Which made her try harder, fight longer, beat herself ragged to figure out the riddle of Ignitus’s weakness. The actions she took to bring down Ignitus would ripple out to Tor, Taro, Spark, and others back in Kula if she failed, or if Ignitus found her out beforehand. And in a few moments, she would have to fight Brand. She couldn’t afford distraction. She couldn’t—
The door to the preparation chamber opened. Ash closed her eyes with a soft sigh.
“Taro, I’m not ready for—”
“We need to talk.”
Ash’s eyes flew open. A girl stood inside the room, her back to the door. When Ash looked at her, she threw the bolt, locking them in.
Ash’s muscles hardened, but she didn’t move.
The girl’s lips flickered. “I’m Cassia. Madoc’s sister. I don’t have a lot of time. My guard is right outside—I told him I needed to use the facilities.”
She pulled a scroll out of the pocket of her linen shift and tossed it into the air. Ash caught it, the aged parchment crinkling in her hand.
“I’m in the household of Crixion’s tax collector,” Cassia said. “He’s also a senator. I grabbed this out of his office—it’s one of the records all senators have. ‘Results of Wars with Kula.’”
Ash’s confusion didn’t abate. “Did Madoc tell you to bring me this?”
“He doesn’t know I’m here, but he did manage to tell me that you wanted him to get you a list of gladiators who’ve fought against Kula and have the champion’s pox. This lists those gladiators and what became of them.” Cassia bristled. “You aren’t going to blackmail my brother. You aren’t going to drag him into some conspiracy against your god. This is all you’ll get from us, and now you’re going to forget about him.”
The emphasis she put on the last word was heavy with all the things unsaid.
“He isn’t a spy, is he?” Ash asked, her voice soft. “He isn’t working against Ignitus.”
Cassia’s face contorted with honest confusion. “What? Of course not.”
Ash’s heart squeezed. In her mind, she heard Taro chastising her. If associating with Madoc made Taro fume, then so would being here with Cassia. So would trusting Cassia.
Ash unrolled the parchment. Sections had been added to it over time, with the ink at the top a faded brown while the entries at the bottom were vibrant black.
Kepheus Ptolamy, one record started:
FIRST WAR, YEAR 894:
STAKES: FISHING RIGHTS OVER VORES BAY, WESTERN KULA
FINAL WAR MATCH: FOUR-HOUR FIGHT, GEOXUS VICTORIOUS
SECOND WAR, YEAR 895:
STAKES: KULA’S CLOTH TRADE WITH LAKHU
FINAL WAR MATCH: NINE-HOUR FIGHT, GEOXUS VICTORIOUS
TITHED: YEAR 898
DEATH: YEAR 899
Ash squinted. “What does it mean when a gladiator is tithed? We don’t have that in Kula. Is it some sort of donation they get?”
Cassia pursed her lips. “I’ve heard people say it’s like retiring.”
“Retiring? Gladiators don’t retire. They die.”
“Maybe in Kula. In Deimos, Geoxus lets gladiators retire when they’ve fought for him well. He’s benevolent.”
Ash’s skin prickled. Benevolent.
Before Ash could ask more, Cassia snatched the scroll back from her. “That’s enough. These records are yours only if you promise to forget what you know about Madoc.”
Ash’s eyes dropped to the scroll. Would this information be useful?
I can’t have a gladiator involved again, Ignitus had said.
Maybe the other Deiman gladiators who had disappeared in the past were connected to Kula. She could still look for those ties. She could still find something that could help.
Ash sighed, defeated, and took the scroll. “Fine. I won’t tell anyone about Madoc.”
She scanned the parchment with bleary eyes. She didn’t know how she would begin to—
Amyntas Fulvius, another entry said.
FIRST WAR, YEAR 886:
STAKES: TWO HARVESTS OF KULAN WHEAT
FINAL WAR MATCH: TWO-HOUR FIGHT, GEOXUS VICTORIOUS
SECOND WAR, YEAR 888:
STAKES: THREE YEARS OF KULA’S MEAT TRADE WITH CENHELM
FINAL WAR MATCH: NINE-HOUR FIGHT, GEOXUS VICTORIOUS
TITHED: YEAR 894
DEATH: YEAR 898
More—
STAKES: KULAN LUMBER EXPORTS. GEOXUS VICTORIOUS.
STAKES: KULAN MEDICINAL IMPORTS FROM LAKHU. GEOXUS VICTORIOUS.
More and more. The stakes, Kula’s dwindling assets; the victor, Geoxus.
At the very bottom, outlined from old faded ink to crisp black, was a record of Kula’s resources, laid out like a shopping list that a servant might take to a market. Some items had notes beside them—Won by Aera; Won by Biotus—while more than a dozen items had lines through them, all the things Geoxus now owned from Kula.
Ash had never seen Kula’s losses laid out so succinctly before. It was infuriating, her country’s reality scratched on parchment as though it was just some footnote in history.
But three items were not yet struck through. Kula’s rights to the