Page 16 of Obsidian Prince

The scowl that seemed permanent on Kazi's face faded into a smile as warm as her mother's. Her aura brightened with gold and creamy white; pride and love. "Daddy would make a great king."

Arel shook her head, face tightening with what looked like anger, but her soul shaded acid green with fear. "That's silly talk. Your father is too old. He could never beat Tray in the dome. He'd get himself killed if he tried."

Liliana tilted her head, considering. She looked into Arel Magoro's past. She saw a huge lion-kin with skin as dark as midnight and muscles on his muscles. The man had been a champion of the dome games in his youth. When young lions of his generation tested their skills against each other to impress the lionesses and gain rank within the pride, he had been the best.

Andrew Periclum lied when he told Doctor Nudd he earned his title. He became king because he was born a prince. The dome challenge was intended to prevent large scale battles when a king died without a clear heir, or a fair portion of the pride did not think the heir was a worthy successor.

Honorable lions throughout the pride supported Andrew Periclum back then because he was the old king’s only son. Liliana remembered one stocky stranger had challenged, but there had been others in the pride who supported that man’s claim. They must have known he had a legitimate reason to question Periclum’s fitness to rule. With the mess Periclum made of the pride’s reputation, that one man brave enough to stand against him seemed heroic in hindsight. Foolish, but heroic.

Daniel Magoro did not call challenge that day. He helped build the dome instead. Back then, he had no way to know that Andrew Periclum would become an unworthy king. If he had challenged then in his prime, many things might have been different. That assumed that Kazi, Marilyn, and Arel’s faith in Daniel Magoro was well-placed.

"If you believe that Daniel would be a good king, then choose a champion who can defeat Tray Bradley to fight for him." The spider-kin wondered why the three women hadn't already done that.

"A champion?" Kazi said, confusion on her face.

"It's one of our oldest traditions," Arel told her daughter. "A champion can fight for someone else that they feel would make a better king. The champion answers any Challenges, but the king rules."

Kazi said, "Like how Tray beat the crap out of anyone who dared to question Periclum?"

"Like that, only more civilized," Arel said. "Disputes are settled in the dome with the whole pride as witness, not with broken kneecaps in back alleys." She turned to Liliana. "It's not a tradition many people have followed. My grandfather told me about it. But if someone wins the challenge now, they want to rule themselves. People think that being a strong fighter makes them good kings."

Marilyn shook her head, face dark. "It doesn't matter. No one can beat Tray."

Looking into the past and the future, Liliana followed Tray Bradley in several fights, from barroom brawls through dome bouts and occasional leg-breaking enforcement for Andrew Periclum. The big lion was a formidable fighter. He was also heavy on his feet and led with his right too often. "I could beat him," Liliana said.

All three women laughed at her.

The spider seer’s ears flushed hot. She hated being laughed at. She studied the three women with her third eyes, wondering what she said that was so funny.

Oh.

They were not laughing at her. They thought she was joking.

"I defeated a Celtic wolf in single combat."

They stopped laughing.

"The wolf became my ally, then my friend. With his aid, I defeated four widow spiders."

Kazi nodded. "I saw the footage of you and the Celtic werewolf killing Lady Fairchilde. What happened to the others? Kristen, Margaret, Stella?"

"The red wolf killed Margaret."

"You're saying you killed Kristen and Stella by yourself?" Kazi looked down her nose at the petite spider seer. "Kristen wasn’t a fighter, but Stella was the best. She trained all the security personnel. I saw you on the dining room camera get thrown through a glass door. Stella went after you but didn’t come back. Did you trick her somehow?"

Liliana looked into Kazi's dark eyes with her own third eyes for a moment, then looked down. What Kazi did not say was that Stella had been someone she admired. "I am truly sorry for both deaths, but they were necessary. Kristen was pregnant. The nest was murdering people to feed her unborn children. She was in the process of killing Pete so I had no choice.” The spider seer didn’t dare look into the past or she would cry. “Stella fought with honor, courage, and great skill. I tried to let her walk away peacefully, but her beloved would not go.” Liliana closed all her eyes for a moment in regret, but she couldn’t have done anything else. She touched her shoulder where her spider-kin nature had faded even the scar from Stella’s worst attack to unblemished skin. “Stella would have killed me if I had not killed her first."

Kazi's nostrils flared for a moment, then she looked down as well. "Was that what you said to her? There was no sound on the video. You held the red wolf back, let her leave without a fight." She swallowed, then looked back up at the spider-kin. "I also saw that red wolf fight. I’ve never seen strength like that, even in a bear-kin."

"He is even better now. I trained him," Liliana said with pride. "I taught him what my father taught me."

"Your father, a prince of the Nemean lions," Kazi said, like she was asking if Liliana was going to stick with that unlikely story.

Liliana nodded. Her father was who he was. Their belief or disbelief made no difference.

Arel asked, "Seer, since this red wolf is your friend, could you ask him to be Daniel's champion?"

"I could." Liliana looked into Pete's future and saw a problem. The assassins from the Order of the Wolfhound were coming for Lou Willoughby in three nights. The Challenge was also in three nights. Pete could not be in two places at once. He needed to be there to protect the defenseless rabbit-kin mechanic.

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