The drakens around me muttered, but no one objected out loud. My eyes narrowed. So much for being their honoredguest. I heard two voices yelling before they were quickly muffled. At least Kieran and Ronan had my back.
D’Arcy eyed the lykos as if there were nothing other than interesting toys, sent here to amuse him.
“If you decide to attack the human, I promise that the last lykos left standing will be spared and released. If you do not attack, I will, starting with that one.” D’Arcy pointed one finger lazily at the small lykos behind me, and the ball of fur cowered deeper against the black lykos’s legs. My daggers flicked into my right hand, the sword still in my left.
“I’ll gut you like a fish,” I snarled.
“Benedict won’t save you,” D’Arcy taunted.
The brown lykos on my right blinked slowly at me, his head tilting quickly to his left, towards the smaller lykos. The movement was so small I almost missed it. I blinked back. I decided to voice my thoughts from earlier.
“How’d you get the lykos here, D’Arcy? Quite a feat to bring in three by yourself. Got some friends on the outside?”
The other drakens eyed D’Arcy warily, hesitation written all over their faces. They hadn’t thought about that. D’Arcy’s face flushed in anger.
“How dare you. You’re nothing but a spy, sent here to try and kill us all.” Gasps greeted his accusation and my lips twitched. At least the cards were out on the table, now.
“Takes one to know one,” I countered.
“Enough,” he hissed, sensing he was losing the crowd. He jerked towards the lykos. “Choose.”
With a flick of his wrist the chains were gone, and several things happened at once. The black lykos pushed the cub between my legs, and I crouched defensively in front of him, his reddish fur soft as he huddled against me.
“Don’t move,” I ordered. The black lykos jumped over me, placing himself between me and D’Arcy. The brown one joined him calmly, as it was now three-against one. It was tempting to glance at the balcony, but I wouldn’t. I believed D’Arcy when he said Benedict wouldn’t save me.
“They are protecting their young. Surely that’s something a draken understands above everything else?” I pleaded.
The mood in the arena shifted, and the ugly look on D’Arcy’s face told me he sensed it as well; he looked ready to explode at the loss of control over his own event. The black lykos growled, but I moved forward and put one hand gently on his massive head, my fingers grasping the soft fur between his ears. I walked between him and his companion, as the small cub stayed behind us. With a massive beast on either side of me, I felt invincible. D’Arcy was breathing heavily as he took a step backward.
“If you don’t get the hell out of my pit, I will snap your neck.”
I met D’Arcy’s icy stare with a gaze full of fire.
“No, you will not.”
“The lykos have always been our enemy—”
Not before the war.
I stiffened along with every other drakens as the black-furred lykos spoke, his voice reverberating inside of my head. The massive creature pinned D’Arcy with his golden stare, and he changed tactics, his face twisting into a look of polite helplessness.
“You are allies with Overlord; the one who destroyed our race. If we let any of you go, the Overlord will find out and he will attack us. We can’t risk it.”
My fingers tightened around the hilt of my knife.
“So, your original offer of freeing the last remaining lykos was a lie, then?”
The crowd mumbled angrily, and I felt I nearly had them, so I pushed forward.
“And if that is true, then the one who has risked our safety is you then, not them.”
My hands with my weapons rested on each head on either side of me, and the two lykos sold it further by leaning into my side, growling. D’Arcy tried one more time.
“Only a spy would protect allies of the Overlord! What other purpose could she have?” He spit on the ground, gesturing his arms grandly. Indecision hung heavily in the air, as the drakens didn’t know who to believe. D’Arcy pressed his point further, his body quivering with rage.
“Again, what other purpose could she have?”
Creating an alliance between the drakens and the lykos.
The black-furred lykos stepped forward, his words effectively wiping the smug look from D’Arcy’s face. Benedict stood in a flurry of motion, grasping onto the balcony’s edge as his face paled dramatically.
“You lie,” D’Arcy hissed.
After you, the lykos responded, lowering his head to the ground in challenge.
“On whose authority do you dare speak of an alliance?” Benedict's voice was strong, ringing out over the entire arena. The lykos grinned, exposing his long canines.
Release us, and you may find out.
The tension was so thick I could have choked on it. One wrong move, one misinterpreted gesture, and someone would die. D’Arcy and I had both drawn a line in the sand. It was time to find out which side Benedict stood on, since in the end only his word mattered.
“If the king would weigh in on this matter, we could all find a more useful way to spend our day.”
I didn’t need to turn around to know that Benedict was burning a hole in my back with his gaze. He didn’t appreciate being brought into our conflict, forced to choose between the two of us. No one made a sound; it was likely the entire arena held its breath, waiting for the decision of its king. After what felt like an eternity, Benedict spoke.
“Do you offer the alliance in good faith?”
The black-furred lykos bowed his head, lowering it to the ground. Benedict glared at D’Arcy.
“Escort them to the outside.”
He turned away from the balcony and vanished. D’Arcy shot me a murderous look that promised retribution.
“He won’t choose you next time.” He hissed.
I didn’t let the anxiety show on my face. I lowered my voice to a low hiss, so the
