“Reim, then,” said Forial.
“Well, yes,” the Overlord allowed. “That’s the common theory. The real man behind it all, appearing in clear view as his own second-in-command.”
Areon murmured in agreement. A lot of people thought that. It was an endless source of humor for him and Reim to play off that misconception.
“I don’t think so,” Forial said. “I was keeping a very close eye on him today. He’s capable, I’ll give him that. Great warrior, but not a leader. You could see it clearly.
Grom
is a leader. He took initiative at once, cutting the chain and then punching the sword into the wall. Someone used to thinking for himself. Reim was... waiting. I regret to say I couldn’t keep him in my sight all the time, so it’s difficult to say who he was looking for. Possibly he knew what I was doing and gave me false signals. Not him either.”
Oh wow. Maybe Reim is worried about the wrong person. You’re not an idiot either… Wouldn’t have thought from the way you happily strangled me.
Then there was a silence in the room for a while – so long that Areon shrugged and started to leave – before the Overlord spoke again.
“Nonetheless, wherever he may be, I will not be mocked like that. The proxy he brought this time is an insult. And you know how I feel about mercenaries. Good enough to be guards. Not warriors.”
I think you just hurt my feelings. Also, poor Sarto.
“I’ll flush him out one way or another,” the Overlord continued. “Then you make sure he does not claim one of the
calayas
.”
“As you wish,” Forial said.
Areon left them to their scheming and kept on climbing upwards, a smile on his lips. The victory was getting sweeter and sweeter by the hour. And his hunger grew with it.
Finally he found the floor where the
calayas
slept. He could hear excited voices behind several of the doors and kept going until he recognized Violet’s. The temptation to go in and finally hold her in his arms was great, but he didn’t give in. The moment to do that would come soon enough. So many people would be disappointed, of course. Forial would be furious. The Overlord even more so. What had he ever done to them?
Areon left a letter behind Violet’s door and slipped away as quietly as he’d come. It was all up to her now. She would be his, that was certain. All he wanted to know now was which of his selves she wanted – whether she would pick correctly. Depending on that, he would either make Violet the happiest woman alive, or finally have his revenge.
No one
broke his heart and got away with it.
For now, he needed to find a place to sleep. Big day ahead. Fun to be had. Many people trying to kill him. Not that they usually weren’t, but these ones were trying very hard.
They were welcome to try. It made his life less boring, and he
hated
to be bored. Just for a moment, he stopped being Areon and allowed himself the fun of dropping the last three floors down to the ground. He landed with a silent thud, unseen and unheard, because he’d already decided he wouldn’t be. Then he sighed and forced himself to forget the real strength and skill in his body. Damn, it was a chore to appear so mediocre.
Areon the Raider Prince smiled.
CHAPTER NINE
Irmela came to explain things to them.
It was probably better, Violet thought. She was too mad at the Overlord to talk to him. She was only slightly less mad at her mother.
The others were mostly just confused – with the possible exception of Maige, who was just relieved out of her mind. Ronay hadn’t dropped, which made him a considerable champion, but it had been close. If it had been a real fall, he would have died. No one was going to hear any complaints from Maige. She was just too grateful to give any consideration to the fact that it had all been fake.
Irmela rejected that accusation right away.
“Nothing but the chasm was fake,” she said. “It was a real trial. It showed a lot and proved a lot. Once the audience was told, even they understood. Quite a few have told the Overlord it was a very clever way to start it all off.”
“It was cruel,” Violet said.
“Perhaps,” Irmela allowed. “Not crueler than watching them hack each other to pieces, don’t you think?”
“Cruel enough,” said Violet. “Do you have any idea how afraid we were? I wasn’t certain that the drop wasn’t real until the very end. For a moment I thought I was going to die!”
“Yes,” Irmela said and Violet couldn’t remember her mother giving her such a kind smile. “I was so proud of you.”
“Proud?” she repeated.
“Of course,” her mother said. “You did exactly what we were hoping you would. All of you, really.”
