“So do I.Will he choose you tomorrow?”She sounded almost excited at the prospect.
“I don’t know.He said he wants a warrior.”
Her brows went up.“Did he?Then it makes sense he would come to Earsleh.”
“I’m not sure I dissuaded him from choosing me.I threatened him.”I looked down.“Repeatedly.”
“I expect nothing less from you.But he did speak to all your sisters after you left.I imagine a few of them threatened him too.”Her tone held a note of disappointment.
I felt a stab of disappointment too.I don’t know why I should feel disheartened that he spoke to my sisters after me.I shouldn’t want to be the only one he met with, and yet, I felt a burning in my belly that might have been jealousy.I clenched my hands around the bedclothes and tried to put him out of my mind.But I’d been trying to do that without success ever since I left him.I even tried closing my eyes and remembering the way Gaz kissed me on the balcony.I’d remember looking into his face, just a breath from mine, but I’d see blue-green eyes instead of Gaz’s darker ones.“Doyouhave a sense of who he will choose tomorrow?”I asked my mother.
“No.”She sighed.“But it doesn’t matter.Lord Ashe and I have a plan.”
I cut my gaze to her and narrowed my eyes.“You had better be careful.The king values the honor of Earsleh above all else.”
“Do you think so?I’ve always considered adherence to principles of honor one ofyourfaults, not his.”
That was a strange response.Before I could question her, she said, “What we have in mind is well within the rules.Rather, it is not expressly prohibited.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means”—she rose and indicated I should slide back down—“you can go to sleep because you will not have to fight tomorrow.”She tucked the covers around me as she had done when I was a child.
“But how can you be sure?”
She blew out the lamp.“Go to sleep, Mara.You know I will never allow anything to happen to you if I can prevent it.”
She slipped out of my room, closing the door behind her.I did try and sleep, but I couldn’t seem to quiet my mind enough to do more than doze off briefly.When my mother came to wake me the next morning, I was already up and dressed.I’d donned a simple brown tunic and tight leggings.They were comfortable enough to allow me free movement but tight enough so that they wouldn’t be in my way.
“Not that clothing,” my mother said, barely glancing at me.“All of the princesses are wearing white.”She produced clothing similar to what I already wore and handed it to me.“Put your hair in a flat bun and pull the hood over it,” she said.“Then draw the face protector before we leave the house.”
I glanced at the tunic and realized, unlike the one I wore, it had a hood and a piece of cloth in the front that could be drawn over the lower part of the face and buttoned inside the hood.I had a tunic like this I took with me on patrol if I was called during the worst parts of the dry season.The mouth covering was useful when the wind was high and dust swirled in the air.But we’d be in the arena, which was open-air, but unlikely to be filled with dust.
“Don’t ask questions,” my mother said.“Just do what I tell you.Hurry and dress.You need to eat something before we start for the arena—and do not say you cannot eat.I won’t have you feeling faint because your belly is empty.”
I dressed and stepped out into the common room, where my mother was arguing with Gaz.“Lady Aine,” he said, “I just need to speak to her for a moment.”
“One moment,” my mother said, pointing a finger at him.“Be quick and watch what you say.Mara, I will wait for you outside.”She stepped out of the house and closed the door with a bang.
“I’m sorry,” I said.“She’s nervous.”
Gaz moved closer and took my hands in his.“And you?”
“Nervous.I didn’t sleep much last night.”
“I wish I could be in the pit with you.”
The pit was an area level with the arena floor where we princesses would wait to be chosen—or not chosen.“I wish you could be there too.”And I did.I suddenly felt guilty for having thought so much of Taio last night and so little of Gaz.Now that Gaz was before me, I remembered how much I had mooned over him all these years.He was safe and comfortable.He was everything I loved about Earsleh.Everything I held sacred.I squeezed his hands.“I’ll have Finnrey.”
“Try not to worry.No matter who the Zulenii prince chooses, he won’t win.”
“I wish I could feel so confident.”
“Trust me, Mara.He will not leave that arena alive.”
I had a sudden image of Taio with his throat slit, blood pooling on the dust of the arena ground around him.His blue-green eyes looked up at me, pleading for help...
“Mara, you know I care for you.”
