was the only way that both you and Lyra could survive,” Alaric says.

Roman looks briefly surprised by this note of understanding, but then he seems annoyed by it. “I don't need your sympathy.”

Alaric shrugs. “Then don't have it. I won't give you my deep sympathy that you don't get the chance to die tomorrow in some battle on the sands.”

“I wouldn't die,” Rowan shoots back. “Who do you think could beat me? You?”

Alaric stands, and in just moments, it seems that the situation is hurtling towards a potential fight. I stand between the two of them, and as I do so, I feel something, a familiar pressure at the edges of my mind. I understand what's going on, especially since Ravenna is smiling there from across the room. No wonder she's down in the dining hall rather than enjoying fine food back in her rooms.

“Ravenna is doing this,” I say to them. “She's feeding your anger. Stop it, both of you.”

I put my arms out, putting a hand on the chest of each of them, caught between them for a moment as I try to hold themback. Ravenna still seems to be enjoying herself, at least until Alicia picks up a wooden trencher and flings it at her, forcing Ravenna to duck.

With her concentration broken, Ravenna’s manipulation ceases instantly. Alaric and Rowan both blink and stop pushing forward against my hands, no longer trying to get to one another.

Ravenna is on her feet, moving towards the newcomer. “You think you get to do that to a noble gladiator? I'll see to it that you're whipped!”

“Let's discuss what you just tried to do,” Alaric says. Rowan is there beside him then, and Ravenna seems to understand the difficulty of her situation. She backs away, leaving the dining hall.

“Thank you,” I say to Alicia.

She shrugs. “I don't like it when people try to control other people. Not the emperor, not the city, and not her.”

"I hope you make it through your testing," I say. "Remember, the only way to fail is to give up."

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