Chapter 31
Shadow
T hree days had passed since Avriel told me about the empress’s plans for her.
Plans that filled my lungs with a fiery rage.
The kind that could burn a person to ash, if I let it get out of control.
Something I refused to do. I wouldn’t let it, wouldn’t let my anger and frustrations consume me, because now there was something much larger at play.
The only female that I had ever cared for was going to suffer the same fate I had experienced every time the empress commanded me to go to her bedchamber.
I would do everything within my power to prevent that from happening to Avriel. I wouldn’t allow that horrible excuse of a man to touch her. Which meant I needed to keep my fucking wits about me.
Avriel had learned Victor was planning to leave with her early next month, which didn’t give us much time to figure out how we were going to escape together. Still, I didn’t trust that grimy fucker around her, and I knew we were already working on borrowed time.
That was why it had absolutely gutted me to go to Virtus City for today’s soul crusher games. Avriel had told me to go, telling me we needed to act normally. Otherwise, we would arouse suspicion. It had taken everything within me to listen to her, although I knew she was right.
And besides, it would give me the opportunity to speak with another soul crusher without the concern of prying eyes and eager ears.
I walked through the hypogeum, a subterranean network underneath the arena, past the men chained to the walls, their eyes fixed on me, pleading for mercy. With each glance, I repeated the same message to them—the only mercy I could give them was a quick end.
Back in the depths of one of the hallways, where there was little light, stood the soul crusher I had been looking for—
Commodus. He was a towering male, close to my height.
The great expanse of his lifetime had easily clipped mine dozens of times.
He was a good immortal to know, because he possessed a great deal of things, and if he didn’t have what you were looking for, then he knew someone who would.
He was an alumnus of the empress’s harem, one of the very few she allowed to live beyond the palace walls, due to the millennia he’d spent serving her.
Through cock and sword, he had gained his freedom.
“Shadow,” he said, his voice unfathomably deep, as if he’d reached inside himself and plucked the words from his brass balls.
“Commodus, you old goat,” I replied, slapping him on the shoulder. “It is good to lay eyes on you.”
He chuckled, his hands bracing my arm in friendly reply. “Ah, it is good to see you too, brother.”
Even though there was not a droplet of blood shared between us, all of us who served within the empress’s harem were brothers. We all understood one another’s pain, of being used and abused at the empress’s hands, a toy for her to play with.
“How is Aryx doing?” he asked, a hint of fondness in his voice.
Commodus had been to Aryx what Aryx was to me—someone who had raised the other, taken them under their wing.
I used to feel sorry for the poor bastard who tried to take refuge under mine, considering they wouldn’t provide much protection, but now that my plans had quickly changed, I supposed that was something I wouldn’t be around to do anyway.
“Aryx is doing good,” I answered.
“Is he still mourning his sweet Saphira?” he asked, his mighty arm returning to his side.
“I don’t think he’ll ever stop missing her,” I spoke honestly.
“No, I don’t suppose he will. A love like that is one you never forget,” Commodus said, a hint of sadness whispering into his eyes, swept away when he blinked.
Commodus had once been married before the War of the Creators.
Although he didn’t speak of those days often, once, when he was drunk, he’d opened up to us about them.
About the goddess he had once loved before the empress had taken him from her.
He had made a deal with the empress, that if he served her for one thousand years, she would retrieve his wife for him.
But the empress had never specified whether she would be living or dead, and on the day that she was set to arrive, her vessel came in a casket. A hole through her chest.
“Say, what do you know of that arena that burned to the ground in Lorphiah?” he asked curiously, tipping his head back.
“Not as much as you, I would suspect.”
He chuckled at that.
I answered him anyway. “I heard that a female who was condemned to have her soul crushed managed to find her way up into the stands. There, she pushed one of the wards off and it shattered upon the sands. She scorched the opponent to ash, causing the rest of the arena to light on fire. Then, the vuleeries took her. The empress was rather furious to learn of all this.”
Commodus let out a low whistle. “That’s some female.”
“Indeed,” I chuckled. “What have you heard?”
“I’ve heard that version and a thousand others from the old rumor mill,” he said. Footsteps sounded above us. “People are starting to arrive. I should let you get ready for the games.”
My voice dropped to a whisper. “Before I go, I need a favor. ”
“Name it,” he said, voice quiet.
My gaze held his. “I need a map of the Mother Realm.”
“Why would you need that, brother?” he asked, voice wary.
“It’s better you don’t know.”
“Then I won’t ask, but I will get it for you. Are you staying for tomorrow’s games?”
“No.” I shook my head, voice returning to normal. “Leaving tonight.”
“Alright, I’ll meet you back here after the event is over.”
I nodded. “Thank you, brother.”
“Good luck.”
“I don’t need luck,” I told him.
“Something tells me that you are going to need all the luck you can get.” He gave me a concerned look and then patted my arm. “I’ll see you after the games.”
A short while later, I made my way to the iron gate.
My heart beat like a stallion’s hooves, pounding adrenaline through my veins.
The armor I donned was crafted from onyx-dyed boiled leather.
It had taken me months to make the armor, after many, many prototypes.
I doubted I’d ever get it perfect enough for my standards.
I rolled my arm, peering down at the new, thicker strap I’d recently installed on my vambrace. I tugged at it, ensuring it was tight.
Nixus, another soul crusher, walked up to me, carrying a soulius.
I looked at the gauntlet, made from dragon hide and claw. There was once a time when I had aspired to be able to fight in the arena, but over the years, the soulius had lost its luster. Now, when I looked at it, all I saw was death.
I put it on then set my sights on the arena.
The gate groaned as it lifted.
“Good luck, brother,” Nixus offered before I walked out.
“Thanks,” I replied, thinking that perhaps the old goat was right—perhaps I needed it after all.