The roar of the crowd had been deafening only moments before.

Now, there was nothing.

Thousands of people sat frozen in the stone seats of the amphitheater, staring toward the center of the arena.

A boy stood there alone.

He could not have been more than nine years old.

His clothes were simple and dusty. His bare feet trembled against the warm sand. Around his neck hung a small bronze medallion, old enough that its surface had been worn smooth by years of touch.

He had been told not to cry.

He had been told not to run.

But nobody had told him what to do when the gate opened.

The enormous iron doors at the far end of the arena began to rise.

Metal groaned.

Chains rattled.

The crowd leaned forward.

Then came the sound.

A deep growl rolled across the arena.

The boy closed his eyes.

A lion stepped through the darkness.

It was enormous.

Its pale mane caught the sunlight, and its golden eyes swept across the arena before settling on the child.

A few spectators gasped.

Others began shouting.

The boy heard none of them clearly.

His heart was beating too quickly.

He wanted to run.

Every instinct told him to run.

But something his mother had told him years ago echoed inside his mind.

"If the lion ever comes for you, don't run."

He had thought it was only a strange story.

Now he understood.

The lion approached.

One step.

Then another.

The boy's knees shook.

The animal stopped directly behind him.

The crowd waited.

Nothing happened.

The lion lowered its enormous head.

It smelled the boy's shoulder.

Then it made a sound unlike the growl everyone had expected.

A low, almost gentle rumble.

The boy slowly opened his eyes.

He turned.

Golden eyes met frightened brown ones.

For several seconds, neither moved.

Then the lion lowered itself onto the sand.

The crowd erupted.

Confusion spread through the amphitheater.

The Emperor Augustus Valerian stood from his throne.

He had expected spectacle.

He had expected fear.

Instead, he was looking at something impossible.

The lion had once belonged to his younger brother, Prince Lucius.

Lucius had died twelve years earlier.

Or so Augustus had always believed.

The Emperor's gaze shifted to the child's neck.

The bronze medallion.

His face changed.

"Bring me closer," he ordered.

The guards exchanged uncertain looks.

"My Emperor—"

"Closer!"

Augustus descended the stairs.

An elderly general followed him.

General Cassian had served the royal family for more than forty years.

The moment he saw the medallion, the old man's face went pale.

He stopped walking.

"My lord."

Augustus turned.

"What?"

Cassian pointed.

"That symbol."

"I see it."

"No."

Cassian's voice trembled.

"You don't understand."

The Emperor stared at him.

Cassian swallowed.

"That was Prince Lucius's royal seal."

Augustus looked back at the child.

The boy was still standing beside the lion.

"No."

"My lord..."

"Lucius died."

"That was what we were told."

Augustus's expression hardened.

"What are you suggesting?"

Cassian did not answer.

He didn't need to.

The boy's eyes were enough.

The same dark eyes.

The same small scar above the left eyebrow.

A face Augustus had spent twelve years trying to forget.

Then the boy spoke.

"My mother said you'd know me when the lion bowed."

The Emperor stopped breathing.

Only one woman had ever spoken those words.

Elena.

Lucius's wife.

The woman who had vanished on the night Lucius supposedly betrayed the crown.

Augustus had believed she was dead.

The kingdom had believed the same.

But the boy was standing before him.

Alive.

And if Elena was his mother...

Then Lucius had not died childless.

The Emperor looked toward Cassian.

"Find the mother."

Cassian's eyes filled with fear.

"What if she doesn't want to be found?"

"Find her."

Before Cassian could answer, the lion suddenly rose.

Its head turned.

A low growl escaped its throat.

The animal wasn't looking at the Emperor.

It wasn't looking at the boy.

It was staring directly at one of the royal guards.

A man named Severus.

The guard's face went white.

The lion took one step forward.

The boy reached out and touched its mane.

"Easy."

The lion stopped.

Severus slowly backed away.

Augustus noticed.

So did Cassian.

The old general whispered,

"That man was not assigned to the arena today."

The Emperor's eyes narrowed.

"Then why is he here?"

Severus turned.

He ran.

The guards moved after him.

Chaos erupted.

The crowd began shouting again.

But Augustus barely heard them.

His attention remained fixed on the boy.

The child looked up at him.

There was fear in his expression.