Chapter Forty Four:
The grand arena was a hollow bowl of silver and shadows under the midnight sky. The air hung still, cooling the sweat on Tom's brow as the fading hum of his silver aura settled back into his marrow. He stood at the center of the sand, his pulse still hammering a frantic rhythm against his ribs.
"Princess Caroline... what are you doing here?" Tom asked, his voice sounding raspy in the sudden silence.
Caroline stepped out from the darkness of the archway, her silk gown trailing softly over the grit of the arena floor. "I should be asking you that," she replied, her eyes searching his face, though the distance and the gloom masked the lingering shimmer of his veins.
