And then…
And then he didn’t know what was happening.
A blur of pale hair and sheer silk above him, and Tahbet was gone. Rua shouting. Everyone shouting.
He managed to lift his head and to his utter astonishment, he saw Alaina on her feet with Tahbet’s shield in her hand. Alaina.
In all his life, he had never underestimated someone so completely. Nor had he ever loved someone so completely. Now she was on the sands fighting for both their lives and Vega couldn’t help her. He loved her and he couldn’t help her. With an agonized groan, he rolled onto his stomach, pushing himself up on his elbows, and watched as Alaina and Rua closed in on the remaining Jiayi cursu.
He couldn’t hear them, but he could see Rua shouting instructions to Alaina, who had more protection than he did by virtue of Tahbet’s shield. She had blood on her gauzy serving gown. She wore no armor. She wasn’t even wearing shoes. She was clumsy and untrained, but determined as hell and Vega felt a swell of pride in his heart alongside the terror that she was going to die. How could two humans win in the final game of the day?
Vega started to crawl towards them but he wasn’t strong enough. He could do naught but lie there and watch.
Rua called something to Alaina and she charged the remaining Jiayi, shield up. She rammed him, knocking him off-balance. It was just enough, and Rua dove into the opening, skewering the cursu on one of his long blades. The Jiayi roared and lurched back. Rua released the blade, and the cursu hit the sands. Blood poured from the wound. The crowd screamed in delight.
They didn’t know what to chant. They didn’t know Rua’s name and they certainly didn’t know Alaina’s.
So they chanted the name of the house which owned them.
Chara. Chara. Chara.
The Master of Games told them to calm down, but still they chanted. Guards emerged from the gates around the Arena, surrounding the humans, but still the crowd chanted. Alaina threw down her weapons and put up her hands, and Rua did the same. Aand still the crowd chanted. Vega felt hands on him, someone lifting him off the sand, but the chanting filled his ears. Pain surged, and he fought desperately to stay conscious, to stay long enough to know how this was going to end, but it was no good. He passed out in a guard’s arms, plunged into darkness without knowing what would become of the love of his life.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Alaina couldn’t even hear the guards telling her to put down her weapons, the crowd chanted so loud. Their hand gestures were plain enough, though. They surrounded her and Rua as they set down their weapons, and Alaina looked between them to see another guard lifting Vega. She started to go to him, but one of the guards lifted a long stick which Alaina was pretty sure would give her a shock if she tried to push past it. So she stopped and stood beside Rua as the crowd hollered the name of her masters’ house and Vega was taken back into the pit.
Her heart pounded, breaths coming hard and fast like she couldn’t gulp down enough air. She couldn’t look at the Jiayi that Rua had killed. Guards gathered Tahbet off the sand as well and carried him away, but they left the other Jiayi to die slowly where the crowd could see it. Alaina hated all of them fiercely for letting the cursu suffer. But she couldn’t save him herself, and he died from his wounds and everyone watched it happen.
Eventually, after what felt like hours but she knew could only have been minutes, the Master of Games regained control of the crowd. They quieted, and the Master of Games indicated the Chara terrace, where her masters and their Jiayi counterparts had come to stand at the edge of the terrace. The crowd applauded them, applauded the game itself, the fallen cursii and the victorious humans. Atticon and Lennai stood there smiling, taking it all in, nodding and clapping for themselves, and the Jiayi beside them looked just as pleased despite having lost.
The Master of Games walked into the Chara palace, and Alaina realized she had never actually seen him before, just heard his voice booming from somewhere in the stands. He was Jiayi himself, with two tiny stump antlers, fat and red-cheeked, in a flowing robe of bright purple that made him look like a walking blueberry. He was holding a long, skinny walking stick that Alaina realized, when he lifted it to his mouth, was actually a kind of microphone.
“An historic day at the games!” he announced delightedly.
The crowd screamed in reply.
“Never before has a house slave fought upon the sands, let alone two humans! Lord Atticon of House Chara, you must be very pleased.”
He aimed the stick at Atticon, who nodded. “Of course we are proud. This was unplanned. Nobody expects a house slave to fight. But that is how loyal all the members of this house are, that one slave would fight to save another. Even on the sands.” He glared down at Alaina. “Even when it is against the rules.”
“The Arena has considered disqualifying your slave and calling the game a forfeit,” the Master of Games said.
The crowd booed so loud Alaina could feel the sands under her feet reverberating. The Master of Games lifted a hand and the crowd quieted.
“But such exceptional loyalty must not be punished,” he went on. “And so, for the first time in the history of the Arena, we are naming a house slave as Champion.”
The crowd went wild, and Alaina looked all around, in awe of it. It was like an out of body experience. All the manic voices, all the people, Rua standing beside her. But her heart was in the pit with Vega.
The crowd quieted again and the Master of Games aimed the microphone past Atticon and to Lennai.
“This is your donara, is it not, my lady?” he asked.
Lennai smiled brightly, nodding. “Yes. Obviously she is quite a prize.”
Laughter from the crowd. The Master chuckled. “And what will you give her as champion? Surely you cannot give her herself.”
More laughter.
