We heard the crowd gasp, and I imagined my father held up the dagger in question.
“I understand.”But the prince didn’t stop there.“If I win, she must accompany me back to Zulen and become my wife.”
“Yes.”My father did not sound pleased.“Those are the terms of the rite.You wish to risk death to marry one of my daughters?”
“I do.”
“Who is it you have chosen?”
I closed my eyes, and I heard Finnrey take a quick breath.The spectators in the arena hushed—no one shifted or even coughed.The silence was so intense I thought I could hear Cameed’s heart pounding.Or perhaps that was mine.
“I have chosen Lady Mara of Highcastle.”
I jerked in surprise and opened my eyes.Beside me, Morga said, “Do not move, Mara.”My every impulse rebelled against staying seated.I wanted to jump up and reveal myself.Cameed was already moving forward, however.She must have stood before he’d even finished announcing his choice.
“I can’t let her do this,” I said.
“Do not move, Mara,” Morga said, her voice stern.
“Mara, stay seated,” Finnrey said.“The king has commanded Cameed to fight him.You cannot gainsay the king.”
Cameed glided up the steps and started across the arena toward the prince.He watched her, and then his gaze darted back to the pit where we sat.“He doesn’t believe that’s me,” I muttered.Gods, why did he have to choose me?Sitting here, allowing Cameed to take my place, was torture.I struggled to keep my legs from acting on their own and propelling me up and out.Morga reached over and put an arm across my abdomen.
“Sit still or I will knock you out.”
“This isn’t right,” I murmured.Surely Morga, with her overdeveloped sense of fairness, would see my point.Not only did it feel wrong to trick the Zulenii, allowing Cameed to fight for me was not in my nature.I always fought my own battles.
“This wouldn’t have happened if you hadn’t enticed him,” Morga said.
“What?”I tore my gaze from the center of the arena.“I did not entice him!I told him I would kill him if he chose me.It’s not my fault he wants a warrior.”
“You shouldn’t have spoken to him at all,” she said, eyes blazing with fury.“None of us deigned to utter a word to him during our meetings.”
The air in my lungs whooshed out.Not speaking to the man had never occurred to me.Clearly, my other sisters had decided on this strategy.I hadn’t been included.I glanced at Finnrey.
She didn’t look back at me.Her gaze was fixed on the center of the arena.I felt a chill up my spine.Had this been the plan all along?To ensure the prince would choose me?I was the one princess who had no full siblings.I was the one whose mother had been divorced and ordered to leave the castle in disgrace.
I was also my father’s favorite, and mayhap that rankled my sisters.Mayhap they hoped to rid the kingdom of me and take my place in my father’s affections.But Finnrey?She had always been my best friend.How could she do this to me?
“Why didn’t you tell me?”I hissed.
She glanced at me.“Would it have mattered if I had?You always act without thinking.”
Her words were another blow, confirming I’d been excluded.I felt an ache in my chest I hadn’t felt since I’d been very young and left out of their games.Those early rejections had taught me to hide my feelings and rely only on myself.I’d thought all of that was in the past.
I’d been wrong.
Finnrey stiffened beside me, and I glanced at the arena again.The prince had unfastened his coat and opened it to reveal his bare chest.Now he slid the coat off and tossed it on the ground.I thought the gesture was meant to reveal he had no hidden weapons.I imagined the absence of the coat made it easier for him to fight as well.
I could not count the number of times I’d seen a man bare-chested.On patrol, we all bathed and changed together.Modesty was not only impractical but impossible.I’d secretly glanced at Gaz any number of times, admiring his broad shoulders or his slim hips.But I’d never felt my mouth go dry and my head feel light as I did when I looked at the Zulenii prince’s bare chest.
Except it wasn’t bare.The left side was covered with many of the same markings and drawings as were on his arms and that of his companion Yung’s face.I could see now, with his coat removed, that the markings I’d seen on his neck before were actually part of the body of one of the large cats he wore on his coats.The mouth of the beast was open in a roar on his shoulder.
Looking at that shoulder, my mouth went dry.I didn’t know why; I’d seen broad shoulders like his before.I’d even seen chiseled muscles like those in his arms and chest.The men of Earsleh, and the women too, were all muscled from training with swords and other weapons.But something about the Zulenii was different.The defined ridges of his abdomen?The V dipping into the waistband of his trousers just below his navel?Perhaps it was his height.He was taller than any Earsleh man.Now that Cameed was opposite him, he towered over her by more than a foot.
“How is she to fight him?”Morga said, echoing my own thoughts.
“He must be twice her weight and a foot and a half taller than she is,” Finnrey said.
