They laid her down there, covered her up, and kissed her cheeks.
Hesperos whispered into her ear. “The others will be visiting you tonight. Until you’ve satisfied them completely.”
She mumbled her understanding and began to slip into sleep. Whatever tomorrow would bring, she was unsure, but for now, she was exhausted.
As she rolled to one side, someone gently grasped her hair. She opened her mouth to whisper a question, and a cock plunged in.
Her eyes sprung open. It looks like my night is nowhere near done.
Chapter Seven
Throughout the night, the gladiators visited Lana. In the darkness, she often couldn’t tell one warrior from the next, but the experience was like nothing she’d imagined. The way they touched her—it was less like she was their slave and more like she was their wife. They were gentle, firm, loving.
And to her shock, she enjoyed every moment of her time with them.
She was exhausted beyond words when someone stirred the fire near her, and the sounds of breakfast being made came to her. Snuggling deeper into her pallet beneath the pile of blankets, she was surprised when she felt herself being lifted from her bed.
Eyes flashing open wide, she looked into Adonis’ strong face. His green eyes made her catch her breath. How could a man capable of killing without hesitation in the arena look at her with such emotion? He carried her across the room to the hot water spring.
“Is something wrong?”
A guarded look came to his face. “We all want to be certain none of us will respond to your beauty in front of the guards. If they hurt you...”
Oh yes, the senator’s threat to whip me if they become aroused today.
He said nothing more, but sank into the hot spring, lowering her into his lap. She gasped at the sensation of the soothing waters washing over her. As she closed her exhausted eyes and let her head drop back, she almost forgot his concern.
Until she heard the sounds of others joining them in the spring.
Sitting up, she looked from Adonis to the other eleven gladiators. Something in their expressions worried her. Surely after yesterday and last night, they can’t still want more sex? Can they?
She regarded them carefully as they moved closer to her. Even though nerves made her heart pound, she couldn’t tear her gaze from them. These men were stunning. Tan, muscular. Warriors.
Adonis lowered her fully into his lap, and for the first time, she felt the evidence of his arousal. He shifted her, then reached into the waters, and she felt him stroking himself, his tip pressed against her womanly mound.
She held herself still, wondering what would come next. Knowing what would come next.
It’s strange that my heart and mind want these men. To touch them. To be touched by them. But my body is just… exhausted. Yet, what will they do if I refuse them?
And should I? My body can endure them better than a whip.
The men remained standing, but as they gazed down at her naked body, they began to stroke themselves too.
She watched, fascinated, as they slid their hands up and down their large shafts. The sounds of their arousal were soft: the clenching of teeth together or a groan slipping past their lips. And then, one after the next came, their hot seed shot from their tips. When the men sank into the water, and she felt Adonis finish beneath her, she realized that she’d been holding her breath.
They touched themselves rather than me. Why? I’m at their mercy.
“Why did all of you do that?”
No one answered for a long time, but Adonis held her more tightly.
Tobias finally spoke. “We thought you might be tired after last night, but we wanted to be sure about our response to you.”
“None of us have seen a woman as beautiful as you before,” Cadmus added, his voice gruff. “We could spend the next week fucking you and still want more.”
She felt her cheeks heat. These gladiators are the noblest men I have ever met.
Orestes moved closer to her, pushing back her wet, tangled blonde hair. “Today, they will try to upset you and us. When they are finished with their little… test… stay out of sight. When we are finished our training, we will care for you.”
She was transfixed by him as he touched her so softly, his accent sliding along her flesh like a caress.
The twins, Elias and Damon, climbed out of the hot spring, drying off. Their expressions more serious than she’d ever seen before. Elias glanced at her as she watched him. “It’s almost time. We should have her dressed and fed before those bastards come.”
His words had an immediate effect on the warriors. Adonis carried her from the spring, and everyone dressed in their simple tan tunics with practiced efficiency. Since Orestes was the smallest, he lent her a tunic. It was like wearing a sack. The material oddly thick and scratchy, even while it barely covered her knees.
Still, it is better than being naked. By far.
They ushered her to one of the tables in the room and handed her a wooden bowl with the same stew from the night before. Everyone was silent, tense, as they ate.
Left alone with her thoughts, panic began to tug at her. No doubt Senator Luscinus did not expect me to survive the night with these men. What will he do to me today? Maybe now that his mind is clear of drugs and liquor, he’ll realize that he can’t hope to hide the daughter of a magistrate.
“Is the senator going to kill me?” she asked the question, not directing it at one person in particular, but feeling the need to voice her fears around.
The room was so quiet it seemed no one even breathed.
To her surprise, Cadmus rose from his spot at a nearby table and knelt down in front of. Taking her hand, he met her gaze. “We won’t let him.”
She took a deep breath. “You’re his slaves. How can you hope to stop him?”
“If he tries to hurt you, we’ll simply have to move up our plans.”
“Cadmus!” Solon, pushed his long dark hair back from his face, revealing the thick scar on one of his handsome cheeks. “Keep your mouth shut.”