Lennai shrugged. “I suppose I shall have to think of something very special. Her partner there, Captain Rua, has gained his freedom in this fight.”
Oohs and aahs from the crowd.
“And will you give the donara her freedom as well?” the Master asked.
The crowd went silent, listening, anticipation thick in the air.
Lennai looked down at Alaina, and Alaina could see her weighing her choices. And her words. She knew that Lennai wanted to be rid of her, but she also knew that Lennai wouldn’t want to reward such behavior with so great a prize. That would set a bad precedent. One fight on the sands and then freedom? No. It wouldn’t be that easy. And Alaina didn’t want freedom without Vega. She couldn’t leave him. He was so gravely wounded now she wasn’t sure he would ever be able to fight again. She couldn’t leave him to a life of slavery in this place.
“I know what I want!” she called up to the terrace.
Lennai looked down at her sharply, frowning.
But the Master of Games looked excited. He waved her forward, and Alaina stepped between the guards and walked up to the edge of the terrace, looking up at them.
“The donara has a request,” the Master of Games said conspiratorially into the microphone.
A hushed murmur of wonder went through the crowd.
“What is it?” Lennai asked.
Alaina looked from her over to the Jaiyi, then to the back of the terrace, to Yfia. Finally she looked at Lennai again.
“I want you to buy House Ka’ani’s servant,” she said, pointing at Yfia. “I want you to buy her so that she can be with the man she loves, the cursu who lost his antler in the games today. He is also a champion and he deserves to have his lover.”
As Lennai stared confoundedly down at Alaina, the Master of Games repeated her request so the crowd could hear it. A resounding awwwww went through the stands, people clutching at their hearts and smiling at how sweet a request it was, how selfless. Alaina wasn’t trying to be selfless, even though she did want Yfia and Bathari to be together. They would still be slaves, after all. She was just trying to make a bad situation a little be
tter, to buy herself some time, and to add to her own allies within the house.
Lennai went over to House Ka’ani and they bowed their heads together, whispering for a moment, beyond the reach of the Master’s microphone.
Yfia looked down at Alaina as well, her eyes wide with hope.
That hope was enough thanks.
Finally Lennai stepped over to the Master of Games and, with a bright smile, leaned into the microphone. “We will give the champion her wish,” she said.
The crowd roared again, this time with triumph and happiness, and Alaina felt her heart settle a little in her chest. She didn’t know what would happen once they were back at the house, but she had the sense that the crowd was her protection. For the moment, they loved her. And so long as they loved her, Atticon and Lennai couldn’t hurt her.
So as they cheered for her, Alaina threw up her hands to embrace their cries, and turned in a circle for all of them to see.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
When Vega regained consciousness, he realized he wasn’t in the Arena anymore. Not even in the pit. He was in his room in the barracks, and he was still alive. He lifted his head, and saw that a second cot had been brought into his room. Bathari lay on it. He looked over and smiled when their eyes met.
“You’re awake.”
“So are you.” Vega’s voice sounded like smoke. “We survived.”
“Thanks in no small part to your Alaina,” Bathari laughed weakly. “She appears to have saved us both.”
“What happened?” Vega asked.
“She fought. And she and that damn dog Rua won. I’m fuzzy on the details, Dyhar wouldn’t tell me all. I’ve only been awake myself for a few hours, but we appear to be sharing the champion bunk, don’t we?”
Vega started to sit up. Pain spiked through his chest and he lifted a hand, realized there was a bandage there, and continued until he could put his back to the wall and face Bathari’s cot.
“I need to find out what’s happened to her,” he said.
Bathari nodded, and winced with the movement. He had a bandage around half of his head, covering the divot that must have been his lost antler.
“Don’t try to go upstairs,” he warned. “Stay in bed, Vega. You came very close to dying. Dyhar will be by shortly. He’s been in to check on you every hour.”
“Was she here?” Vega asked, touching the bandage again. “Did she do this?”
Bathari nodded. “And mine too. They wouldn’t let her stay long. Just long enough to patch us both up and then they took her back upstairs. They wouldn’t let her talk either.”
“She broke all the rules,” Vega murmured. “She defied the dominus and the domina. They’re going to find a way to punish her.”
“They can’t,” Bathari said. “Not while everyone is so enamored of her. They can’t punish her without the entire station getting pissed at them. She’s safe, for now, if she behaves herself.”
“Why didn’t she ask for her freedom?” Vega sighed.
Bathari just shook his head at him. “You, idiot.”
Vega grimaced. “No.”
“Yes.” Bathari pointed at him. “You. If they’d given you your freedom, would you have taken it without her?”
“No.”
“There you are. She didn’t want to go without you, either. So even if they did offer it to her, which I can’t imagine they could have avoided, she turned it down. For you.”
“She shouldn’t have.”
“But,” Bathari said with a smile, “you survived, mate. You fought, and you survived. Which means we have a wedding to plan.”
Vega felt his heart warm. Bathari was right. He smiled too, tired and in pain, but he smiled because he had to find a way to marry Alaina. Then, by law, even if one of them earned their freedom, so would the other. He rubbed at the bandage on his chest and nodded.
