Audiences loved clean heroes and obvious villains. Unfortunately, survival had arrived covered in gray.
The first rule of public cruelty was that the audience needed instructions.
Without instructions, people might hesitate.
With instructions, they called hesitation weakness and obedience discipline.
Professor Malcris understood that better than most nobles I had met, which meant he was either an excellent teacher or a professional monster wearing chalk dust as camouflage.
Possibly both.
The arena shifted beneath my boots. Aetherglass rippled outward, building walls from pale light until the amphitheater saw a half-formed disaster: broken ward pillars, collapsing bridges, smoke made of illusion, seven crystal silhouettes trapped in separate pockets of danger.
Five were placed near stable exits.
One was suspended above a cracked floor.
