As the ceremony began, Mia tried to focus on the event, but her mind kept flashing back to the gruesome images of the fight.
Flash. Korum lying on the ground, unable to move.
Flash. Blood spraying everywhere. That terrible gloating expression on Loris’s face.
Flash. Korum striking back with the speed of a cobra. The sudden terror on the other Krinar’s face.
Flash. More blood.
Flash. Loris’s head torn off his body.
No, stop it! Mia wanted to scream, but they were in public, and she couldn’t do it, couldn’t embarrass Korum like that. He was holding her hand now, and they were on a large float in the middle of the Arena. The same Krinar who had led the beginning of the ceremony was speaking again, saying something else about the history of Arena fighting, but his words were sliding past
