Page 41 of Aries

“Theludus…” I swallow hard. “It should have broken us. But somehow, Kren kept his inner light. Even in that dark place, he found ways to make others smile. To keep hope alive.”

As I marvel at how he managed to do that, another memory surfaces, this one from our early days oftraining…

“Again!” The trainer’s whip cracked. “Until you get it right!”

My arms trembled as I held the weighted practice sword. We’d been at this forhoaras, repeating the same sequence until our muscles screamed. Kren wasn’t faring any better beside me, his smaller frame shaking with exhaustion.

“Remember what Mother used to say?” he whispered as we moved through the forms again. “About the wind and the mountain?”

I grunted, focusing on keeping my stance correct. “Remind me.”

“The wind howls and rages,” he recited, matching my movements perfectly, “but the mountain remains. That’s us, Ari. We’re the mountain.”

“Pretty sure Mother meant that as a meditation guide, not gladiator training.”

His quiet laugh drew a warning glare from the trainer. “Same thing, isn’t it? We endure. We remain. Together.”

“He was right,” I tell Callie, who listens with shining eyes. “We did remain. Through everything they threw at us—the brutal training, the punishment details, the practice matches that were really just excuses for abuse. We survived because we had each other.”

“You protected him,” she observes.

“I tried.” My voice cracks. “Gods, I tried so hard. Took his punishment details when I could. Traded favors for extra food rations when he was too thin. But I couldn’t protect him from everything.”

Her hand has been lying face up on her thigh nearest me. She gently clenches it, over and over, as though she’s clutching my hand, giving me support.

She doesn’t know what’s coming, but by the tragic look on her face, she knows it’s going to be bad. I doubt she could guess at just how horrible my tale will be.

“They sold us to different owners when I turned eighteen.” The words feel like shards of glass in my throat. “I fought my way back to him, literally. Won enough matches that my new master agreed to buy his contract too. I thought… I thought we’d finally be safe together again.”

Spark’s light dims to a deep blue, reflecting the grief in my voice. Storm clouds gather on the horizon, as if nature itself senses the darkness of what comes next.

“We weren’t.”

Chapter Twenty-Four

Aries

“Our new master fed us well, but not out of compassion. He saw only credits. It’s how his mind worked. If any of his fighters might be worth more dead than alive, they were expendable.” The words taste like ash. “Fights on certain planets were lucrative. Those fights had no rules, no mercy. Just slaughter for the crowd’s entertainment. I’d proven myself brutal enough to survive, but Kren…”

My hands clench as the memories assault me—his gentle soul trying to harden itself for the arena, his practice sessions growing desperate as the death matches loomed closer.

“He wasn’t a killer,” I tell Callie, my voice rough. “No matter how hard they tried to make him one. The night before his first scheduled death match, I found him practicing in theludus…”

I see it as though it were yesterday, just like I’ve watched it ten thousand times or more in theannumssince it happened.

“You should be resting,” I said, watching him repeat the same defensive sequence for the hundredth time.

“Can’t.” His movements were precise but held an edge of panic. “If I can just get this right…”

“Kren.”

“The Garroxian fighter tomorrow, he favors a low strike followed by—”

“Kren!” Moving to block his next sequence, I gripped his shoulders. “Stop.”

His eyes, so like mine but holding none of my darkness, finally met mine. “I don’t want to die, Ari.”

“You won’t.” The promise burned fiercely in my chest. “I won’t let that happen.”

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