Adradys and his supporters were already on their feet. The plan had been to storm the contingent of guards once Raven’s head rolled. But Raven was very much alive. And the number of soldiers in the stadium had tripled in the blink of an eye.
Next to her father, Adradys glanced at the two soldiers who had silently appeared behind him and were holding silver rods toward his sides. “What is the meaning of this?”
One of the guards grabbed his arms and cuffed him. “Adradys, you are under arrest for treason. We are escorting you to the dungeon by order of King Gabriel.”
Colin appeared in the aisle and gestured with his hand. The guardsman wrestled Adradys toward him.
All around the stadium, guardsmen, some in uniforms and some in plain clothing, were arresting New Order supporters, fishing out the weapons hidden in a panel of their boots exactly where her father had indicated. The arrests were swift. Already a dozen men and a handful of women were being hauled toward the doors along with Dax, who’d been tranquilized with Nathaniel’s smoke.
Harlow leaned back in her chair to get a better look. The shock on Adradys’s face as he was ushered up the aisle was pure gold.
“What are you doing? Do you know who I am?” he protested to the guards.
She laughed. “I do enjoy learning new things,” Harlow called to him. “And today, you have taught me something. I learned that I was right, and my father is definitely smarter than you.”
Adradys shot a look of disbelief in Darium’s direction.
“Enjoy Paragon’s brand new dungeon, Adradys,” her father said with a smile. “I know that you’ll make the best of it. You always do.”
Harlow leaned her head against her father’s shoulder as Adradys and every single one of his supporters were ushered from the arena. Below them, Marius had gotten to his feet and was brushing the pebbles off his fighting uniform. It had all been a ruse. Her father had never drugged him, and Dax’s hit was not enough to knock him out. Now he turned and bowed to the royal family.
Queen Raven returned to the awards platform and raised her wand to amplify her voice. “It gives me no pleasure to tell you that the men and women who were escorted from the arena moments ago were part of a failed assassination attempt. Dax planned to kill me and then Gabriel, leaving Paragon without a ruler. The New Order didn’t want a ruler; they wanted a tyrant. Their intent was to replace us with someone more like Eleanor.”
A gasp rose up from the crowd. People cried out their support of Raven and Gabriel.
“They might have succeeded if not for the kindness and bravery of Darium and Lemetria. Darium learned of the nefarious plans of the New Order and shared them with the king and me, giving us time to enact a plan to counter them. Please join me in thanking Darium and Lemetria for their role in the protection of Paragon.”
Her mother and father stood and bowed as the stadium clapped along with Raven.
When the applause finally died down, Raven gestured to Marius. “Marius agreed to throw this match so that Dax’s murderous ways could be outed publicly. I am pleased to give you your true and rightful champion, Marius!”
Chapter Thirty-Six
Two cycles later…
“I still can’t believe you won the championship,” Colin whispered. “The last time we trained together, I thought you had a bright future as towel boy.”
Marius smirked. “It doesn’t feel quite right considering Dax was disqualified.”
“Vilt fodder. There’s no longer any law or suggestion that anyone should let you win. On the contrary, most of those guys wanted to kill you.” Colin adjusted the strange clothing he was wearing. “You won fair and square. Besides, you’d already proved you could beat Dax when you faced him in trials.”
“Fine, I deserved to win.” Marius folded his hands in front of his hips.
“And now you have a lifetime to thank the woman who taught you how to fight.” Colin jutted his chin toward the aisle and the empty space where they’d been told Harlow would appear.
After winning the championship, Marius had announced his mating and engagement to Harlow. Everything changed the second it went public. Based on their service to the crown, her parents were reinstated as the official doormakers of Paragon and soon moved back into the Firedrake district. But Harlow had never once slept under their new roof. She was his and now shared his chambers in the palace.
Not that the relationship had curbed her independence one bit. She continued to work, although she’d left her job at the Silver Sunset to take a role offered by the queen herself —community outreach ambassador. She’d been charged with improving conditions in the poorest areas of the kingdom, a role she took on passionately.
Queen Raven had helped them plan an Earth-style wedding, an exotic affair where he could fulfill his promise to Charlie to allow her to be a flower girl. The oreads had set up row after row of white folding chairs in the garden. It seemed like every dragon in the kingdom was there, surrounded by the most beautiful blooms in all of Ouros.
In the first row, the entire Treasure of Paragon, aside from Colin, who was serving as his best man, and Avery, who was Harlow’s matron of honor, sat with their mates. Tobias and Sabrina, Rowan and Nick, and Nathaniel and Clarissa had returned from Earth for the affair. Sylas and Dianthe, along with the three fairy children they’d recently adopted as their own, had traveled from Everfield as well. Leena sat in the front row, scrawling everything that was happening on a roll of parchment.
The music started to play, and Charlie, dressed in a white dress with a red sash, walked slowly toward him, sprinkling red flower petals as she did.
When she reached him and turned, he whispered, “The most beautiful flower girl ever.”
Her eyes twinkled with her smile before she continued on and took a seat next to the king and queen.
