Chapter 54
AIMILIA
Aimilia’s head was still pounding and her stomach was turning as she waited in the early dawn for Turpis.
Better to get this over with so Nikias didn’t hear any gossip about her being spotted with Turpis. She didn’t need that fight again.
A whistle caught her attention, and she turned on her heels to see Turpis hurrying toward her. She crossed her arms as a breeze cut through her.
He jogged toward her, and she said, “What do you have for me?”
“Not even a hello? You really are just using me,” Turpis said as he came to a stop.
She rolled her eyes. “You offered.”
But the mirth in his eyes faded. “I’ve got bad news.”
“Out with it then.”
“Commander Eleni died in the night.”
Aimilia closed her eyes.
In less than two hours, she would be back in the amphitheater fighting for her position.
She couldn’t let this get the best of her.
Besides, Commander Eleni might have technically been family, but that didn’t mean Aimilia had any relationship with her.
She had a vague memory of her giving her tips once when she was back from the Academy on a break leading up to her tournament, but other than that she was just another redhead with a great, great something or another to connect them.
But telling herself that didn’t remove the pit in her stomach.
“Did they say what the cause was?”
“They’re not announcing it until after the second trial, but it sounds like they’re going to blame it on the wounds she sustained.”
“Nothing about any poison?”
“Not anything official, despite her husband’s insistence she should have been recovering from those wounds.”
Was she wrong? Was it really just bad luck and a vicious dog?
“But that’s not all,” Turpis said, he leaned in ever closer and lowered his voice. “All the dogs had been assigned to the commanders before the event. It wasn’t a random selection.”
“What does that mean?”
“Well, I spoke to the handlers about the assignments to see who made them. They received a letter shortly before with specific assignments for the cerberuses, and it was signed with my commander’s seal, but the signature is a clear forgery.
Prisca has no idea about any of this. The cerberus that Commander Eleni fought? It was supposed to be yours.”
Aimilia reached up and brushed her fingertips against her throat.
She’d made the right decision not to involve Nikias in this.
She took a deep breath, focusing on the feel of the smooth skin of her throat. She was fine.
For now.
“And what happened to change that?”
“According to the handlers, the day of the tournament that cerberus, already the strongest and most aggressive of the group, was rabid. When they saw you were on the far side, they switched them at the last minute since they weren’t positive they could control him long enough to reach you, and went with Commander Eleni who was closer. ” Turpis exhaled. “You got lucky.”
“But who made the original arrangement?”
“Someone who could easily forge my commander’s signature and seal, and someone who had access to the information of what the first trial would be.”
That ruled out Cyprian. Unless he’d managed to find that out another way, the commanders were kept in the dark about the trials. So was the entire house. Only the judges knew.
And there was one judge Aimilia knew would have been happy to see her throat torn out.
“Thank you, Turpis, that helps immensely.”
“But it doesn’t fully explain Commander Eleni’s death.”
Aimilia hummed, then she whipped around and grabbed his sleeve. “The dog’s behavior changed. What if something was done to it beforehand? What if the poison was in that dog and that’s how it entered Commander Eleni and no one else?”
Turpis grinned. “And we can prove it if we get our hands on that dog.”
Aimilia laughed. “You’re not as stupid as I thought you were at the Academy.”
“And you’re twice as beautiful as you were then.”
Aimilia opened her mouth, but he was kissing her before she could speak. It was so fast she barely had her hands up on his chest to push him away when he had already pulled back and was running back toward the estate.
“Don’t worry, Commander, I’m right on it!”
Aimilia opened her mouth, taking a few steps after him before stopping.
Even though the necklace was safely tucked away in her jewelry box in her room, its weight stayed with her.
She wasn’t Nikias’.
So why did she still feel guilty?
Aimilia looked up at the rising sun. She didn’t have time for this.
Not if Nikias’ mother had another plan to kill her in the next event too.
When Aimilia and the other three commanders stepped out onto the stage, she eyed the four columns. One for each of them.
The crowd was humming in anticipation; only a small handful of them knew the truth of Commander Eleni’s fate. The rest were there for a show of Runai excellence and Aimilia had to give it to them despite the enemies all around her.
She glanced between the column in front of her and Queen Clelia. Nikias was stone faced beside her, so she had no idea what he was thinking.
She had to get there first.
