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Her hand clenched around the goblet. She intended to be with him every night, and every minute of the day that she could snatch. She burned to be with him always, yet it must end.
***
“If the enemy watches, there will be no doubt to your fascination.”
Ajali’s gaze slashed to Bastien. Ajali raised his goblet in mock salute as he sauntered to the balcony overlooking the crowd. “We are filled to capacity for the duration of the games; we hold the protection of several thousand lives in our hand.”
“You seek to change the topic, Ajali,” Bastien murmured wryly. “You are aware that she is black-haired?”
His high chancellor bristled at Ajali’s rough chuckle.
“I do not jest.”
“Would you have me eject all black-haired women from my kingdom, Bastien? There are thousands.”
The high chancellor sighed. “She is uncommonly beautiful, sire. I understand your fascination.”
“I am not fascinated.” A flat response that did not invite further conversation. Ajali’s lips twisted as Bastien ignored the soft warning.
“She wears stones that are only worn by the royal household, gifted from you. They’re stunning with her paleness and dark hair. I have never known you to flinch from a problem.”
“You think her a problem?”
“I see how your gaze strays to her. It lingers. You trace her face, her lips, and the arch of her neck, how she walks. You are subtle, but I see it. If I see it, the enemy does, too.”
“The enemy will only see my ruse.”
“But is it a mere distraction?”
Ajali drank deep from his goblet before answering. “It is more,” he admitted.
“You are on dangerous ground, my king.”
“Dire predictions are unnecessary, Bastien. I admit my attraction but I have not proclaimed her as my intended queen.”
“Indeed you have not, sire.”
“Come, let us open the games, Bastien,” he said as he clasped his chancellor’s shoulders. “Worry not. My kingdom’s needs are forever placed before mine.”
Chapter Sixteen
“Let the games begin!”
The roar of the crowd at High Chancellor Bastien’s announcement almost deafened Tehdra. Excitement surged inside her as she beheld the coliseum filled to capacity. Ajali’s opening speech had held the throng enthralled. Nary had a whisper of sound blended with the smooth eloquence of his voice as he welcomed all to the kingdom of Nuria and the Games of Fyre.
Bastien had then addressed the audience, reading the contestants’ kingdoms and the houses they represented from a scroll. Hundreds of names had been read. With each name Bastien announced, the contestant entered the coliseum and arena with a blazing demonstration of power.
Kilrin of the House of Alaois from Caelum, the kingdom of water, entered the coliseum on a tidal wave. He had an earthenware jug attached to his back where, after wielding his element in a dazzling display, he stored the water.
Bathilda of the house of Thalame, Kingdom of Nuria, sauntered in with fire coating her like a halo. It simmered and danced, and with a roar of flames, they took the shape of tigers roaring in the air.
“His sister,” Gavyn murmured at her swift look at Quinn as his house was announced.
Karna of the House of Lothar from Boreas, the kingdom of winds and mountains, entered with a whirlwind circling her tightly like a cyclone, and its violence could be felt from where Tehdra sat. Yet the wind ruffled nothing on the coliseum, testifying to the extent of her control.
Only Mevia and the Darkage had no contestants competing in the games. Darkans, she had not expected to be present; they had not been invited to other nations’ games for thousands of years.
With all the contestants forming a perfect line in the center of the coliseum battle arena, dancers from Nuria opened the games with beautifully executed moves, dancing to the pulse and cackle of flames around them. Banners bearing the sigil of the House of Haddin streamed around them, painting the dancers with their multitude of fieriness. But it had been the singer who had mesmerized the crowd. Her voice, pure and beautiful, resonated throughout the coliseum, powerful in its intensity.
