ignored him. “She’s looking for gladiator records—champions who’ve beaten Kula and died of the plague. She thinks Ignitus has something to do it. If we found something, Geoxus might be interested. We could use it to bargain for your release.”
“Hold on,” Cassia said. “If she’s trying to commit treason, why would she tell an enemy gladiator about it? Use your head, Madoc! She means to trap you in some scheme—get you locked up or killed so she can secure Kula’s victory.”
It seemed possible when Cassia said it out loud. Maybe Ash had been lying to him all along.
Madoc shook his head. She’d stood by him in front of their gods. She’d found Stavos with him, and her shock at his murder had been genuine.
“She knows about me,” he said.
“I’d say she knows enough to get what she wants,” Elias huffed.
“Knows what?” Cassia was more pointed.
Quickly, Madoc explained what had happened with the guards in the arena—how they’d left Ash alone, and how she’d surmised that he wasn’t Earth Divine.
“You can control minds?” Elias asked. “What am I thinking right now?”
“It doesn’t work like that,” Madoc said. “Look, it was probably nothing. I just know she could have told Ignitus, and Geoxus, and anyone else that I’m Undivine, but she hasn’t.”
“Do you trust her?” Cassia peered at him the way Ilena did when she caught any of them in a lie, and just like with their mother, Madoc buckled.
“I do.”
“We’re doomed,” Elias said.
He had no idea.
Cassia glanced over her shoulder, into the hall. “Petros has a library at the house. It’s where he keeps all his tax records. I’ll see if there’s something there that can help.”
“No,” Elias said. “It’s too dangerous.”
“You’re right,” she snapped. “Maybe I’ll sign up to be a gladiator instead. That’s much safer.”
Elias winced.
“I have to go,” Cassia said, her jaw growing tight. Madoc followed her stare to one of Petros’s guards, stalking toward them, and fought the urge to step between them. That would only make this worse.
“Be careful,” she cautioned. “Be smart.”
“Watch yourself,” Madoc told her as she hurried away. He didn’t have to warn her what a monster Petros was. Based on her shoulder, and the way she’d flinched when Petros had mentioned the shackles, she already knew.
Madoc watched her go, hoping she’d be safe. Hoping she would find something, and that Ash’s suspicions had been warranted. If not, the fate of his family would fall to him.
He’d entered this war to save his sister. Now he’d have to win it to save them all.
Twelve
Ash
“AND WHAT DO you do if Brand takes all the igneia from the fire-pit before you can get any?”
Ash finished buckling her armor’s shoulder strap and fought a groan, keeping her eyes on the preparation chamber’s dusty floor. Above her, hundreds of feet thundered in the stadium; hundreds of voices cheered. A handful of Deiman gladiators were out stoking the crowd with a fight as an announcer listed the day’s matches. His muffled words didn’t make it through to the arena’s tunnels, but Ash knew what he was saying.
Ash Nikau will fight Brand Pala to advance as Ignitus’s champion.
Madoc Aurelius will fight Jann Moisides to advance as Geoxus’s champion.
Tor had fought Raya yesterday, two days after the ball, and won. Geoxus’s other champions had fought as well, elevating the gladiator Raclin to one of Deimos’s two remaining positions in the war.
Did Madoc know Raclin personally, like Ash knew Tor? Was he in another of this arena’s preparation chambers, adjusting and readjusting his armor, worrying not about how he had to win his fight today, but how winning would mean facing off against someone he knew? And worse, that he would have to do all this without energeia. At least Ash didn’t have that worry.
She flinched, realizing Taro was still watching her, waiting for an answer.
“Keep the fight close,” Ash said. She rose from one of the benches that filled the windowless room. The only light came from those stones Geoxus loved so much, their glow sickly green-white. “Use knives. Go for his side. Taro, I know. Tor’s been relentless these past two days.”
This preparation chamber was smaller. A pump at the back brought in fresh water while a cracked mirror sat over a table of bandages, rags, and medical tools. Taro stood next to that table, glaring at Ash.
“He’s been relentless,” Taro said, “so you don’t get yourself killed.”
Ash wilted and looked away. After the debacle in the stable yard, Tor, Taro, and Spark had instantly set upon Ash in