The judges bow to the woman, who is wearing the brown robes of the Alchemists’ Guild.
I see her face in the shadow of her robes, and a weight on my chest lifts even as my lungs scream for air.
“Guild Mistress,” says a judge. “The healers are on their way.”
“That’s not why I’m here,” she begins, but seeing the state I’m in, she rushes over to us, helping Adria hold me up. “Gods, she’s dying.”
The healer arrives at nearly the same time, and he tries to hand Zara an elixir, but she refuses it.
She places her hand on my neck, and the relief is nearly instantaneous. A comforting warmth spreads through my skin, reaching deep into the damaged tissue. Something stretches and snaps painlessly back into place. When she finally lets go, I can breathe freely. My throat no longer aches at all.
“Thank you,” I say to her, my voice now clear.
This must be what Ronan did for Nico when I stabbed him. It’s nothing like the slow nature magic of the typical healer. It’s nothing like the agonizing burn of the fire-born. It’s evenbetter than most of the alchemical elixirs. It waspainless, and unbelievably fast.
Light magic is truly incredible.
Zara rounds on the judges then. She stands as tall as she can, and though her voice is soft, there’s an edge of power to it that I’ve never heard from her before. “The God-King will be hearing about the healer situation. He’s made it very clear that no one will be dying for the sake of our entertainment. And as for the misunderstanding regarding the match, I must conclude it’s simply due to the angle you were watching from.” What Zara says makes no sense: the judges were positioned on opposite sides of the circle with a full view of everything. There’s no way they didn’t see what happened, but her words do give them an excuse for their behavior. “I saw everything from the stands. The man—Leon? He’s earth-born. He caused the damage to the circle. Sylvie was only reacting to his threat. If anyone should be disqualified, it’s him.”
The judges look at each other tensely. “Of course, Mistress,” says the man. “We’re grateful you were here to illuminate us.”
A light pun. Zara flashes a smile at me so quickly I nearly miss it.
The female judge turns to the crowd to redo the proclamation. “Disqualified: Leon the Smith. Victor: Sylvie of House Verran.”
Larus finally makes it to us then. I’m glad he’s left Felix back in the stands, but I realize as I look for him, it’s because Felix is flat on his back.
“He’ll be fine,” says Larus as he sees where I’m looking. “Are you alright?”
“I’m fine, thanks to the Guild Mistress.”
She smiles. “Any time. Anti-Nithyrian prejudice runs deep in Selara still. A pity, and when you were doing so well. I’d wish you luck, but I don’t think you’ll need it.”
I open my mouth to reiterate my gratitude, but she bows her head and slips away with all the subtlety of a shadow-born.
“Look who lives to fight another day. Well, barely,” says the jeering voice of Quinn of House Horatio. I know her before I even see her. I’d recognize her mockery anywhere.
“Fuck off,” says Adria. “You’ll see who barely lives when we fight.”
“Then you admit I’ll make it to the end?”
I glance at Larus. As much as I’d like to see what Quinn is up to, I’d really rather not get pulled into this argument. In fact, what I’d really like is to sit down.
“Come on,” he says, and he leads me into the stands, but further up beyond where Felix is resting. “Let the fire-born do…whatever it is that they do.”
As I take a seat next to Larus in a part of the stands empty enough to afford us privacy, I breathe a sigh of relief. Not just because I’ve survived yetanotherattempt on my life, but because it’s Larus. All of the confusing things I’ve been feeling will make sense once I’ve had a chance to speak with him. I just know it.
“I’ve heard you’ve been busy,” he says, waiting for me to speak as usual.
He’s not talking about today. He’s talking about my encounters with Ronan, which I’m sure he’s heard about from Adria, although she barely knows more than he does. “I fought with him. Not a real fight, but he came up to us while we were practicing. I told Adria about some of his favored moves.”
“That’s good. Although if he had any sense, he wouldn’t show you everything he’s capable of.”
That was true enough from what I’d seen of him when our lives were truly threatened.
Gods, there’s so much to tell Larus. As much as I want to hear what he thinks about the rest, I’m afraid to admit everything to him. Will he think I’m a fool for befriending Soren?
And how do I let him know what’s happened without confessing to every embarrassing detail?
