Page 152 of Trial of Bronze and Blood
“No one will be safe in Anziano. Marcus?—”
“Do as I ask. Please.” His eyes beg her to see reason.
She wants to rage against his damned wishes. But he’ll only try to stop her. If she gives in, he’ll believe her.
Closing her eyes, she nods and hangs her head, tears carving down her cheeks.
Leaning forward, he presses his forehead against hers. Not for too long, otherwise people might call into question her marriage to Cato in the name of love, as the letter infers. But enough to say goodbye.
“Enough of that,” the bard barks.
Pulling Marcus up by his armor, he shoves him in the direction of the exit. Dru gets unsteadily to her feet, watching him go as her heart breaks. He glances back at her but the bard pushes him harder thistime, so he turns forward until he passes the Phaedran soldiers and out of sight.
She watches the spot longer than she should, even while the heartbroken crowd files silently out of the arena. Standing beside Cato’s body in the last place she saw Marcus, she doesn’t move until someone grabs her arms and squeezes.
Bleary-eyed, she finds Sabina standing in front of her.
“The Imperium wants to speak with you about your relationship with Cato and the legitimacy of the marriage,” she tells her softly.
Dru doesn’t react beyond allowing Sabina and her own feet to guide her out of the arena and up the path to the palace.
To take her place as Queen of Anziano.
CHAPTER FORTY
MARCUS
The carriage jostles beneath Marcus, bouncing him between the two Phaedran soldiers that occupy either side of him. It’s unbearably hot inside this box with so many bodies and very little air coming in. Though he supposes it’s the least of his concerns. The smell of blood and sweat permeates, reminding him of Cato, of his final words.Stellae, why did he have to challenge the Imperium like that?
“When we get to the capital,” Ambitus says, speaking for the first time since his guards threw Marcus inside, “you’ll meet the new leader of the Faithless before we take you elsewhere to be interrogated.”
“Interrogated for what?” Marcus asks, then flinches. Every time he opens his mouth, he receives an elbow in the gut.
“We both know King Cato’s marriage to the girl is a sham. But while she’s pregnant with his heir, we cannot kill her.”
Marcus chokes down a laugh.Cato was right; theyarestupid enough to believe Dru got pregnant in a week.
“We don’t want a rebellion on our hands when we still have the chance to take over peacefully.”
“Since when have you cared about peace?”
Ambitus nods at the guard to Marcus’s right, who rewards him with a sharp elbow in the ribs. Marcus sucks in a breath, sitting back against the carriage wall behind him. He doesn’t ask again.
His only solace is, as long as Dru stays in Anziano, she’ll be safe. She promised not to come after him, but he’s not sure she’ll keep her word. Especially given that she didn’t actually say it aloud. Considering it could be the last time they see each other, though, he took what he could get.
The look on her face when she realized he’d been keeping the truth from her all this time gutted him, seared forever into his memory. What she might not fully realize is that the Faithless were involved in the takeover the moment they gave Marcus his orders six years ago.
His job was to get Cato to trust him and make sure he died nobly in the trials. This would allow his throne to be open for the taking—though he wasn’t told by whom or for what reason. The Faithless are trained not to ask questions.
Marcus can guess who ousted the Three: Thiago. He was always spewing to anyone who would listen how the Faithless had gone soft, how they should be making alliances with the Imperium to gain more influence instead of always thwarting them. It was at his suggestion to the Three that Marcus went to Anziano to convince the king to enter the Valorem Blood Trials so they could get rid of him without suspicion.
As time wore on at his post at Cato’s side, though, Marcus grew to love the king as a brother. Marcus was there when his sister killed herself, when his father grew sick and passed away. Marcus became the man he is today because of Cato and his time in Anziano. But he also missed Dru, as if she were one of his own limbs. The more time he spent away from her, the more he realized he loved her.
When the time for the trials drew near, he convinced the king they needed Dru to help train him. It wasselfish of him, but he planned to defy direct Faithless orders, and he refused to let her see him as a traitor without knowing why. Without giving her a chance to fall in love with Anziano as he had.
And, if he’s being honest with himself, he knew there was a good chance he would die in the trials. He didn’t want to leave this earth without her knowing how he felt about her.
Once he and Cato saw how heavy the Imperium’s influence would be on the games, he convinced Cato to make Dru his queen. He told him how the servants in the palace seemed to like her, how she’d do anything to keep his country from falling into the hands of the Imperium. So, he agreed to it. Because he liked her too, even grew to love her, like Marcus knew he would.
