Page 145 of Trial of Bronze and Blood
Dru glances up at the low ceiling, trying not to take her anger out on Cato.I knew I should’ve read the draft rules.
“Well, you were wrong.” Dru glances around. “This is the second time I’ve been in this room. The lion who attacked me was chained to this pillar instead of us. There’s only one way out of here and we can’t get there.”
She nearly screams in frustration.
“This is my fault.” Cato flexes his arms “Gods, I thought I could get over my father’s death and handle my ascension to the throne with little trouble. But I overestimated myself and underestimated the Imperium.”
“My father was supposed to pass his knowledge on to me,” he continues, “but he’d already done that with Vittoria. And when she died, that part of him—the part that made him a good and noble king, and my father—died with her. My mother refused to see it until the very end. It’s no excuse on my part—I should’ve done better.”
She looks at him, his head hung low in defeat, his long dark curls blocking his face. Remorse pricks at her heart. Though she wishes he would’ve consulted her, there’s nothing to be done about it now. He has to release himself from that guilt.
The two of them stand in silence in each other’s presence, awaiting whatever Blaise has in store for them. Despite her ire, Dru wants to forgive Cato. By his own account, he got her, Marcus, and his entire country into this situation. Yet his confession stems from self-deprecation not truth, leaving out some of the most important axioms.
“Drusilla,” Cato begins, and she knows she’s not going to like whatever he has to say. “Marcus and I have a plan should I die?—”
“You might have doomed us all, but you’re not going to die while I draw breath,” Dru argues.
“Be that as it may, if I leave this realm, which seems likely given the circumstances, we’ve put something in place that involves you.” Blaise walks by, forcing Cato to drop his voice to a whisper. “I can’t say more than that now, but I don’t want you to be taken by surprise when the time comes.”
Before she can respond, the sound of Ambitus’s muffled voice trickles in through the floor above them.
A moment later, the ceiling over their heads begins to crank open.
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
MARCUS
Today, all but two of the competitors in the Valorem Blood Trials will die. And Marcus is going to do everything in his power to make certain Dru and Cato are the ones left standing.
The morning sun beats down on Marcus’s neck as he stands outside the Durevolian entrance to the arena. He planned to wait for Dru and Cato, but when he saw they weren’t in their rooms, he figured they must’ve come down early. Although he’s a little disappointed that Dru didn’t wait for him.
It’s going to be hot today.They’ll have to keep the sweat off their hands to maintain the grip on their spears and shields, perhaps use the dirt in the arena to coat them. His gladiator armor weighs a bit heavier on him in the heat too, but he’s grateful for the protection it offers.
The arena looms around him, casting long shadows from the angle of the sun. He takes a deep breath.This will be the last time I enter the Ammaliare arena.He steps inside to look for Dru and Cato—when someone places a hand on his arm.
He turns, finding Sabina. She’s panting, her gold eyes wetand red-rimmed like she’s been crying. His stomach sinks.Something’s wrong.
“Praetor Marcus, I couldn’t stop them.”
“Stop who?” he demands, gaze flitting across her to look for anything out of place. “What happened?”
Sabina releases a sob. “They took her—they took Dru.”
Wrath instantly ignites in his blood, boiling over.
“Where?” he growls.
Tears chart a path down her ruddy cheeks. “I don’t know.”
Before he can tear the entire country apart looking for her, Valente and another guard—Baldassare—run up to him, hands poised on the hilts of their swords.
Valente speaks first. “Praetor, we can’t find the king.”
Fuck.“What do you mean you can’t find him?”
Baldassare stands at attention. “He’s not in his chambers, or anywhere else in the palace.”
“Deodamnatus,” Marcus swears. “You two, with me. Sabina, back to the palace.”
