Page 44 of Royal Hunt
The heirs gawked like they were fish suddenly swiped from water.
“Impossible,” Pari cut in. “They kill all children before the games begin, if there are any. There is no way he would have been spared. It’s considered cruel to make them compete.” At Gregory’s growl, she scoffed. “What? It’s considered a kindness. Would you rather a child play death games?”
Oh. That was why Cassus hadn’t counted Rowan and Hector among those bodies he’d been ‘cheated’ out of. He’d planned to kill them anyway. I felt even worse for not trying to save them.
“That’s not the point!” Viana scowled. “Shut up and listen! Or I’ll keep my secrets to myself.”
Ellis’s hands balled into fists at his sides, glaring at Viana. “You’ve been doing a bang-up job of it so far, why stop now?”
Viana threw down her belt of weapons and leaped over the fire at Ellis. Nessian jumped up to block his sisters from the fight while Gregory and the guards backed away, hands on their sword hilts. The triplets looked ecstatic and Pari irritated.
“You kept valuable information from us! From me!” Ellis bellowed, throwing punches as hard as he could. Viana dodged them easily, smirking.
“You’re in no shape to challenge me. Should have done less drinking and more training!”
Ellis roared, reaching for his belt and grasping nothing but empty air. I realized in embarrassment it was because he’d given me his dagger. Pari grabbed both of them by their shoulders and pushed them down into a sitting position. Ellis hit the ground hard, but Viana simply went with the motion. I wondered who would win a fight between the two harsh women. It would be spectacular, that was for sure.
“How did your grandfather escape?” Pari demanded, crossing to the other side of the fire and sitting down like nothing unusual happened. Perhaps for fae, this was common.
Viana sighed, deciding to ignore a fuming Ellis next to her. “He hid. One of his nannies shoved him into a hidden crawlspace. He stayed there for three days before the same nanny came back. He was almost dead. She hid him until the games were over and the fae left. Then he came back out and resumed his life. Minus the rest of his family, of course. He realized no one else remembered what had happened, so he kept it to himself out of fear he’d forget, too.”
Pari eyed her. “You’re of the Eastern Realm ... so, Radashen’s bloodline. Known for their longevity of life and will to survive.” She paused, then shrugged. “Makes sense. Careless of Cassus to let a survivor get away. He’s grown lazy if he wasn’t tacking the bloodlines that closely.”
We all stared.
“What?” Pari demanded. “We may be prisoners, but we’re educated. They want us to win, after all.”
“Prisoners, you say. What kind of crimes?” asked Ellis, his eyes tired. If I thought he looked awful before, he was much worse now. His skin looked dry and flaky, his cheeks hollow and his face gaunt.
Pari shrugged. “Same crimes as you have here, I imagine.” Her careless tone was a decent attempt to be vague, but the night was long and we had the time and patience to draw out every bit of information we could.
“What wasyourcrime?” Viana asked directly, shooting Ellis a worried look over her shoulder.
Pari’s face flushed, her already pink skin deepening to a rich burgundy color. “Wouldn’t you rather hear about the history of the games? The different strategies to—”
“Yes, of course, but after you answer the question.” Nessian cut her off, leaving no room to maneuver.
Pari glared at the flames as if they’d personally wronged her. She sighed, and mumbled so faintly we all leaned forward to catch it.
Maven squinted, confused. “Say it again now?”
Viana smirked, enjoying the fae’s discomfort. “Yes, enunciate. Share with the class, please.”
Pari threw her head back, then ran her hands through her spiky hair in frustration. She groaned dramatically, then slumped in defeat.
“I was imprisoned,” she spat, “because my slave was lippy, and afterwards I was ‘too kind’to him.”
Mixen blinked, and Matthias sputtered. Lyra and Lily blanched with horror, and Viana was practically spitting in anger. “Let me guess,” she hissed, “human slaves?”
Pari shot her an ugly look. “Well, they’d likely kill you immediately. Far too intelligent for their liking.”
My chest hurt. She was serious, wasn’t she? Slaves. Human slaves, being held against their will somewhere far away. Ellis stood up from the fire, and wandered away into the darkness. I fought the urge to follow him. I wanted to make sure he was alright, but I was also desperate to catch every word coming from Pari’s mouth.
“I always knew fae were disgusting. This is proof!”
I flinched as Trenton broke into our circle, even though no one else looked surprised to see him eavesdropping. With their superior senses, they likely had known he was there the entire time.
Pari stood, incensed. “You idiot. Look around! This continent is a graveyard of wasted potential and pestilence! The top tier of your citizens live in luxury while the large majority wallow in the dirt, begging for the honor of your scraps! At least back home, all slaves are fed and taken care of! They have access to healers! Here, you’d rather spit on someone in need than help them!”
