Page 23 of Trial of Bronze and Blood
Dru speaks up. “That would be difficult, considering I didn’t come with anything.”
Surprise widens his eyes and draws up his brow. She nearly laughs. Only someone of his station would be surprised she arrived without any possessions. “Nothing?”
“Nothing but the clothes on my back.” She opens her wool cloak to show him the sown-in pockets. “But it’s enough.”
“Well, at least you need a place to rest until dinner. I imagine you’ve had a trying journey.” He sits back on his throne. “Sabina!” he barks, then adds quietly, “She’s my cousin on my mother’s side, so go easy on her.”
At his command, a girl a head shorter than Dru shuffles around the corner. Her blue silk tunic hugs her ample curves, and a dark blue crystal pendant the size of an Imperium coin dangles from a thin, gold chain around her neck. She doesn’t spare Dru or anyone else a glance except the king.
Cato holds out a hand, palm open. “Please take our guest to her chamber.”
Sabina blinks at him. “Will she not bunk with the other competitors?”
Dru blinks.What competitors?
“Will she not bunk with the other competitors, what?” Cato goads her.
Sabina stares at him for a moment with her bright gold eyes. Dru bites the inside of her lip to keep from grinning.
“Will she not bunk with the other competitors,Sovrano?”
“Better, though I’d prefer less attitude next time.” Sabina’s jaw pops audibly from clenching it; Cato sits back, a satisfied half-smile on his thin lips. “And no, she won’t. I’ll need her nearby.”
Nearby for what?Dru wonders, her frustration growing. Up to this point, she’s trusted Marcus and the fact that he claims to still be a member of the Faithless. She hasn’t questioned what King Catowants with her, or why and how the Faithless might be involved. Allowing Marcus to keep their motives secret has been based on the assumption that it’s all for a good reason—a reason sanctioned by the Faithless.
Her silence ends now.
“And what have you summoned me for, that you need me so close by?”
Cato regards Marcus. “You didn’t tell her?”
Marcus clasps his hands behind his back, puffing out his chest. “I thought it would be best coming from you.”
“Quite right, though I’m surprised she agreed to come with you at all, not knowing the reason.”
When he says it like that, I come off as a trusting fool. If it were anyone but Marcus and they hadn’t been fleeing for their lives, she might’ve been more guarded. But she’s here now, and she wants to know why.
Cato addresses Dru. “You’re here to help train me for a Durevolian tradition called the Valorem Blood Trials.”
The Valorem Blood Trials.That explains what Cato’s council were arguing about earlier. It also confirms what she overheard in the tabernae in Nusquam, of the rumors of its return.
Dru folds her arms across her chest. Tabernae Ebrius isn’t the first place in the Imperium she’s heard whispers of the return of the Valorem Blood Trials, though she’s surprised to find the gossip bears truth. And, if the grumblings of Cato’s council are to be believed, the Imperiumisinvolved. A fact which confuses and concerns her.
The siege of Durevolia over a century ago took years before it came to a head. The Imperium chased the Durevolians out of their lands and into the only parcel of their country left to them: this island. When the Phaedran army finally broke through Anziano’s defenses, more Imperium lives were lost than in any other conquest.
To avoid further losses, the Imperium agreed to a peace treaty: the Durevolian people could keep their land and exist outside Phaedran rule, but their ports would be regulated, they would continue tosupply the Imperium with silk, and they had to disband their army in a promise never to invade any Imperium land. They were even forced to make their traditions Phaedran.
The Sovrano at the time agreed, if only to save the lives of their people. But they never let go of their traditions—they merely practiced them in secret.
From what Dru knows about its history, the blood trials can’t exactly take place in secret.
“Sanctioned by the Imperium?” she asks finally.
He nods. “Of course. In fact, they’ll be participating this year, filling half of the competitor slots with their own people.”
Dru considers this. There must be a reason the Imperium has allowed this to move forward. Though it’s even stranger for them to have involved themselves so deeply in it. These blood trials are older than the Imperium itself and have been written off by most Phaedrans for that reason alone.
The trials have always fascinated Dru, which is why she chose to focus on them during her learnings at the Faithless. The most important piece of information she learned was that one must be a true champion to compete: strong, smart, cunning, ruthless, brave. Qualities most people in the continent fail to possess.
