Dragon Master (Dragon Collector Book 2) by Simon Archer

Author:Simon Archer [Archer, Simon]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-03-28T22:00:00+00:00

24

Diana

The sun hung high in the sky, and a smattering of clouds floated by. There was a chilling wind, but it was not strong enough to knock anyone off their feet. It was a pleasant day without too much heat or cold to affect the competitors. Their limbs would not freeze, and their brows would not sweat unnecessarily.

It was an ideal day for a fight.

Servants had cleaned and prepped the arena the day before, making sure everything was perfect for the tournament today. The structure curved into a u-shape so that the circular fighting stage could be seen from multiple angles. The seats rose a couple of levels and contained benches for all the spectators to watch. At the center, and higher than the rest, King Atlus sat upon a cushioned throne with no one on either side of him.

Completing the arena, a white canvas tent had been erected from across the stands. It was where the inductees and other competitors waited. Several of my fellow guards were in there, plucked from our reserves to compete today.

In the past, I had competed as an extra in this tournament several times. It was the closest I had ever come to being introduced to court. The last two times I competed, I bested all the contestants. Rebekah eventually took me out of the line up then, claiming that my talents could be used elsewhere. I knew it was not favorable to have one of the extra competitors win. The nobles always rooted for one of their inductees and were sorely disappointed when they lost. I was becoming too much of a threat, making it too difficult for the minimally trained inductees.

We could not have that now, could we?

I couldn’t help but think, as I gazed upon the tent with its open flaps whipping in the wind, that Martin was in there. I hadn’t seen him in several days, and my heart tugged at the thought of him. I would have loved to see his strong, determined expression. He would bite the inside of his cheek, nervous and anxious to begin.

I considered popping in there and wishing him luck. I wanted him to hold me tight against his chest as I whispered encouragements to him. I wanted to promise him that when he won, we would celebrate in his chambers later that evening.

Instead, I sat next to Rebekah and waited for the tournament to begin.

When the dragons had diagnosed me with the corruption, I resolved to distance myself from Martin. It was foolish and almost cowardly. I knew this. However, I could not have him discovering my illness. He would drop everything to try to help me. We could not have him doing that, not before he was ready.

So I did my best to avoid him. It tore at my heart to do so, and I thought about him nightly. The small consolation that I had was that he had not sought me out during that time either. Perhaps he was too busy

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