Page 87 of Set Fire to the Gods
“That rat,” Elias cursed. He ground his jaw. “I have to get Cassia out now. This ends today.”
He turned away, hands in fists as though he intended to march up to Petros right then.
Tor grabbed Elias’s shoulder, causing the boy to go utterly slack. But he dropped his hand when a few of the Deiman servants by the other carriage looked over.
They had to be careful. They had to be quick. Even out in the open, there was stone under their feet, in the building behind them.
Nowhere was safe.
“We can help you get Cassia,” Tor said, low. “She’s being held at Petros’s villa?”
Elias nodded, dumbstruck. “You’d help? Because you think Madoc will help you.”
“Because if Petros is behind this, then he’s the person we need to focus on,” Tor said. “If he’s poised to move against Ignitus—”
But Ash couldn’t bear thinking that they’d have toallywith Petros to bring down Ignitus. Everything about Petros felt oily and stained.
“You need to find Madoc,” Ash cut over Tor, talking to Elias. “I left him at the temple, but—you need to tell him.”
Elias nodded. His face went pale. “If Petros is the one who killed Stavos, he could go after Madoc next. What’s to stop him? He’s murdering gladiators.” Elias slid a hand through his short hair, pulling it up at the front. “I’ll find him. I’ll warn him.”
“Good.” Tor looked up at the Kulan guards. They were adjusting a bolt on the rear axle while Taro and Spark took up an idle conversation with them, keeping them occupied. A small grin of pride spread across Tor’s face, but he turned back to Elias.
“Find Madoc and meet us tonight outside Petros’s villa, just before midnight,” Tor said. Ash had heard this tone of his so many times—it had ordered Char through training drills, had reprimanded Ash for taking foolish risks. “The four of us—two Fire Divine, one Earth Divine, and a Soul Divine—should be able to sneak into Petros’s villa. We’ll split up, find Cassia, and get her out first. Ash and I—” He glanced at her. His face softened. “We’ll investigate on our own, after she’s safe. We’ll find out what Petros has been hiding.”
Elias nodded. Again. “Okay. Yeah, that sounds good.” He shookhis hands out by his sides, his body humming with pent-up anxiety. “Tonight. Before midnight. Petros’s villa is in the Olantin District in South Gate. You can’t miss it—it’s the only big, rich house there. I—” He started to turn back to the carriage. “Thank you,” he whispered over his shoulder before sprinting away.
“The Kulans tried to pass a threat from me to Madoc!” Elias shouted as he rejoined the servants. “They’re so scared of him, they can’t even threaten him themselves!”
The servants broke out in a chorus of laughter.
Ash gave a brittle smile, but it froze on her face.
“Champions—the carriage is ready now,” one of the guards called.
Tor took her arm and led her to it. “Who was Petros talking to?” he whispered.
The carriage rocked as Ash pulled herself up. She looked down at Tor, her insides shifting with the carriage.
“Who do you think he was talking to?” was all she could say in response.
Tor swallowed, hard, and gave a curt nod.
Geoxus. Petros may have been the one making the moves, but Geoxus was giving the orders. Which meant it was all connected: Madoc, his anathreia; the target painted on Kula by Geoxus, Aera, and Biotus; even Stavos using the poisoned blade on Char. Had Geoxus told him to do that in order to get rid of Ignitus’s strongest gladiator and Geoxus’s biggest threat?
The only pieces that still didn’t connect were why Petros had captured Stavos, why he was dead, and what had happened to the other missing gladiators.
Ash sat next to Spark and let the healer check on a cut Brand had slashed across her thigh. Her mind was far away, poking at the lingering uncertainties.
Part of her felt like these final questions, and the waiting answers, would be worse than all the other revelations. Like the dark green-gray hue the sea would take before a punishing typhoon.
So Ash sat up straighter, watching Crixion roll past, and thought about how tonight, she would help Madoc get his sister back.
The moment Ash and Tor returned to the palace, servants swept them away to get ready for the dinner Ignitus had requested. He wanted to strategize about the final battles, they said.
Ash found it hard to care about the war when so many other dangers stalked around it.
As night fell, guards led them to Ignitus’s personal chamber. They reached an entryway with flames whipping in braziers on either side of two towering white doors, making the area smell of earthy burned pine.
