Page 94 of Court of Lies and Deceit

“But the day isn’t over yet!” Rosea calls. “So hang on to your betting slips, ladies and gentlemen. Because now, it’s time for the Black Faction to face the White Faction.”

Cheers erupt once more.

Alistair starts in surprise when his name is called but then straightens his spine and strides out into the arena as soon as the door swings open.

His match is not nearly as showy as Draven’s was. Instead, Alistair practically mows his opponent down with sheer brute force within the first minute. It’s brutal, efficient, and shockingly fast.

His opponent from the White Faction has water magic, which should have given Alistair trouble. But because of the difference in raw power that the Icehearts’ selective breeding has created, it doesn’t even matter.

The audience in white, who were so sure of their faction’s win, gape in stunned silence as Alistair leaves their prized fighter gasping on the sand with severe burns.

Hope flickers in my chest. Maybe we do stand a chance after all.

After that, the White Faction fights the Red Faction. The spectators who are carrying white banners regain some of their enthusiasm as the female fae from the White Faction beats her opponent in a surprisingly close match. But a win is a win, and the crowd is once more cheering. Though not the Red Faction supporters. Several of them even drop their red banners and instead borrow black ones from their neighbors. Apparently, the rivalry between the White and Red Factions is strong, so cheering for our team instead appears to be the only suitable compromise.

Then Lyra’s name is called.

She tenses. Her normally so cheerful face is filled with worry as she stares out at the sand. Then she quickly wipes the expression off her features and turns to give us all a beaming smile. It fools none of us, but I force a smile anyway. Isera gives her a nod while Galen squeezes her arm. Then she’s striding away towards the middle of the arena.

Hushed anticipation washes through the arena as Lyra faces the woman from the Red Faction.

“Begin!”

I gasp as stones shoot through the air towards her.

Next to me, Galen grips the edge of the door slot hard.

Lyra throws herself sideways, rolling across the sand with her sword already in hand. But her opponent shoots another hailof stones at her. She twists, and they slam into the side of her dragon scale armor.

Worry courses through me as the Unseelie fae woman rushes her. It turns into sickening dread as the match progresses. Lyra is skilled with the sword, but she barely manages to get any strikes through since her opponent is hammering her with blocks of stone.

Galen tightens his grip on the door slot before us as Lyra cries out in pain when she’s hit hard in the side. More stones are shot at her.

But Lyra doesn’t surrender.

Pain pulses through my heart as I watch Lyra fight hard until a stone slams into the side of her head with a dreadful crack. She collapses onto the sand, her chest still moving but her eyes closed.

Galen lets out something between a growl of rage and a whimper of dread. Rosea calls the win in favor of the Red Faction, and then Lyra is carried away across the sand and in through the same doorway that Draven and Alistair left through.

“They’ll take care of her,” I find myself saying. “She’ll be alright.”

Neither Galen nor Isera answers.

Once the arena floor has been cleared yet again, Rosea announces the next match. Isera doesn’t so much as blink when her name is called. Without a second look back, she simply strides out the door.

The crowd yells in anticipation when they see her.

And by Mabona, does she deliver.

Her entire match is pure entertainment. She toys with her opponent from the White Faction, making the Unseelie man look like a fool who challenged a goddess to a fight. Attacking and defending expertly with her ice magic, she makes the fight into such a spectacle that it’s impossible to look away.

The crowd goes wild.

This time, I do have to press my hands to my ears to block out the deafening screams and cheers that fill the entire arena. It looks like Isera is about to become their new favorite celebrity.

Once Isera has finished entertaining the audience to the fullest possible extent, she knocks out her opponent with a block of ice and then bows theatrically to the crowd before blowing another kiss in what I assume is the Unseelie King’s direction. Since it’s located somewhere right above us, I can’t tell for sure. But he was sitting in that section last time, so it must be aimed at him.

Another wild roar sweeps through the crowd.

---