“You planned this,” Violet said, stunned. “You and father planned for us to do that.”
“Not exactly that, but yes,” Irmela admitted.
“
Why
!?”
Irmela gave them all a very stern look that silenced them completely. Even those who weren’t her daughters waited to hear what she had to say.
“It was your trial,” Irmela said. “Your tournament. And I believe praise is in order. I applaud all of you.”
They sat, speechless. It was unheard of. The
calayas
weren’t the ones on trial, they were the ones the warriors fought for. They said as much, but Irmela’s stare was still hard and unrelenting.
“Correct,” she said. “But don’t you think it’s unfair? It’s like the Overlord said – they bleed and fight and suffer and you just sit there, looking pretty. Time for you to do something too. Besides, you were never in any real danger.”
“
We
didn’t know that,” Violet protested.
“My point exactly,” said Irmela. “Do you still not get it?”
Violet did, but it didn’t mean she wasn’t mad. The others looked puzzled, though.
“Now the warriors get to truly fight for something,” Irmela said. “They saw you fight for
them
. It means you don’t think of them merely as your amusement or bodies to be discarded. Of course they were stunned to see
you all, but imagine what they feel now.”
They considered it. With that realm of ideas came another possibility.
“What if we had done nothing?” Pearl asked.
“Neither me nor the Overlord thought that was going to happen,” Irmela said.
“Yes, but
what if
?” Lavie pressed on.
Irmela shrugged. “Then they would have seen that too. That you were willing to just sit there and watch them all die, not trying to stop it.”
“Do you think they would still have fought after that?” Marelle asked quietly.
“Sure,” Irmela said. “Maybe not all of them, but most for sure. It’s just how valuable you are. Even if you’d failed the test we prepared for you, they would have taken the answer you gave.”
“Some question!” Violet said, upset.
“The only way to get real answers is to ask tough questions,” said Irmela.
Violet thought about it a little more. “So the Overlord isn’t out to kill them all?” she asked.
“No,” Irmela said. “Don’t get me wrong. This is a
calaya
tournament and warriors will die trying to win you, but he has no particular grudge against them.”
Areon
, Violet thought
. The fool who is going to get himself killed. Could his demon luck really save him? Why couldn’t he just quit?
With a painful tinge in her heart, Violet realized she no longer seriously wanted him to quit. On the other hand, her faith in his chances of survival hadn’t improved either.
“Except for the Raider Prince, of course,” Irmela added.
Oh. The Prince. But surely he could survive whatever father had in store for him, right? It’s just like Maige said, if he’s good enough to win me, he’s worth it.
The others also looked up at the mention of that name. Whether or not they wanted to have him, he was interesting enough to warrant everyone’s attention.
“Do they finally know who he is?” Pearl asked. “God, how long can that man hide his true face?”
“Not yet,” Irmela said. “The Overlord and Forial have a plan to flush him out.”
Violet’s heart was beating so hard she thought it might pop out of her chest. She’d finally know! She only hoped they wouldn’t hurt him. He had to be alright so he could win. Then Violet could be his and everything would be fine again, just like she’d planned – nice and easy and against all odds and every trick the Overlord had in store for them. If only she could convince herself she still wanted that.
Because – where did that leave Areon?
***
Later in her room, Violet finally allowed herself to think of the strange way her heart suddenly seemed fixated on the guard, instead of the Prince, like it was supposed to! She firmly put it down to the fact that she hadn’t really seen the Prince, while she’d seen more than enough of Areon. Violet had imagined what the Prince would look like, but she didn’t have to imagine Areon.
Which was why it was so weird that she did, vividly so.
She’d barely allowed herself to think of him in the three years that had passed. At first, Violet had been too upset to give him any consideration at all. He was gone, she’d saved his life and that was that. Seeing him in the tournament had been a surprise and his new look even more so. Supposedly that explained why Violet found herself dreaming back to the day.