It was a little while later Dyhar appeared in the room’s doorway.
He stepped inside, and the door slid shut at his back. It was the first time Vega had ever seen the door to this room closed. He heard the tone that sounded when it locked. And that sound filled him with alarm.
“Dyhar,” he said. “What is it?”
The Master of Cursii pulled a chair away from the wall and sat down in it, between Vega’s cot and Bathari’s. He looked between the two of them a moment, expression grave.
“The donara has been named champion,” Dyhar explained to the two of them. “She has been installed in the palace upstairs.”
Vega blinked. “Upstairs? Beyond the slaves quarters?”
Dyhar nodded. “She is in the guest suite they’d given to Rua. Rua has been given his freedom and he has already left, if not the station entire, at least the Errai sector. But the donara made quite a splash in the arena. The people love her. So the domina and the dominus are treating her very well.”
Vega’s heart sank. “I’ll never be able to get to her up there.”
Dyhar nodded. “It will be difficult, yes. If I’m to marry you, the safest place to perform the ceremony is down here, in the barracks. Your brothers would keep the secret.”
“But she’ll never be able to come down to the barracks,” Vega sighed.
“I’m working on it,” Dyhar promised. “But for now, you have to rest. Keep to this room and keep to yourself. Don’t let them know your progress as you heal.”
Vega frowned. “Why hide such a thing?”
Dyhar arched an eyebrow. “Don’t let them know how strong you are, Vega. You fell on the sands. The dominus will want to sell you. But the domina has a special fondness for you, and will hold him off until you are recovered. Prolong this. We will have a better chance of success the more time we have to prepare.”
Vega nodded. “Yes, master.”
Then, at last, Dyhar’s shoulders relaxed and he actually smiled, his gaze moving to Bathari.
Who returned the look in bafflement.
“I suspect it will be a double ceremony,” Dyhar said quietly, straight to Bathari.
“I don’t understand,” Bathari admitted.
Dyhar’s smile only broadened. “The donara requested that House Chara buy one slave in particular, as her prize. And I believe you know her, cursu.”
Bathari’s eyes widened. “What? Me? What?”
“Her name is Yfia, of the Jiayi.”
Bathari stared at Dyhar, and Vega watched all the color drain from his face, and then flush right back into his cheeks only seconds later. Tears filled his eyes, and all at once he was smiling. “Truly, Master Dyhar?”
Dyhar nodded. “Truly. I would have told you sooner, but I wanted to talk to you both at once. All of this will require great patience, on both your parts. Do you understand?”
Bathari nodded, wiping at his face. “Yes. Of course. My heart feels like it will explode.”
“Calm it,” Dyhar suggested, and he got to his feet. “There is much work to do before all the joy.”
Then he left, and Vega got up from his cot and went to Batharis, and the two men hugged and cried like brothers, overwhelmed by their sudden proximity to hope and love.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Once they’d returned to the Chara Palace, Alaina had been allowed to go to the barracks and bandage up Bathari and Vega, and any other cursii who needed it. But, flanked by house guards, she’d been unable to talk to anyone, and once she was finished they took her quickly back upstairs. She’d wanted so desperately for Vega to wake, to see her, but knew it was better for him to sleep through the pain.
They’d put her in the suite previously occupied by Rua. Everything had been so crazy after the games, she’d barely had a moment. Even as they’d walked them off the sands and into the pit, the guards had separated her from Rua and she didn't have a chance to say a single word to him. She hadn’t even seen Yfia yet, not since Lennai had agreed, in front of the entire arena crowd, to purchase her for House Chara.
And everything, every inch of
Alaina’s body, hurt.
She felt like she’d run a marathon and then gone directly into a bar fight.
Which was not entirely unlike what she’d actually done.
The guard who delivered her to the suite told her that she was free to do as she liked. Take a bath, he suggested. Clean up. But she was forbidden from leaving the suite itself. There was food laid out for her, the sideboard was stocked, and someone would be along eventually to tell her what would happen next. That wasn’t particularly encouraging but the guard had been gentle about it. So Alaina had gone to the bath chamber and keyed into the control panel that she wanted a scalding hot bath, and then she waited for the gigantic tub to fill.
She stripped off her bloody dress and climbed into the hot water, steam wafting up to cloud the room, and she let out a deep sigh as she sank into the tub. The water coursed over her aching bones and bruised skin. She stretched out, head propped against the tub’s edge, and reveled in being able to just lie there with nobody else around. No slaves there to scrub her or wash her hair. No Gurun waiting impatiently for her to be finished. Just her, the steam, and the hot water. She sank beneath the water’s surface and let the silence there clear the sound of the screaming crowd from her ears, then lifted her head and smoothed her hair back.
And she thought of Vega.
Over and over again, she thought of Vega.
How she was going to get to him now? She had to get to him. She needed to see him, needed him to see her, to know he was all right. She needed to kiss him, to climb into his lap and be held by him, to make love to him again. She closed her eyes and held the memory of their morning together in her mind. The feel of his lips against her skin and his breath in her hair, the way his hand caressed her thigh, her breast, the teasing curl of his fingers between her legs.
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