His hand tightened around hers, and a darkness fell over Cadmus’ face.
“What plan?” she asked, softly.
Palaemon rose from the table, going to wash his bowl in a nearby bucket. “It’s too dangerous to speak about it, so ask no more questions.”
Stubbornly, she raised her head. “If it concerns my future, I should know.”
Cadmus rose. “I should have said nothing. Your beauty made me forget myself.”
Damon ran a hand through his long, blond hair. “You’ve been a slave for a day, Lana. You may have been one of the few wealthy people to speak out against slavery and the arena, but that doesn’t make you one of us. Let us keep our secrets.” He smiled at her gently, his tone and words almost those of an aristocrat rather than a warrior.
I wonder what Damon was before he became a slave.
She shook her head. In her life it was rare that she felt speechless, but around these gods among men, she often found herself lost for words. Stay focused.
“But if there is—“
A loud clanging echoed through the dirt hallway all the way to their room, at the end of the gladiators’ quarters. As if sharing a mind, the men rose and crowded in front of her. She stood, peeking between their shoulders.
Two guards appeared in the doorway of their room.
One of them smirked. “We wanted to drag the girl’s body out before practice.”
He waited, but when none of them responded, his dark eyes narrowed.
“Where is she?”
The other guard pulled a long whip from the belt at his hips. “What’s the matter, slaves? Tongues too worn out to speak? Show us the girl!”
After a second, he cracked his whip against the ground.
She jumped, her heart racing. They can’t get hurt to protect me. “I’m here.”
Moving around them, she tried to step free, but Adonis caught her arm, searing her with the intensity of hi
s gaze. She looked away from him and to the guards, squaring her shoulders.
Both men looked surprised, but the guard with the whip recovered first. “You must be blessed both by luck and beauty.” He looked her over, too slowly, leaving a slimy feeling on her skin.
“So now that you see I am alive in good health, I expect you will be on your way,” she said, trying to sound arrogant. Even though she wore a slave’s tunic instead of one of her beautiful gowns. Even though her hair was a wet and tangled mess.
Even though she felt anything but confident.
The guard smirked, his ugly face made uglier with his smile. “My lady, I believe we have a little test for you first, since you made it through the night in one piece.”
He moved toward her, but her gladiators closed around her once more. She heard the sound of the whip striking flesh, not once, but twice, before she pulled herself free of the protective warriors.
“I will go! There’s no need for violence!”
Blood ran down one of Macedon’s legs, the gash making her stomach turn. Slaves don’t stand up to their masters for a reason; they can never hope to win.
Trying her best to look graceful and certain, she crossed the room. She could feel the tension in her warriors, as if one wrong move by the guards would break them. The two men seemed to sense it to, because when one of them reached to grab her arm, he instantly dropped his hand instead.
She walked in front of them, her bare feet moving slowly along the dirt floor of the tunnel. She passed one tiny room after another, carved out from the stone and rock. When they reached the first gate, a guard on the other side opened it at her approach.
Behind her, the gladiators followed the guards out. Their steps measured. Their expressions dangerous.
She winced as she was led out into the early morning light of their practice grounds. A high fence surrounded it. A massive gate that led out into the city was chained shut. Since the warrior’s quarters were located beneath Senator Luscinus’ home, several balconies stared down at the practice grounds.
On one of them, the senator, his sister, and several friends, were sitting, sipping drinks and staring down at her with cool expressions. His sister wanted her to beg for mercy, she could see it in the cruel woman’s eyes. But she knew the heartless people in front of her would never offer her mercy. They had committed too many crimes. If she was ever free, her father would have them all killed.
There was no way she would ever be free.
Even though the realization made tears sting the corners of her eyes, she didn’t cry as they led her into the middle of sandy practice area and tied her wrists to a post. Instead, she raised her chin and met each of their gazes with an unwavering one of her own. Let them see that even in her current state, she was still better than them.
The senator swirled his glass, taking a small sip. “So, it looks like those beasts didn’t tear her apart last night.”
No one answered him.
“But if they think they did you a favor, they are wrong.” He nodded to the guard.
She gasped as an instant later he tore her tunic in two, straight down the front. Instinctively, she tried to cover herself, but she only strained at the tight bindings at her wrists. Again, she was naked before them.
But if they thought they could embarrass her, they were wrong.
She held her head high and waited.
The senator motioned with his hand. “Line them up.”
Her gladiators stood before her. The enraged looks on their faces made her palms sweaty. These were not her lovers from the night before, they were warriors, and they were angry.
“And so, the game begins,” Luscinus said, smiling as a slave refilled his glass. “We will see if our Lana can arouse a single gladiator. If she does so, she will be whipped, without mercy.”
Lana swallowed, hard, looking at her warriors. I can’t believe this is actually happening. She imagined what the whip would feel like against her skin. She told herself that if the gladiators reacted to her, it would be okay. She could take the pain. But the truth was, in her protected life, she had rarely been hurt. She wanted to be as brave as the men who fought for their lives every week in the arena, even if deep down she wasn’t sure that she could be.
