“No interference with the trials will be tolerated.”

The Dushegubs fell silent.

The First Scholar spread his wings, calling for silence. When the arena complied, he leaned forward and spoke to Unessa. “Do you have a rebuttal?”

Her eyes narrowed. “I wasn’t told I had to bring one with me.”

Bestata spread her arms and looked around at the audience.

“Very well,” the First Scholar said. “This debate is concluded.”

Unessa raised her chin and shot a triumphant look at the Dushegubs.

“You didn’t win, idiot!” someone yelled from the otrokar section.

Kosandion covered his face with his hand, hiding his expression.

Unessa turned toward the First Scholar.

“While crudely voiced, the assessment is undeniably accurate,” he told her. “Neither of you will be the winner of this debate.”

She spun on her heel and marched back to her section, her hands clenched into fists.

Neither Unessa nor Bestata seemed likely to assassinate Kosandion. Subtlety wasn’t their strong suit. If either of those two targeted the Sovereign, it would be a direct assault. The way he spoke about it suggested a cunning hidden enemy.

“Instead of attacking the question, the knight attacked her opponent,” Resven said.

“She holds her in contempt,” Miralitt said.

Resven raised his eyebrows, but Miralitt didn’t elaborate.

Kosandion glanced at me. He was Caldenia’s nephew, so he knew perfectly well why Bestata reacted the way she did, but he wanted a public explanation. Perhaps it was for the viewers at home.

“The Holy Anocracy prizes personal excellence,” I told them. “They strive for a life of individual achievement. Bestata had to train and fight since she could walk. She knows she can kill Unessa in individual combat without even raising her heart rate. Now she also knows that Unessa’s thinking is underdeveloped. From her point of view, the Dushegub candidate is a useless, pretty thing unworthy of her sincere effort. She refused to dignify her with an actual debate.”

“What is your opinion of Unessa?” Kosandion asked me.

Put me on the spot, why don’t you? “The way she speaks and what she says indicates that she was raised by the Dushegubs from an early age. Anyone who can survive that shouldn’t be underestimated.”

Bestata was confusing education and cleverness. Unessa might have had limited exposure to the humanoid society and its complexities, but she had rebutted Bestata’s argument, even if she didn’t know the proper word for it, while Bestata had nothing to counter with and resorted to insults.

Where did the Dushegubs find a humanoid child? Did they buy her? Did they steal her? Were there more like her?