in the sun, his black, fringed toga hanging neatly off one shoulder. The crown of opal and onyx encircling his head caught the light and shone in Madoc’s eyes, forcing him to look away.
Not just because his being here was a lie, but because he was here at all. This wasn’t like the inspection at Headless Hill. The Father God was present now, and there was no denying that he could see Madoc.
A movement beside Geoxus lifted Madoc’s gaze again, and a surge of anger ripped through him at the sight of Ignitus, whose cheating gladiator had caused this war. Madoc had seen him before, from much farther away, during the last war with Kula. Geoxus’s brother hadn’t changed a bit. His face bore no lines of age or hardship. Only a single stripe of grayish hair graced his otherwise black locks. But where Geoxus was sturdy and muscled, Ignitus was thin and lithe. He moved like the flames he so loved, like he had too many joints and not enough weight. He slouched against the railing, keeping to the opposite side of the box.
Maybe Madoc wouldn’t be the champion to send him home defeated, but Ignitus would be defeated, as he had been at their last war.
Madoc’s gaze flicked to the tunnel entrance, searching for Elias, but there were only shadows.
“Eyes ahead,” muttered Narris. “You want to get us in trouble?”
Madoc’s head snapped forward.
The crowds screamed louder, their excitement pressing against Madoc’s temples as the gladiators of the top Deiman sponsors emerged. Each was taut with muscle, from the cuts on their forearms to the bulging knots of their thighs. Their chosen weapons hung from their belts or were carried in their fists—knives, hammers, even long, gilded swords. Sneers pulled at their mouths. There were fifteen of them, and Madoc was relieved that they were on his side.
The cheers in the arena suddenly plummeted into boos as a small group emerged into the box behind Ignitus and gathered near the railing beside him. They did not march in formation, or brandish any weapons. They wore gold and red Kulan armor and glared down at the Deiman gladiators they would soon face off against.
Chills whispered down Madoc’s spine.
“Children of Deimos!” Geoxus’s voice echoed like thunder in a cave, though he did not appear to strain at all. He raised his hands, and again Madoc felt the urge to look down and drop to his knees.
Instead, he turned his gaze toward the small band of Kulan gladiators. One was as muscled as Geoxus himself, with long ringlets of black hair and hands big enough to crush a man’s skull. Another was older, and didn’t look like much of a threat.
Then again, neither did Elias, and he could knock down walls with a flick of his fingers.
Madoc felt the itch of someone watching, and when his eyes landed on a girl in the center of the group, he startled.
She was younger than the rest, close to his eighteen years, with long, graceful arms, and wild raven hair cascading over her shoulders. Her waist was narrow, her legs lean and strong. She had high cheekbones and a sharp chin, and when she caught him looking, she quickly turned away.
A morbid curiosity rose inside him. Plenty of trainees were young, but he’d never before seen a champion his own age. Could she throw ribbons of fire like the other Kulan fighters he’d seen? Could she summon a flame to dance in her bare hand? He knew it was wrong to want to see it—she was the enemy, and any skills she possessed would be used against good Deiman gladiators—but he was intrigued all the same.
“Today we enter into war with Kula!” Geoxus called. When the crowd grew quiet, the Father God stabbed a hand in his brother’s direction. “Last week, in a match with Kula over their barbaric attack of a Deiman fishing boat in the Telsa Channel, one of Ignitus’s mortals interfered.” The arena erupted with boos and angry threats, but Madoc’s eyes were drawn to the god of fire and the sour pinch of his expression. Ignitus hated Deimos and had attacked many times in Madoc’s lifetime, but this war felt desperate—he’d never heard of a god sending another gladiator in to win a match.
“The great Stavos would not be beaten, and though he defeated Ignitus’s champion, this violation of our sacred rules will not be ignored,” Geoxus thundered. “The stakes of this war have been set. Deimos and Kula wager fishing