“Nothing to say?” the senator asked her.
She looked up at him. “One day, I swear, you will regret this.”
His expression darkened. “A woman with any common-sense would beg for her life. Would inquire if I would take her now that a dozen slaves had violated her. But you, Lana, are a woman who lacks all wisdom. You are not a man. You do not have power. You are completely at our mercy, and yet, even on your knees, you don’t have the sense to realize that. So perhaps I haven’t taught you well enough, not yet.” He looked to his guards. “Begin.”
Adonis was led to her first. He stood over her, staring off into the distance as if he wasn’t standing in front of the naked woman he’d just recently held so tenderly.
“Put yourself in her mouth.”
He reached beneath his tunic and grasped his long shaft. When he moved it to her mouth, she took him in.
“Take him deeper! Suck him!” the senator shouted, anger lacing each word.
She did so. But when a moment later, she released him and he remained limp, she felt a surge of hope.
Senator Luscinus swore.
One after another the gladiators stood in front of her. But not one man became aroused when she touched them.
She heard the sound of glass shattering. Looking up, she saw that the senator was standing. His guests had moved away from him on the balcony.
“We passed your sick test,” she said, keeping her words as calm as possible.
For one second, her throat closed. The way he looked at her… she feared he’d order her death right then. But his expression calmed, and oddly slowly, he lowered himself back into his chair.
“Whip her.”
Chapter Eight
Murmurs rose from his friends. Out of the corner of Lana’s eye, she caught sight of her gladiators stiffening.
“But brother—“
“Are you deaf?” he shouted, cutting off his sister. “I said whip her.”
“We had a deal.” Adonis’ voice held an unspoken threat that frightened her more than the whip.
Beside her, the guard pulled his whip from his belt, but his expression was uncertain.
“I do not make deals with slaves,” the senator hissed.
She felt a strike of fear. Her gaze went to the guards positioned around the practice area, and then she caught a flash of light. On two of the balconies, archers stood poised to strike.
If my gladiators attack, they’ll be killed.
So she did the only thing she could think of, she laughed. “If beating a tied female is what you must do to feel like a man again, then I will gladly be your sacrificial lamb.”
The senator rose, and even from a distance, she could see the rage in his expression. “Whip her.”
The gladiators started toward her. Guards surged forward.
She looked to them. “Stop!”
They froze.
“Don’t.”
All of them looked horrified. She could feel their need to protect her. But instead, she bent her head in acceptance. And waited.
The first sting came across her shoulder. She had to grit her teeth to stop from crying out. Three more times they whipped her as she bit down so hard on her cheek that she tasted blood.
The guard behind her spoke, his voice shaking. “Is that enough?”
“It’s enough when I say it’s enough!”
She wasn’t sure how much time passed. Strikes rained down upon her, and hot tears ran down her cheeks. She wanted to be brave. To not react, but the pain was unlike anything she’d imagined.
But I can’t call for my gladiators, or all of this would be for nothing.
When she fell into the dirt, sliding down the pole, her hands still bound together, the strikes finally sto
pped. Everything was silent. Too silent.
“Enough,” the senator said, and there was no satisfaction in his voice. “Untie her and throw her back into her new home.”
The guard sliced her free, but it was Cadmus who picked her up off the ground.
She cried out, the wounds on her body screaming to life with the movement, and her vision blackened. Her gladiator whispered reassuring words without meaning as he carried her into the tunnels, barely lit by flickering torches.
When he laid her gently on her belly on her pallets, he stirred the fire higher. A moment later, she felt cool water washing her back. Long minutes passed of him washing her while she sobbed, gripping the blankets beneath her as pain radiated throughout her body. Then, very carefully, he dressed her wounds with torn strips of fabric and a strong smelling ointment.
Somewhere behind her, a cautious voice shouted, “Cadmus, time for practice!”
He leaned down and pressed a kiss to her cheek, then spoke softly. “In a few days’ time, every person responsible for your pain will be dead. And this, I promise you.”
For a long time, she lay crying softly. But in the back of her mind, she repeated his words over and over again. She might be the one hurting now, but she believed her warriors, they would make them pay.
But how?
Chapter Nine
For days, Lana’s gladiators treated her wounds with a gentleness she’d never experienced in her life. They fed her, bathed her, and carried her around like the most precious creature alive. The pain was… almost unbearable during the day when they practiced. But at night, when they entertained her with stories of their lives before slavery, she sometimes forgot about her wounds.
None of them had homes to return to. Their families were gone. Their friends were gone. And yet, they spoke as if they imagined a future without the blood-thirsty arena. A life as free men.
In return, she cautiously told them about her life. For some reason, her wealth and privilege made her feel embarrassed after all they had been through. And yet, they never once made her feel bad for it.
At night as they crowded around her, they would ask her to tell them stories. They all agreed that her voice brought them sweet dreams. So, she told them about Godeis. It was a small town ruled by her father, located on the coast.
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