God he was just a magnet of misfortune
, she thought.
Everywhere Areon went, something precious and probably invaluable was broken in his wake. He wasn’t merely clumsy, he was incredibly accident-prone – a walking disaster. In a way, young Violet had liked it. He had amused her. Funnily enough, her inner voice hadn’t been wrong to point out it was a time in her life when she’d been the happiest. She hadn’t allowed herself to consider it before, but almost all of her favorite memories were somehow connected to him.
And then came the day when she’d broken his fall and he’d ruined her first touch. No man had ever laid a hand on her before.
Violet thought that the surprise explained the minute they’d laid there together, but now she was no longer so sure. Earlier that day she’d felt an emotion quite similar to the one she’d felt then. Only now she was older and better prepared to understand it.
Desire. What she’d felt was desire. More than that, actually – horrible, gut-wrenching lust. A burning of her flesh that yearned to have more contact with him, even if she knew it was absurd to think so. He hadn’t won her, he
wouldn’t
win her. The Prince would, of course, but...
Her lips still hungered for the kiss. Everywhere else Areon was just a walking accident waiting to happen. Like in the spider web, the way he’d just dangled on the wall. Violet sighed. So why, in that moment, it had felt like he was someone else? A man, a real man – powerful and strong and magnificent, ready to sweep her off her feet, with broad shoulders and thick arms and a playful smile on his lips.
She whimpered despite herself. It was the feeling she’d hoped for, that she’d wanted, but not for
Areon
, god no. What was wrong with her?
In truth, she knew what was wrong with her, Violet just didn’t want to admit it. Love hurt. It had hurt Irmela and it was so close to hurting her too. Areon’s return had brought everything back to the surface, though she’d been trying so hard to protect herself from heartbreak.
Someone shuffled behind her door and there was a call. Violet checked the caller ID before opening – she was a
calaya
after all – but it was just Forial, standing behind her door, holding a letter. He gave it to her, careful to not even brush his fingers against hers.
“You seem to have quite an admirer,” the man said with a crooked smile.
Violet blushed angrily. “You read it?” she snapped. “You…”
“Security protocol,” Forial said, but Violet saw he was clearly enjoying her fury.
“How did it even get here then?” she shot back at him. The warrior’s face dropped at once. “If your security is so tight, how could a champion’s letter get here?”
Forial’s lips drew together into a hard line. “I’m not sure, my lady,” he admitted dryly. “But he is known to get into places that are trying to keep him out.”
He? Ohhhh.
Violet let the doors slide shut before Forial could say another word. The hand that held the letter shook.
Oh god please let this be true.
With shaky hands, Violet tore open the laminated letter. It
was
from him. It was from the Prince!
Quite a performance,
it said.
I’m impressed. You really are a prize, Violet. I hear you were concerned about my whereabouts. (Reim told me. Forgive him. He tells me everything.) Don’t worry, I’m right here. Tomorrow you’ll have the chance to give your favor. I hope you know where your heart lies. – The Raider Prince
***
The next morning found Violet still awake. The letter lay discarded on the floor of her room, right where she’d dropped it last night. In the morning chill, Violet stood in the shadows over the practice area. It wasn’t even dawn yet, but warriors were already training for the next trial. Considering what had happened the day before, Violet couldn’t blame them.
Grom was smashing the attacking robots to pieces, grim in his violence – it was obvious why he was considered a favorite. Violet shuddered when her eyes drifted over him, and it had nothing to do with the cool weather. He scared her to death. Further away, she could see Reim training with an obstacle course, swinging under and over whirling blades aiming to cut his head from his shoulders. His movements were quick and efficient, not wasting even a breath.
There were quite a few others, but Violet hadn’t come to see any of them. She’d come to see Ronay. Of all of them, guards and warriors and leaders alike, he was the most determined. His focus was so sharp he didn’t seem to notice anything around him. So of course he missed Maige’s arrival, but they all did –
calayas
could go unseen if they wished.