A moment passed. The crowd’s cheers grew.
Why was he delaying? Was Geoxus making him wait in order to build anticipation?
Ash cut a glance at the other half of the viewing box. Geoxus had his arms crossed over his broad chest, flicking his scowl back and forth from Madoc’s archway to Ignitus, a few paces to his left. Geoxus’s people applauded—one of them was Madoc’s sponsor, Lucius.
Another was Petros, smugly gazing down at the tunnel.
Ash fought not to tear the igneia from the firepit that waited for her and hurl it all at him.
The cheers faded; the crowd was confused.
Ash’s eyes flipped back to the archway to see a man striding across the sands toward her. Her heart seized before she realized it was Elias, not Madoc.
And he was wearing Madoc’s armor.
“What trick is this, brother?” Ignitus’s voice broke the edge of Ash’s awareness.
“Stop the fight!” Geoxus boomed. “Find my champion!”
Commotion filled the stands, but Ash didn’t look away from Elias. She matched his pace, holding her breath against the sizzle of wariness that compelled her to turn back. Why was he here? Why was he outfitted to fight?
Where was Madoc?
They met in the center of the pit, Ash’s bowl of raging flames to one side, a pile of boulders that she knew were just for show on the another, and a rack of weapons between the two.
The moment she drew close enough to see Elias’s face, Ash’s chest bucked. He was seething at her, shoulders rising and falling in tight breaths.
“Elias,” Ash said slowly, “where is Madoc?”
Guilt wrung her veins until black spots danced across her vision. Madoc hadn’t been able to face her, so he’d sent his brother in his stead?
“He never should’ve been a gladiator,” Elias told her. A bead of sweat darted down his face. “It always should’ve been me. I hid behind him and let him take the hits—” He hiccuped and scrubbed the back of his hand across his nose, giving his head a jerky shake.
The crowd started to boo. They wanted blood. They wantedMadoc to charge out and destroy the Kulan gladiator.
Back in Elias’s tunnel, centurions were talking ferociously, giving orders, shouting. They sprinted into the darkness, no doubt searching for Madoc.
“Where is he?” Ash tried again. “He can’t want you to do this.”
“He never showed.” Elias gave a shrug, calm despite the tears in his eyes. “I told the centurions he just didn’t want to be disturbed, but truth is, I haven’t seen him since last night. This isn’t his fight anymore.”
Madoc had left?
Guilt piled on guilt, regret clacked atop regret, until Ash couldn’t pull in a breath for all the agony clogging her body.
“Elias—”
“I failed Madoc,” he whimpered, eyes on the sand. “I failed Cassia. I was going to take her home and our family was going to leave the city and they would’ve been safe—”
Elias’s eyes shot up to meet Ash’s.
And she buckled, faltering back a step under the raw fury that punctuated his glare.
“But now she’s dead,” Elias snarled. “She’s dead because I trustedyou.”
He clenched one of his hands and the boulder pile next to him shifted. One rock rose above the others, and Ash dropped into a defensive stance.
“Elias—Elias,stop!” She held a hand out to him, one toward the rock. “I’m sorry.” Anguish pinched her words. “I’m so sorry about Cassia.”
