Chapter 24 · Crown of Fighter Eight

The blood tester hit the sand in three pieces. The largest chunk landed face-up, and Alto's blood crawled across the cracked glass like it had somewhere to go.

Fighter Eight.

The mark glowed red against white sand. Someone in the crowd laughed. Someone else didn't.

Alto didn't look at Lira. He looked past her, past Shana's frozen smile, straight at the man in chains twenty feet to his left. Kael Ironhand stood with his shoulders back and his jaw tight. He wasn't looking at the broken tester. He was looking at Alto.

And Alto knew that look. He'd seen it on a dozen battlefields, right before a man decided dying clean beat living dirty.

"Get him out." Shana's voice cut through the noise. She wasn't talking to Alto. She was talking to the handlers flanking Kael's platform. "Now. Before someone asks why the tester broke that way."

The handlers moved. Kael didn't.

Alto's feet moved before his brain caught up. He crossed the sand in four strides, and Lira's hand caught his wrist.

"Alto, don't—"

"Let go."

He didn't say it mean. He didn't have time for mean.