Page 35 of Once the Skies Fade

“But do the palace grounds count as one of the villages?” Lieke asked. “Would she even want us to send someone from the palace? Surely that will be too painful for her.”

Scratching my jaw, I shrugged slowly. “It doesn’t specifically prohibit us from sending someone, but we could always send someone from our ranks as representative for their hometown.”

Connor reached for the envelope lying on the small table in the middle of the living space. Silently he pulled out a smaller sheet of paper before dropping the envelope back down. “Unfortunately, Sapphire, we do still need to consider the possibility that Calla isn’t innocent here. It seems he may have been murdered after all, and with the same poison we’ve been battling.”

Lieke’s expression tightened, like she had just bit into a lemon, but she accepted the paper when Connor offered it to her. Her face shifted slowly as she scanned the writing, and I waited for her anger to appear as it usually did when we discussed Calla’s hypothetical guilt. This time, though, she let her arms fallweakly at her sides, the paper still gripped in her hand. Tears surfaced, clinging to her lower lashes, but they refused to spill over.

Lieke began to shake her head. “But they said?—”

“Officially,we were told they didn’t know. This note was tucked in with the official tournament announcement. Someone at the castle didn’t want us to suspect foul play.”

“How do we know we can trust this”—she waved the paper in the air—“over the official report though? We don’t even know who sent this!”

Connor shrugged. “We can’t, but we must consider both possibilities. Someone doesn’t want us to know the truth. Whether that’s Calla or someone working against her, I don’t know.”

I shifted in my seat and added, “Consider, also, that the poison appears to be coming from Dolobare, who does business primarily with Arenysen.”

“Primarily, sure,” Lieke said. “But not solely. That poison could be coming through Wrenwick.”

Connor cocked his head to the side. “Anything’s possible, but I think this tournament”—he paused to flick a finger toward the paper in Lieke’s other hand—“is our best opportunity to try and learn the truth.”

“How exactly?” Lieke asked, but she seemed to quickly determine the answer on her own, because she shook her head and looked to the ceiling as she said, “Compete to get close to her.”

“And discover the truth,” Connor added.

Lieke pierced her husband with a stern glare. “And if she did it? Then what? Vengeance?”

Connor’s jaw pulsed under his clenched teeth. He balled his hands into fists that shook in his lap, but his anger was gone as quickly as it had come on. Stretching his fingers wide, hedropped them to push himself up from his chair. He closed the distance between them and took the paper from Lieke’s grasp, passing it off to me without so much as a glance in my direction. With Lieke’s hands now clutched in his own, Connor released a long sigh.

“I know it won’t bring him back, but if Calla did this—if Calla killed him—she needs to pay the consequences.”

The shimmer of fresh tears returned to Lieke’s eyes, and I squirmed uncomfortably in my seat. This seemed too personal an exchange for me to be sitting here watching, but if I were to get up and retreat, it would prevent my friends from having the conversation they needed to.

“Why doweneed to dole out those consequences though? Can’t we leave it to her own kingdom to do so?”

“I don’t know how loyal they are to her,” Connor explained. “I don’t trust them to do what’s necessary.”

“So whodoyou trust?” No sooner had Lieke asked the question than they were both staring at me.

“What now?” I asked, pretending I hadn’t followed their conversation. They didn’t seem to buy it.

“You willing?” Connor asked.

“Do I have a choice?”

“Of course. I know you’ve been busy chasing the rebels, so I would understand if you don’t want to abandon that effort.”

“Do we know how dangerous this is going to be?” Lieke asked.

Connor rubbed the back of his neck slowly. “They claim to be tailoring these after the historic games, which consisted of frivolous trials. Regardless, Matthias has faced his share of danger. He can take care of himself.”

Lifting a hand to my chin, I tapped a finger against my lips as I considered the decision before me, though there was littleneed to deliberate. “I could use a change of scenery and a little adventure. When do I leave?”

Chapter 17

Calla

If the Assembly disapproved of the tournament, they hid it well. In fact, a couple of them seemed practically giddy over the prospect of having some entertainment to break up their mundane lives, and I expected them to start placing bets on the males as they arrived. Others’ reactions bordered on apathy. Ursula and Warren, unsurprisingly, had maintained their bitterness toward me, even going so far as to call me a bloodthirsty witch intent on watching males kill each other for my hand.

---