Page 170 of Unrivaled
As I walked off they were stomping in time.Champ.Ee.On.Champ.Ee.On.
I’d championed her this morning with an arm around Luca’s still-naked shoulders as he’d cauterized his dreams.
Before I’d even made it back into the shade I was pulled back out.The steward was a familiar face, one of the guards I’d covered for one evening when his surviving little boy was sick and I was bored.He grinned at me, clapping me on the shoulder and pointing me over to a ring on the far side of the grounds.“The Son keep you,” he told me.
The Son had nothing to do with how I’d keep.I glanced up at the lists.Some of the remaining shields I knew, others I didn’t.Still, plenty of rounds to go.They couldn’t chant like this for the whole time.
“Did she name you yet?”my opponent asked, over the racket.
I shook my head but didn’t argue with theyet,reaching out and clasping his hand in friendly acknowledgement.I couldn’t recall his name, nor even place his province, but I knew he knew Kadan, and I suspected he’d been injured in the war.He moved warily.
I’d been sparring regularly with Matri’sion.I was used to wary.
The stomping continued.The chanting.
I was no one’s champion.
My body managed the give and take of the fight.My head was full of their chanting, my muscles warm, the sword a perfect weight.
She didn’tneeda champion.
The idea occurred to me with such a start that I nearly ended up skewered by accident, blocking only at the last minute and rolling overtop the lunge to tag my opponent on the back, leaving a long chalk mark against his tabard.
He pulled off his helm, grinning as he clasped me in a hug.“Well struck!”he said, over the roar of the crowd, laughing in joy.
My heart in my throat I pulled off my helm and wiped the worst of the sweat off my face.Not for her.By the old gods, I was glad the weather had cooled, because the feel of her sweat-slick skin against mine as we trained had been torture.She hadn’t noticed, though.
“My lady Audrey,” I called, and the crowd roared.
She waited for the noise to crest and then ebb, leaning over the banister.“Excellent shield work, sir!”she called down to me.
Heat coiled in my belly at her words, at the reference to our shared secret exchange last year.I took a breath and felt the fire move through my veins.She’d been embers back then, waiting for the conditions to be right.
She was a bonfire now.
“I’m glad I’ve pleased my lady,” I called back.“As you know, I’ll win any tourney for you.”And fight any man or beast, alive or magic.
The crowd roared, stomping out of time.Fences were shaken.Wood rattled.If the crowd spilled onto the field, they’d have to remove Audrey.Kadan was up there with her.I saw his brilliant smile, bright as the sun, remain undimmed as his eyes assessed the crowd.I turned to those people with a big, sweeping gesture.“Butweall know she needs no champion!”
The shouts.The whistles.The applause.
I turned back to Audrey.Her expression had morphed from one of politeness to something intense, something fierce.
Claim it.I waited as the crowd shouted and screamed, watching her little pocket of calm.Claim it, Audrey.You’ll need it soon.
She held out one hand in a gentle soothing motion.The noise peaked, then ebbed as people listened intently.
“I’ve learned we’re stronger with our allies close,” she called down to me.
I fisted my hand and pressed it against my chest, over my heart, bowing to her.Claim it, my bonfire.I had no wisdom to respond with, no way to shine the light back on her.Just all my love.Just all my hope.
The quiet around the arena as I straightened felt unnatural after the noise we’d survived.They all waited for her to name me, and I desperately wanted her to name herself.
“For the lady, and her allies!”Kadan called, beside her, lifting his hands in applause to her.
“The Beacon!”came the call.“The Beacon!”
A chill went up my spine.I saw her duck her head, clearly uncomfortable.For a terrifying instant, I thought she’d shrink.We were back before the fire, and she was agreeing and soothing.
