Chapter Eight #2
Finnrey came into view behind my mother. She held a wooden cup, which my mother took. I tried to sit, but any little movement made the room spin. My mother cradled my head and dribbled some water in my mouth. The liquid felt cold and relieved the burning in my throat.
“That barbarian!” my mother hissed. “He almost killed you.”
As the events in the arena began to come back to me, I wished he had killed me.
I lost.
I’d lost the Claiming Rite, something no princess of Earsleh had done in two hundred and nineteen years. I’d failed my mother; I’d failed the king; I’d failed the people of Earsleh.
I’d failed myself.
I’d rather be dead than leave my home and be a prisoner in Zulen.
Although, despite my hatred for Taio, underneath I felt a grudging admiration.
He had beaten me, and he’d done it with a trick I’d never seen.
There was little cause to choke a Hollow until it lost consciousness.
We trained to defeat and kill. But Taio had known how much pressure to exert and for how long until I blacked out and he could win the challenge.
My entire body ached, and my throat hurt, but I would recover.
“Where—” I cleared my throat, which hurt like the time I’d had spotted fever and red bumps appeared all over my body and even on the inside of my mouth and throat.
My throat had swelled so much I could barely swallow. “Where am I?” I finally managed.
My mother gave me another sip of water, and that helped.
“Under the arena,” Finnrey said. “The honor guard carried you in here after...” She trailed off, and I was thankful. I didn’t want to hear her say it.
“Is the prince—”
“He’s unharmed,” Finnrey said. “As you, er, ordered.”
“The prince! She’s lying here half-dead, and she’s worried about the prince!”
“Help me up, Mama.”
“You had better lie down,” my mother argued, but Finnrey put an arm behind my neck and helped me sit.
I took stock of my injuries. My back hurt.
Perhaps that was my backside. In any case, I was one ball of pain in that area.
My head hurt, especially the back where I’d cracked it on the prince’s face.
The room spun, but at least the pressure on my head was relieved now that I wasn’t lying on it.
My neck and throat hurt, of course. I touched my neck and swallowed.
“You’ll be bruised for days,” my mother complained.
“I’ll get you a cold compress,” Finnrey said. “That will help.”
I wanted to ask her to stay, but as she slipped out, she motioned to the guard in the room to follow her.
She closed a door behind her, gifting me a private moment with my mother.
Leave it to Finnrey to find a way for us to speak alone.
My mother seized that moment and my hand.
“Mara, you must run away. I have already planned everything. You escape down to the beach and hide in one of the caves among the rocks. I’ll bring you food when I can. ”
“Mama—”
“Once the Zulenii are gone, you can come back out. Perhaps we can both leave for the outerlands and—”
I squeezed her hand. Hard. “Mama, no.”
She closed her eyes. “You are right. Those caves flood. What about the secret rooms under the—”
“Mama!”
She looked at me.
“The prince won. I must honor the rules of the Claiming Rite. I must go with him.” A heavy dread settled over me even as I said the words. My belly felt as though a rock plunked down hard in it. No matter—I knew my duty.
“You and your honor,” my mother said, surprising me with the vehemence in her voice. “Why couldn’t you do as I told you? Why couldn’t you stay in the pit?”
“The prince knew immediately Cameed was not me, and I could see within thirty seconds she would not beat him.” My throat burned as I forced the words through the swollen muscles and flesh of my throat.
“I couldn’t let Gaz and Nize kill him. How could you even ask such a thing of them?
You would have caused the entire kingdom to lose honor. You’ve already cost me mine.”
“Who cares about honor?” she cried. “I just want my daughter with me.”
I sighed as I met her gaze. Tears shimmered in her eyes, and I felt my own eyes sting.
I understood her pain because I didn’t want to leave.
I wanted to stay with my sisters and my family.
I wanted to go out on patrol and protect my people.
I would have done all of that, and perhaps even fallen in love with Gaz, if I had won.
But I hadn’t won, and I would not spend the rest of my life hiding and hanging my head in shame whenever anyone saw me. For years, I’d watched my mother suffer disgrace because of her transgressions against my father. She might not care about honor, but I did.
“I’ll come back,” I said. I didn’t know why I said it. I had no idea if it was true or if I would even be allowed to come back, but I had to give her something. Perhaps I had to give myself something too, some glimmer of hope to carry me through the uncertainty waiting for me.
