Page 54 of Revealing Fate

“I don’t know,” he ground out. And wasn’t that the current source of all his damn problems? “Whoever she is, the Crown of Asteros wants her back badly enough to kill for her.”

“Come on,” Santhe said, a worried ‘M’ appearing between her brows. “Let’s find a better view.”

They found a bench on the second level, just behind the walkway inside the iron railing, that offered a clear view of the arena floor.

Below them, Saul addressed the crowd. “Today is not a day for celebration,” he shouted, and the crowd quieted again. “Not yet, anyway. We are gathered to witness the fortitude of this prisoner.” He gestured an arm toward Kitty. Kal didn’t miss the fine tremble that worked its way into her limbs, nor how she gritted her teeth against its onslaught.

“This prisoner deceived one of our own. She entered our woods invited, yet attempted to escape once her deception was revealed.” Dissent rumbled inside the walls. “She was apprehended within Stillwater’s boundary and could not provide a code. According to our laws, she must face an inquiry!”

The shurii next to Kal roared his approval.

“Inquiry!” someone shouted.

Saul allowed the crowd to settle before he continued. “The prisoner was given a choice, as is the Conclave’s custom. Submit to a verbal inquiry and prove her innocence…or face a physical trial.”

Kal leaned forward, forearms braced on his knees.

Saul pivoted toward Kitty. “Please tell those gathered what you have chosen.”

The arena fell silent. Kal strained to hear.

Kitty cleared her throat. “I…I choose a physical trial.”

Her quiet, rasping voice was a fallen angel’s song.

“It is confirmed,” Saul said. “The prisoner has chosen a physical trial!”

The crowd erupted. Men in first and second forms leaned over the bars, shouldering one another out of the way to better glimpse the captive. Money exchanged hands, bets on how long Kitty would last being shouted over the din. Women Kitty’s age pointed and judged, voicing their own unkind assumptions.

Kal couldn’t remember the last time he wanted to kill so many people simultaneously.

Saul raised both hands, urging the mob to settle. “Our law stands. If she survives the trial, she goes free! You have all gathered to bear witness! Ten minutes!”

Saul nodded to a woman seated on the first level near the innermost wall. She parted her voluminous robes and held up a sand-filled hourglass. Kitty’s time would begin when her opponent entered the ring.

Saul faced Kitty and spoke something too quiet for them to hear. He dipped his chin to her briefly before exiting the pit. Stonehaugh was the last to face her. The huge man removed her shackles, and Kitty rubbed her wrists. Then Stonehaugh pulled a weapon from his waist and proffered it. Kitty accepted the axe Kal had refashioned for her with soft, small hands. The guard lowered his head in a shallow bow and left.

Kitty surveyed the ring. The tunnel gate yawned open with a creak of hinges, and she shuffled back. Three armored shurii males hurried in, dragging a felled tree, its leafy branches reaching in all directions in a tangled web. They deposited the tree on the left side of the arena and departed. A moment later, another group of males hauled three large boulders in on a rolling pallet. They heaved the boulders into the dirt and wheeled the pallet out of the pit. The tunnel gate clanged shut with an echo of finality.

The timekeeper stood, raising the hourglass. The far tunnel gate swung inward, and Kitty’s wide eyes searched its black mouth. Kal could practically hear the hammering of her heart. Or was that his own? Silence settled so heavily on the crowd that Kal’s breath sounded like an intruder’s. The timekeeper’s hourglass turned, and granules of sand trickled too slowly into the bottom vial.

A heavy gray paw emerged from the shadows of the tunnel gate and padded into the pit. A broad muzzle followed, four five-inch double canines protruding from either side of the powerful jaw. Kitty’s lips parted in horror as she watched the sleek, muscled black and gray body fully appear, stepping into the harsh glare of daylight like a nightmare into the waking world. The gate clanged shut, and the grimalkin whirled, swiping and spitting.

Kal stood and stepped up to the railing.

“Hey! Down in front,” someone yelled behind him. Kal ignored him.

Kitty used the beast’s distraction to retreat behind one of the boulders. She pressed her back into the rock, hatchet clutched to her heaving chest with white knuckles.

Someone grabbed Kal’s shoulder. “I said down in⁠—”

Kal fisted the man’s shirt and forced him back into his seat. “I heard what you fucking said,” he snarled. “Distract me again and you’ll join the prisoner in the pit.”

Kal released the man with a final thrust and returned to the rail. The grimalkin raised its snout, whiskers twitching. Its attention returned to the arena and the prey it undoubtedly sensed lurking nearby.

“Shift, Kitty,” he murmured. “You’ve got to shift.”

The grim stalked around the labyrinth of branches and crept toward the boulders on the opposite side.