Page 77 of Thief of Hearts

“Not only is it abhorrent, but that goes against the Epirian code,” he said.

“We can’t let him win.”

He nodded. “We won’t.”

“Choose your weapon!” the announcer called out. I dropped my shield to the ground, along with the four extra knives I had stashed on me, and only took my sword.

“Why is it sexy that you have so many weapons?” Zain asked, taking out one of his daggers.

I shook my head. He was not going to distract me right now.

We were all made to line up around a giant circle to prevent immediate attacks as soon as the fight began.

“Just so you know, I will not take it easy on you,” he said.

“I should hope not. I’m going to enjoy this.”

His wicked grin made my pulse speed up. “I should have known you’d like it rough.”

I instructed my excited body parts to relax.

“Work together until the end?” he offered as the announcer began to count down.

“So that we’re the last two standing? And then I’ll beat you?”

“We’ll see.”

A horn blared and the fight began. Neither Zain nor I ran into the fray. Of the men who remained, I didn’t know which of them might have participated in the attacks during the chariot race. Would a large group try to come at me at once? It wasn’t too concerning. I had fought off dozens of men at the same time before.

If there was some kind of alliance, it quickly melted away. Many competitors came our direction but they were pounced on by men willing to take advantage of the situation to eliminate them.

Zain apparently had the same thought that I did—let them bring the fight to us, and hopefully they’d whittle down the competitors before we had to deal with them.

Someone ran at me from the left, his sword pointed, and when he got close I sidestepped and grabbed his wrist to twist it. He yelled, but he dropped his weapon. He spit at my feet and called me some particularly unkind names and I just waved to him as he walked off the field.

“You didn’t even give him a sporting chance,” Zain said with a laugh.

“With that form he didn’t deserve one.”

The two remaining Lemnians were fighting and I hoped that they would come this way. They could pay for the sins of their traveling companions.

I saw that someone had selected a shield as his weapon and it had been a foolish mistake. He held off incoming attacks but he had no way to strike back offensively.

Eventually someone would kick that out of his hand and get him eliminated.

My entire body felt fluid and ready. Anticipation flowed through me and I decided I’d had enough waiting. “Time to join the fight.”

Zain’s laughter followed me as I ran into the center, where the competitors were fighting. I attacked everyone I could reach, making certain to keep my balance and hang on to my sword. Punching, kicking, swiping, knocking people over.

I grinned. It reminded me of being back home with my siblings.

Once the others realized what I was doing and that I was getting them out one by one, they did try to band together. It was cute, like something Thracian toddlers might do when they first started their fighting lessons.

But it was pointless. All they did was make it easier for me to finish them off by lining up so nicely for me.

Zain yelled out, “Basileia!”

On instinct I ducked and a sword sliced over my head.