Tears slid from my mother’s eyes and down her cheeks. I held out my arms, and she fell into them, as though she were the child who needed comforting, not I. She sobbed, but my tears had dried up. Tears wouldn’t help me now.
Finally, my mother’s weeping subsided into hiccups, and I patted her back. She pulled away. “I suppose your father will want to speak to you.”
I groaned. As much as I loved my father, an audience with the king was exactly that—an audience.
“Right now I want to go home, bathe, and change clothes,” I said.
I felt dirty and grimy, and my white clothing was brown from dirt and dust. “I could probably eat an entire pot of soup, and I wouldn’t mind a nap. ”
“I doubt you will have any of that,” she said. “The Zulenii prince is waiting outside the door to claim you.”
I flinched back in surprise. “What? Now?”
“He said he wants to leave as soon as you are able to walk. Barbarian,” she muttered.
I couldn’t blame him for being in a hurry to go.
He was no fool, and he probably understood from my warning in the arena there was a plan to kill him and his retinue.
But his haste would get us all killed. I shook my head.
“Well, I won’t go. I haven’t packed or told anyone goodbye.
Not to mention, we must plan our route carefully to avoid any packs of Hollows.
” Not for the first time, I thought how fortunate the Zulenii were to make it to Highcastle at all.
If they’d encountered any Hollows, the foreigners would either be dead or worse—Hollows themselves.
“Perhaps you might pretend you cannot walk or that you are still unconscious?”
“Perhaps.”
Except even as I spoke, a knock sounded on the door and Finnrey peeked her head in. “I have the compress.” She opened the door wider to slip inside, and just behind her my gaze met that of Taio.
“Too late for that,” I told my mother. “He saw me sitting up.”
Finnrey closed the door. “He’s pacing back and forth,” she whispered.
“One of the honor guard told me the Zuleniis brought all of their packs with them to the arena. They never intended to return to the castle. Mara, I’m so sorry.
” She handed me the cold pack and grabbed my other hand.
Her hand was icy and shaking. I’d been angry at her for agreeing to Cameed’s deception, but now I forgave her.
Like my mother, she had done it out of love.
I don’t know why my other sisters went along.
Perhaps they were afraid of my father’s anger if they disobeyed.
The heavy door to the chamber swung open, banging against the wall, and I dropped the compress.
It landed with a thud, the frozen pieces inside scattering across the floor and breaking into little shards.
One chunk landed at Taio’s feet. He stood with arms crossed, blocking the doorway and surveying the room.
He had donned his coat once again, and I was grateful I didn’t have to avoid looking at his bare chest. His hair had come loose from its queue and hung about his shoulders in waves.
On his chin was a dark red mark about the size of the area of the back of my head that was pounding.
At least I wasn’t the only one who was hurt.
His eyes, darker now with anger, bore into mine. He hated me. I could all but feel the loathing radiating from him. “You are awake,” he said in his low accented voice. “We leave for Zulen. Now.”
“Now wait just—”
I put my hand on my mother’s shoulder to quiet her.
I spoke quietly and calmly, not wanting to anger the prince further.
Anger, I knew, could compel people to make poor choices, and I needed him to listen to me and make good choices or else we might all be dead by nightfall.
“You have won the Claiming Rite, Taio of the First House of Zulen, and I will go with you. But I ask a day or two in which to prepare and say my farewells.”
“No.” His denial was quick and final. I’d expected it.
“My lord, we must not act in haste. Traveling is dangerous. Be reasonable.”
“Reasonable? What is this word? I do not understand it.” He stepped into the chamber, and my mother moved in front of me, ostensibly to protect me. He ignored her. “I am not the one who played the tricks. Was that reasonable?”
“You are angry about Cameed taking my place in the arena.”
He stalked closer and my mother put her arms out to shield me.
“Angry? That is not the word. I feel stronger than angry.”
I understood. In his place, I would be furious as well.
“I have had enough of deceit. I will not give your people the chance to put a dagger in my back.”
“That won’t happen, not after what I said in the arena. Trust me—"
“I do not trust, and I do not wish to stay here one more minute longer.” He held out a hand. “Come.”
My mother pushed his hand away, and he directed his blue-green gaze to her. “Woman, if I wanted to hurt your daughter, if I wanted to kill her, I would have done it.”