Page 12 of A Light So Blinding
She didn’t want his pity. Not if he wasn’t going to help.
So, she straightened her shoulders and walked out after him. The hall was empty, but she had suspected as much. The guard couldn’t keep her safe with a bunch of warriors around her, and they wouldn’t want a brawl to get out of hand when they needed her for the show. But she hadn’t expected how horrible it would feel to walk by the nobility.
The whispers were easily ignored. But it was the sight of Lord Tolly himself. He stood close to the bars, wringing his hands as she walked by.
“Astrid,” he said, trying to get her attention. “Astrid, please look at me.”
The short walk here had sodden the hem of her dress with mud and blood. It had once been a piece of artwork, and all because of his stupidity she was now forced to ruin it.Along with herself. If her plan didn’t work, everything could fall apart spectacularly in a way that would ruin her life. This was a risk she had to take, but all he knew was that it had been for him.
She paused and turned her head to look at him. Coolly, she replied, “I am Priestess to you. You do not have permission to use my given name.”
Gliding forward, she followed the guard through the winding tunnels. She could see there were hundreds of feet that had passed in this direction, until the guard paused before a locked door, unlocked it, and brought her into a newer section.
“I shouldn’t tell you anything,” he muttered. “But it feels wrong to say nothing. The king wanted a show. I’m bringing you to a raised platform, and the warriors will fight to get to you. The one who reaches you first and who manages to hold you the longest, gets you. For good. Not for a night, like normal. You’ll be their bedmate for... for good.”
Well. That certainly made her plans a little more difficult. Hopefully, she had gotten the Bull’s attention enough for him to fight for her then.
Nerves churned in her belly. What if this had all been a grave mistake? What if she ended up with the wrong person and she had to suffer through whatever they wanted to do to her for... however long it took her to escape. Or die.
She needed to have faith in her own abilities. Astrid had gotten through harder situations than this in her life. She was a priestess of all things. She could trick a few meathead warriors who thought they would own her if they fought hard enough.
“Fine,” she replied to the guard, who was still staring at her. “Are you expecting me to thank you?”
“For the warning? Yes.”
“You are doing nothing to save me. You are telling me what my future will be while feeding me to the wolves. No thanks are required for someone who isn’t helping me.” She walked past him onto what she assumed was a podium. She’d seen them used before in the few games she’d attended. Unfortunately, these podiums had been used to give certain warriors an advantage back then.
All she could hope was that they were taller this time. They’d only been about three feet tall when she’d seen them, and she struggled to see how that would keep a prize above their heads.
Standing in the center, she turned toward the guard and took a deep breath. “I am ready. You can do whatever you need to do.”
He muttered something under his breath, perhaps about how icy priestesses always were, before he reached for a chain on the wall and began tugging on it. Slowly, ever so slowly, he lifted her out of the pits and into the arena.
Some days, the arena was lit by the sun. The king would order the false ceiling to be removed so that the warriors were blinded by the light. Not today. Today, it was all shadows and fire that raged in a circle above her head. Red banners decorated the ceiling, but not hanging over the arena itself. No, the king didn’t want to obscure anyone’s view of what was to come.
She was shocked to see that it wasn’t a labyrinth laid out before her. They’d removed all the walls. Instead there was a blank, open space about the size of a field around her. The podium continued to lift, raising higher and higher until she was at least ten feet above the ground. The seats where she had sat with her lord were all filled to the brim. So many people who had once welcomed her among them now were bloodthirsty enough to watch her fall.
The sound of their voices made her head spin. Vertigo struck her quickly, but she remained steady as she forced herself not to react. She had practice in smoothing her features so no onewould know what she was thinking or how she was feeling. That was her entire life. Astrid knew how to stay calm and quiet and collected.
So she stood there, looking out at the massive amount of space and knowing it would soon become a bloodbath. The king didn’t just want a spectacle. He wanted this to be a night to remember.
And there he was. King James strode out onto a platform extending out over the blank arena and lifted his hands for silence.
“Tonight, we have a show unlike any other! This priestess before us has sacrificed herself in the greatest act of humility for her lord and her people. She gives her life so that our warriors might have a banquet tonight!”
A cheer rose, deafening from the stands. But more than that, she swore there was a cheer that came from beneath the floor as well.
Again, King James lifted his hands like a conductor, and the crowd was his orchestra. They fell silent, waiting to hear what he would say next. “Humans and trolls will fight for her tonight. To the death. But I couldn’t just allow anyone to fight for her, oh no. These are our best. And tonight, we will see if a beauty can tempt the Bull.”
More shouts, more screams, and her stomach churned with fear. This wasn’t right. She shouldn’t be fought over like this, and yet, this was the only way.
Astrid folded her hands primly at her waist, clutching her fingers in a way she hoped no one could see as the king shouted, “Let the games begin!”
Doors opened everywhere. All along the walls, the floors, men surged out of them or yanked themselves onto the battlefield. There were so many of them, she had a hard time believing the king would actually risk all of their lives.
He had only so many fighters. She remembered Lord Tolly claiming that the king went on regular hunts to find more, but he was churning through them at a pace where this just wasn’t sustainable. They needed to use fewer of the warriors and more difficult showcases so perhaps they would be able to make more money.
But tonight, the entire arena was sold out. So she understood why the king would risk so many of his best fighters. The people wanted a show, and he was going to give it to them.
