Page 92 of A Pact of Blood

“Let’s see how he fares with all your attention on him, my people,” Marclinus finishes, and lounges back in his seat.

I swallow past the constricting of my throat. “I see you’ve decided to shake the exhibition up even more.”

Marclinus rubs his hands together. “Sabrelle blessed me with a most excellent idea in a dream last night. I follow my godlen as she guides. She inspired some of the best of your trials too, you know.”

The trials that killed one or two noblewomen at a go. A clammy sensation spreads through my chest.

One of the barred openings to the animal chambers rasps open, and an enormous bear charges into the arena.

I can see at once that something’s wrong with the animal. It hurtles straight at Raul with a ragged bellow, showing not the slightest self-preservation instinct or hunting strategy. Wild, murderous rage emanates from its every pounding stride.

It’s barreling toward the prince like a man so desperate there’s nothing in his mind but doing all the damage he can. Like the most dangerous sort of foe.

Marclinus must have had someone rile up the bear’s temper to such fearsome heights with magic or a drug or perhaps a combination of both. Spittle froths along the beast’s gums as it lets out another vicious roar.

Raul dodges to the side, whirls and stabs, ducks and leaps. I can’t imagine he’s ever faced an animal like this.

Within a matter of seconds, one of the bear’s paws wallops the prince of Lavira across the back. Its claws scrape bloody lines through his tunic.

He stumbles and manages to strike the animal in the shoulder, but it hurls itself onward without heeding the injury and knocks Raul right off his feet.

As the prince manages to roll away from the bear’s jaws, its gnashing teeth rake through his upper arm. Spilling more blood across the sand, Raul scrambles to his feet.

He slashes at the beast’s throat, but it’s already hurling itself at him so forcefully he can’t complete the motion. They crash back into the earth.

I clench my jaw against a cry. My pulse booms inside my skull. The thing is going to kill him. Smash him to bits and tear him apart.

Why would Marclinus want this?

A snarl and a crack of breaking bone reverberate through the hush of the audience. The bear slams its paw into Raul’s head?—

And Marclinus is on his feet again, beckoning to someone down below.

All at once, several imperial guards spring from the entryways. They swarm the bear before it has the chance to recognize its many new opponents, driving their blades home. As the beast slumps, they wrench it off Raul’s crumpled form.

I tuck my hands into the folds of my skirt so no one can see how tightly they’re balled.

Two of the soldiers haul the prince upright. He staggers, blood dribbling across the hard ground beneath him, but he’s alive. My frantic pulse only slows a little.

A maniacal grin has curved my husband’s lips. His voice rings through the arena. “Let us always remember that our subservient nations are too weak to stand on their own. It’s only through the strength of the empire that they’ve survived and thrived. Dariu conquers all!”

He starts to clap, setting off a thunder of applause throughout the stands. The nobles around us leap up to celebrate their emperor’s point even more emphatically, so I heave myself to my feet too, even though I’d mostly like toheave my lunch up my throat onto Marclinus’s polished boots.

He nearly had Raul killed to make a point about his conquered countries and the rebellion.

Why wouldn’t he? He poisoned me, murdered a dozen ladies of his court. What’s a little more bloodshed to my wretched husband?

Numb to the bone, I clap and watch the soldiers lead Raul off the arena floor to where a medic is waiting. The other guards drag the carcass of the enraged bear away, its blood smearing the earth with a dark red trail.

Such a majestic beast was turned into a tool for Marclinus’s sadistic amusement. If even Raul with all his might and prowess couldn’t fell the creature alone,no onecould have, Darium or otherwise…

My breath catches in my chest.

An animal isn’t a weapon or an enchantment that our magical wards or guards are prepared for. But as my husband has just demonstrated, an animal can be shaped into a means of destruction against even a very powerful foe.

Perhaps Sabrelle has blessedmewith her idea as well.

As the nobles around us collect themselves for our departure, I turn to Marclinus and push my lips into an ingratiating smile. “What a particularly thrilling exhibition, husband. Where are the wild beasts kept when they’re being trained for the arena?”

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