Page 204 of Savage Throne
He caught it and laughed.
Tumbling down, I tried to grab branches. My fingers scrabbled against the bark but it was slick with blood and blossoms, offering no grip.
“No!”
The scream wasn’t mine but I knew that voice anywhere.
Moni.
The wind howled around me as I fell and the ground rushed up to crash against me.
Some cheered.
Others cried out in worry.
Terror laced Duck’s voice. “Get up, Lei! He’s climbing down!”
I tried to move but I couldn’t.
Maybe, it was my body still fighting the poison.
Or perhaps, it was the impact of the fall.
Did I break something?
I blinked trying to look up but my neck and back screamed in pain.
More important. . .is this my end?
Moni’s face flashed in my mind, her dark, soulful eyes filled with love and fear. I thought of her touch, the way her fingers felt against my skin, grounding me even in my darkest moments.
I can’t leave her. Not like this.
Summoning every ounce of willpower left in me, I clenched my teeth against the pain radiating through my body.
The taste of iron filled my mouth as I pushed myself up on shaky arms, the world spinning around me in a dizzying dance of color and light.
"Fight, Lei!" Duck's voice echoed through the arena. “Imperial Lament is six feet away!”
But I can barely see.
I nodded, though my movements felt sluggish, as if I were stuck in a dream.
My father was right about one thing: everything hinged on survival. It wasn't about honor or fairness anymore. It was about living to see another day—for Moni.
But I fell back down.
No. No.
Aunt Suzi cried, “No, God. Leo don’t! Please!”
A battle of some sort must have happened in the stands as Aunt Suzi and whoever surely must have been trying to come out into the arena!
It was impossible to ignore—the roar of voices shouting over one another, the panicked shrieks of women, and the deep guttural bellows of men locked in some unseen battle.
Get up. Come on. Get up.
I blinked again and could see better.
