“They set fire to my villa in search of you, Madoc.” Petros heaved a breath, head shaking. “They kept asking for you—Where is Madoc? Where is your beloved son? They seemed to think you would be with me, not training with Lucius Pompino.”
“That’s not what happened!” Ash cried.
Madoc shook his head. This was wrong. It was as wrong as Geoxus placing the weight of his war on Madoc’s shoulders.
“What is the meaning of this?” Madoc spun to find Ignitus materializing through a haze of gray smoke. His white robes offset the pale blue glow above his skin—the igneia just waiting to be set loose on anyone in his way. “My gladiators are caught outside the palace and I am the last to hear of it? This is an outrage. Where are they?”
Madoc slunk back without thinking. He didn’t need to be Soul Divine to sense Ignitus’s fury—guards and servants jumped out of his way as he approached his brother.
“Encased in stone,” Geoxus growled, pointing to where Ash and Tor were trapped in the corner. “Which is more than they deserve for attacking a prized son of Deimos and trying to kill my top champion!”
Ignitus bared his teeth in anger. “Set them loose immediately.”
The ground beneath Madoc’s feet began to rumble.
“Tell me you had no part in this,” Geoxus responded.
Ignitus’s eyes pinched around the edges. “If I did, what would you do, brother?”
Madoc’s pulse raced as the gods faced off. He remembered what had happened last time they’d argued. The quaking earth in the stable yard under Stavos’s body. The plunge into darkness.
“Would you claim it a violation of the rules of war? Say I cheated?” Ignitus asked. “Maybe you’d use this as an excuse to double the stakes and sink your greedy claws into even more of my country.”
Madoc braced for what remained of the walls to come toppling down. Without thinking, he glanced at Ash, whose teeth were clenched in horror.
“As much as your happiness means to me, no,” continued Ignitus. “This was not my doing, and as such, I will see that my gladiators are punished accordingly.”
Without looking away from Geoxus, he motioned to the guards. “Set them free.”
Tension arced across the room, as brittle as burned sugar.
Petros charged between Ignitus, Ash, and Tor. “Do you think the Honorable Father God will let this offense slide so easily? Your gladiators have broken the rules of war! Attacked an innocent citizen and tried to murder another champion! They should be handed over to the Father God and sanded in the city center.”
Madoc’s muscles seized.
“We meant Madoc no harm, Ignitus!” Ash called. “We must speak to you. Please.”
“Shut up!” snapped a guard.
“The girl was so reckless in her rage, she destroyed my favorite servant.” Petros’s voice was lower now.
“Liar!” Ash screamed. “You did it! You and—” Her words were stopped by a fit of coughing. Dust sputtered from her mouth, sent there by a flick of Petros’s geoeia.
Madoc’s blood slowed, along with his heart.
Petros’s favorite servant.
Destroyed.
He swallowed a hard breath, pulling at the ceremonial breastplate still clinging to his chest. It seemed to grow tighter by the moment.
They couldn’t be talking about Cassia. He was jumping to conclusions. Petros had many servants.
Ash would have come here to protect Cassia, not destroy her.
Again, Madoc became aware of the void in this house, the empty space that filled him with a sense of wrongness.
Geoxus was talking. Madoc couldn’t make sense of his words. Something about deceit and punishment. About war.
Ignitus had raised his hands and was shouting back.
Madoc’s eyes found Ash’s.
Where is Cassia? He didn’t have to say the words. She knew what he wanted to know.
She shook her head, still unable to speak for the mouthful of dust. It didn’t matter. Tears were streaming from her eyes. The tremble of her shoulders punctuated each shallow breath. Her grief was a physical thing, and it stretched toward him, painting him with poison.
Madoc couldn’t breathe.
He didn’t want her tears. He wanted Cassia.
“Be sensible, brother,” Ignitus was saying. “No harm was done to your champion. We cannot forfeit this war based on one baseless accusation of attempted murder!”
“Accusation?” shouted Geoxus. “This man’s house is nearly razed to the ground!”
“And at least some of that is his own doing,” Ignitus shot back, pointing at the stones and rubble. “Any wrong done here was not by my will, I assure you. Let us end this war. Tomorrow. We’ll forgo the final round of audition fights and be done with