Commander Prisca’s voice filled the air.
“Commanders, before you are your columns for this challenge. As you scale the column you will come across choices you must make in order to proceed and you will see the outcome of those choices as you progress through illusions. Once you reach the top, you will either have won the battle with your troops or lost. Begin!”
Aimilia watched as the other three commanders raced forward.
While Commander Prisca had been talking Aimilia had been reading the runes.
She’d had to do one of these in her graduation tournament, so she was already familiar with them.
She’d been trying to read ahead to see the outcomes of each individual choice in the beginning.
She didn’t get far, but it at least told her which side was the stronger start for her scenario.
Aimilia pressed her hand against the rune carved into the stone and pushed vitae into it, activating her first choice.
Her troops would make their camp on a ridge.
Aimilia watched the illusion come to life as she grabbed the first handhold and started climbing up to the next point. She cared less about speed and more about results.
Winning fastest wasn’t as good as winning with fewer losses.
Aimilia reached her next scenario. The Embrai Elemens she was fighting against brought phoenixes.
Her ridge wasn’t going to help her against them.
She had to stretch her arm, but she pressed her palm against her choice, heading deeper into the mountains where they might have some coverage rather than to heading south to the river. Aimilia kept climbing.
Each scenario, no matter what Aimilia did, things only worsened. The phoenixes took out one fourth of her forces before she even had the chance to set up any defenses. She cursed the birds mentally as she watched the little mirages of them sweep through the air, fire raining down on her men.
A gasp ripped through the crowd, and Aimilia looked over her shoulder to see one of the other commanders had fallen and was quickly trying to get back up to where he’d been.
Aimilia’s arms were already beginning to ache.
If she wasn’t careful that would be her.
Aimilia pressed on. She took her forces and with a few careful maneuvers, got them sheltered, so they weren’t out in the open and at the phoenixes’ mercy. As she climbed to her next scenario, she locked eyes with Cyprian. It was the first time she’d seen him since he’d tried to poison her.
She froze, holding his gaze. He held hers.
Did he suspect that she knew? Or did he think she was completely unaware of what he had attempted?
Aimilia broke away first, reaching her next scenario that would inevitably only make things worse. Cyprian might have attempted to knock her unconscious, but for all that they’d fought about over the last few months, he didn’t hate her enough to want her dead.
No. He needed her alive. The cerberus had been Clelia beyond all doubt.
Aimilia continued to progress on her tower, faring worse than everyone else. Despite her certainty she was making the best moves, she knew something was wrong. Something was off about her tower. And with two enemies, Aimilia had to be even more careful.
Another one of the commanders fell. She heard a scream. She looked over her shoulder, and it was clear his leg was broken.
Aimilia glanced down at her tower.
It was rigged.
It had to be. Aimilia looked up at how much she had left. No matter what she did next, she wasn’t going to win her simulated battle.
Hypatia’s voice struck her.
A no-win scenario. Maybe… Maybe all of Hypatia’s premonitions had just been about this tournament.
She hadn’t yet gotten to the fall or the explosion, but if both the dog snarling and the no-win scenario were about this, then the trap would have to be as well.
Although the likelihood of this being the fall were high given Aimilia’s precarious position.
If this wasn’t also the trap… Her gold ring caught the light. The necklace bearing Nikias’ name was heavy on her even though it was hidden away in her room.
She didn’t know where that left her for Hypatia’s second premonition. Aimilia couldn’t do anything about it except try to minimize her losses as best she could in this scenario.
She wasn’t going to win this battle.
When she reached her second to last scenario, her tower shook. Aimilia gasped as she saw cracks start to form at the base. It was clear. Clelia had had her hands in rigging this tower.
“When I see your future, Aimilia, it is set. There is no changing it.”
Which meant there was nothing Aimilia could do. She was going to fall.
Aimilia scrambled—even if she was doomed, she was going to at least finish the task. She wasn’t going to let it be easy for them to eliminate her. She read the final scenario and her troops had been truly and thoroughly beaten.
Aimilia chose to retreat.
The illusion of her troops fleeing cut through her chest, but she knew that if she had attempted the attack suggested to her, it would have ended in them all being wiped out.
Her tower swayed. She could hear gasps in the crowd.
Cyprian was at his second to last scenario. And then the tower fell out from beneath Aimilia.