The black spots grew bigger and even the gray clouding my vision began to fade.The world spun faster and faster, and I felt like I was falling.Even as my face connected with the dirt, I heard the voices—“Un, duo...”
***
IOPENED MY EYES ANDblinked at the unfamiliar walls.Grey stone.Light flickered somewhere, and I realized the shadow on the walls was my shape, lying on a raised structure of some sort.
“Mara?”
That was my mother’s voice.I turned my head and winced.She peered down at me, her long hair tickling my cheek.“Thank the gods,” she said.
I wasn’t dead.I only felt like it.“Water,” I croaked.
Finnrey came into view behind my mother.She held a wooden cup, which my mother took.I tried to sit, but any little movement made the room spin.My mother cradled my head and dribbled some water in my mouth.The liquid felt cold and relieved the burning in my throat.
“That barbarian!”my mother hissed.“He almost killed you.”
As the events in the arena began to come back to me, I wished hehadkilled me.
I lost.
I’d lost the Claiming Rite, something no princess of Earsleh had done in two hundred and nineteen years.I’d failed my mother; I’d failed the king; I’d failed the people of Earsleh.
I’d failed myself.
I’d rather be dead than leave my home and be a prisoner in Zulen.Although, despite my hatred for Taio, underneath I felt a grudging admiration.He had beaten me, and he’d done it with a trick I’d never seen.There was little cause to choke a Hollow until it lost consciousness.We trained to defeat and kill.But Taio had known how much pressure to exert and for how long until I blacked out and he could win the challenge.
My entire body ached, and my throat hurt, but I would recover.“Where—” I cleared my throat, which hurt like the time I’d had spotted fever and red bumps appeared all over my body and even on the inside of my mouth and throat.My throat had swelled so much I could barely swallow.“Where am I?”I finally managed.
My mother gave me another sip of water, and that helped.
“Under the arena,” Finnrey said.“The honor guard carried you in here after...”She trailed off, and I was thankful.I didn’t want to hear her say it.
“Is the prince—”
“He’s unharmed,” Finnrey said.“As you, er, ordered.”
“The prince!She’s lying here half-dead, and she’s worried about the prince!”
“Help me up, Mama.”
“You had better lie down,” my mother argued, but Finnrey put an arm behind my neck and helped me sit.I took stock of my injuries.My back hurt.Perhaps that was my backside.In any case, I was one ball of pain in that area.My head hurt, especially the back where I’d cracked it on the prince’s face.The room spun, but at least the pressure on my head was relieved now that I wasn’t lying on it.My neck and throat hurt, of course.I touched my neck and swallowed.
“You’ll be bruised for days,” my mother complained.
“I’ll get you a cold compress,” Finnrey said.“That will help.”
I wanted to ask her to stay, but as she slipped out, she motioned to the guard in the room to follow her.She closed a door behind her, gifting me a private moment with my mother.Leave it to Finnrey to find a way for us to speak alone.My mother seized that moment and my hand.“Mara, you must run away.I have already planned everything.You escape down to the beach and hide in one of the caves among the rocks.I’ll bring you food when I can.”
“Mama—”
“Once the Zulenii are gone, you can come back out.Perhaps we can both leave for the outerlands and—”
I squeezed her hand.Hard.“Mama, no.”
She closed her eyes.“You are right.Those caves flood.What about the secret rooms under the—”
“Mama!”
She looked at me.
