be.” He turned to Ilena, his voice lowering. “I’ll find him. I promise.”
Ash blinked, startled. “Find who?”
Madoc wouldn’t meet her eyes. “My brother.”
The sight of Madoc’s slumped shoulders would have been enough to stab Ash through her chest, but the pain in his words made her wheeze. “What? He’s gone too?”
“He disappeared during my fight,” Madoc said. “I don’t have much time before my sponsor comes back. I have to go.”
He touched a bag at his waist that clinked gently—those were his winnings from the fight against Jann. Geoxus paid his Deimans in coins, while Ignitus would have Ash’s gold bricks for beating Brand delivered to her room.
Ash cast her eyes to Tor, pleading. See? she wanted to say. A spy from another god wouldn’t be trying to pay a ransom with coin—he’d know he could only pay in blood.
Tor refused to meet Ash’s eyes, but she saw his jaw tighten. “We know there is another god involved in this war,” he stated. “And we know you aren’t Earth Divine.”
Tor’s abruptness yanked a gasp from Ash’s throat. A look of betrayal jolted across Madoc’s face, and seeing it was as good as a slap to her face.
“You need to leave,” Ilena snapped. A dimple punctured her eyebrows. “Now.”
“Wait.” Madoc put his hand on her shoulder. His jaw worked for a moment, his eyes on Ash, unreadable.
Did he hate her for telling his secret? Did he hate her for letting Tor use it against him?
After a long, agonizing pause, Madoc backed away from the door. “Let them in,” he said.
Ilena pointed a threatening finger at Tor. “Champions or not,” she said to him, and included Ash with a tight glare, her nostrils flaring, “if you touch my son, I will kill you.”
“I believe you,” Tor said.
Only one other person was in this small room: a white-haired, blue-eyed woman sitting on a bench. She had also been with Madoc after Rook’s death, and she was old enough that very little seemed to rattle her.
Ash and Tor slipped inside. Ash pushed the door shut behind them, holding her back to the solid stone, hating that there wasn’t even a candle flame of igneia that she could pull on to calm her nerves. It was better, of course, that Ignitus wouldn’t be able to hear their conversation. Could Geoxus, though? They would have to take that risk.
Ash willed herself to grab control of the room before her resolve broke completely. She could feel the tension palpitating off Madoc even as he leaned against a table across the room from her, his ankles crossed, his arms folded.
“We’ll be quick,” Ash said. “And then I can—I can help you look for your brother.”
At Ash’s words, Tor cut a glare at her. This was a clandestine meeting between enemies. She couldn’t show mercy.
Tor eased down onto a bench, elbows on his knees. “The energeia you used to defeat Jann was not geoeia,” he started when the silence stretched. “And that could be useful to us.”
“What do you mean?” Ilena demanded. “Why would you think Madoc used another type of energeia?”
Ash eyed Madoc, whose gaze had dropped to the floor. Had he told this woman what he’d done to Ash in the arena tunnels—or would that be another secret she would have to reveal?
She hesitated, willing Madoc to fill in the gaps for Ilena. When he didn’t, Ash exhaled slowly. “After Ignitus killed my opponent during my first fight, Madoc took my grief.”
“He took nothing,” Ilena said immediately. He must have told her. But some of the strength had gone out of her voice. “He comforted you. That’s all.”
“It isn’t all,” Ash said. “My grief was gone. And he made the centurions leave me alone—they just left. Whatever he did to Jann was the same.”
She didn’t want Madoc to hate her. She didn’t know what else to do. This situation hurt—this room hurt.
But she had to be sure of who he was. What he was.
Finally, Madoc looked at Ash. His face was a mask. “If I did take your grief. If I did make the centurions leave. If I did these things. Do you know how?”
Ilena’s folded arms slipped apart to her sides. She grabbed Madoc’s hand and he wilted under her touch.
“Do you know how?” Tor pushed back at him.
Madoc looked away. He didn’t respond.
“What god are you descended from?” Tor’s voice was softer. Cautious.
Madoc sank back more heavily against the table. “My father is Deiman. Earth Divine.”
“And your mother?” Tor gave a questioning look to Ilena.