Page 75 of A Dance of Shadows

I scramble to the fallen boy, wrap my arm around him, and half guide, half drag him farther to the edge of the ring. He whimpers, both blood and snot streaming from his nose.

He might be injured worse than I can see. I murmur soothing words I barely register myself as I fumble for a bandage.

A man who looks like a regular civilian reaches out to me from behind the line of guards. “I’m a medic! I can heal him.”

He must be one of the royal staff, considering the steadiness of his accented Darium words. The queen did send them to mingle with the crowd in ordinary clothes—very clever of her.

I lead the stumbling boy the last few steps to the medic and then cast my gaze around. More children have fallen, slumped or still crawling toward the platform, while the knot of battle shifts ever closer to the pouches they’re hoping to claim.

Another figure hustles to join me, panting in a way that doesn’t suit her carefully polished appearance. “What can I do?” Bianca asks me.

Her decision to join me appears to inspire a wave of activity. Baronissas Damina and Hivette are just leaping off the platform to head our way as well. A few of the Darium noblemen glance around and hustle after them, spurred by some prompt I can’t see. Bastien, Lorenzo, and Raul hurry over to the ring as well, blending in with the other noblemen as if they’re joining the group rather than wanting to support me specifically.

Linus watches all of the furor with a grin that now looks slightly rigid, if no less manic than before. I’ve framed our involvement as part of the lesson. He won’t want to protest openly and risk undermining his own point.

I dart forward and catch the arm of a struggling girl whose shin is bent at an unnatural angle. “I’m sorry,” I whisper to her in my halting Lavirian. “You’re too hurt to keep going. We’re going to help you.”

Bianca grasps the girl’s other arm so we can help her limp away from the fray. The nobles on both sides of the ring gather up more of the wounded children, their faces tight with a mix of uneasiness and determination.

I summon another proclamation to match our actions to Linus’s challenge. “Some gardens grow more abundant than others, but Prospira would see all families kept well!”

Over by the platform, one boy has managed to pull away from the fracas far enough to snatch the first of the pouches. His fingers have barely closed around it when another kid divesforward to wrench at his ankles. He tumbles over with a yelp and a crack of broken bone.

As I usher another stumbling child away from the fighting and bandage his bleeding wrist, the yells by the platform get louder. One and another kid grabs a pouch only to find themselves grappling with their competitors. There have to be at least a couple dozen still hale enough to keep battling for the reward, their blows and shoves punctuated with gasps of pain.

And my husband looks so very pleased with the violence he’s instigated in his own honor.

Across the way, Baronissa Damina leads the last of the fallen kids to the edge of the ring, checking the girl’s bruised eye. I slip along the border of soldiers to the area where a few medics are now applying their gifts to those worst wounded.

I’m just skirting their cluster when the cobblestones buck beneath my feet.

The lurch of the ground flings me off to the side. For a split-second, my slippers are skidding on the stones, my fingers clutching only at air.

Then a blast of wind pummels me in the opposite direction. I stagger with it and fall to my knees.

My personal guards reach me a moment later, their faces blotchy with a panicked flush. “Your Imperial Highness—are you all right? What happened?” one demands as he helps me up.

The other glances behind me, the way I was first stumbling, and curses under her breath.

I follow her gaze, and a chill washes over my skin. Someone left a spit pole braced by one of the feasting tables, abandoned as everyone gathered to focus on the ceremony.

If I’d kept falling in that direction—if that sudden wallop of wind hadn’t come out of nowhere—I might have been skewered on the pointed iron rod.

I can’t stop my head from twitching in the direction I last saw Bastien. As I yank my gaze back, Lorenzo’s illusionary voice glides into my head.“We’re watching over you—always. And there’s something suspicious about all these dangerous accidents you’ve been facing. We’ll be twice as on guard from now on.”

Even as his reassurance melts away the chill, my stomach twists. I peer at the ground where I tripped.

Nothing about the cobblestones looks mildly uneven, let alone badly misaligned. And I’d swear I didn’t just trip over them but that theythrewme to the side.

As if someone used their gift to manipulate the ground beneath my feet, right when they could toss me toward a potentially fatal end.

Can it be a coincidence—the falling rock in Rione, the carriage horses startling on our journey through Cotea, and now this? If not, the attempts on my life would have to be made by someone travelingwithus, not any of the locals.

Someone from the court I now call my own.

Who has a gift that could accomplish all that? Who would want to?

I turn to my hovering guards. “I’m perfectly fine. Just a brief tumble. I should have ensured I didn’t roam too far beyond your reach.”

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