Page 61 of Baited

“Blayn.” The captain says my name quietly. “Quarters.”

I feel Izzy’s hand around my bicep and find myself following the captain until we reach the ante-chamber again.

“I’m sorry, Blayn. If there was any other way…” He shrugs. “At least you might have the opportunity to win your freedom at Sartak if you do well. That’s the reward, for you to be released from your debts.”

“Are you telling me Blayn is aprisonerhere?” Izzy spits out, her face alive with an anger I’ve never seen before.

“No, Blayn is indentured, like the procurator said. He has a debt to pay off, and once it is done, or if the procurator deems it, he can be free of his servitude,” the captain says, then a clerk catches his attention, and he hurries away.

“I need to nest for you, myeregri.” I stroke my claws through Izzy’s hair. “I need to be close to you.”

“This is wrong, Blayn,” Izzy says, staring after the captain. “You shouldn’t be forced to go anywhere. I’m sure we can find a way to buy your freedom.”

“I owe far more than I’ll ever be able to make to pay the procurator back.” I flip my wings back, folding them one over another. “Even with my bonuses, which I can keep. As long as I fight in the dome, my debt increases.”

“Then we’ll find a way to be together, no matter what.”

IZZY

Blayn insists I stay in the dining hall while he nests. It’s a large open area with multiple tables but only one which is able to take multiple Gryn sat together. I sit and wait, turning our situation over and over in my head.

My huge, sweet, mixed up gladiator thinks he has no choice but to do what the procurator says, simply to protect me. Blayn’s never taken an order in his entire life, until now.

Until me.

And it’s the one order which makes the most difference to us both. The one which will tear us apart. The one which he has no choice but to obey.

The door to the dining hall opens, and I look up expectantly, ready to be in his arms, desperate to see his nest and tell him how much I love it.

Only it’s not Blayn, it’s Maxym.

“My apologies, mate of Blayn,” he says. “I didn’t know you were here.”

“Wait!” I call out as he turns his great wings on me.

Maxym hesitates, his wings set uncomfortably, like his head is sinking.

“Blayn will not like it if I am here with you,” he says, the words sticking. “And I do not want to fight him.”

“I just want to know if you are all indentured like he is. Are you all forced to stay until you’ve paid off your debts?” My voice cracks, even though I wanted to seem strong.

Maxym hitches his wings, the huge dark things almost swallowing his massive form as he turns to face me again.

“Not all of us. Some of us are here because the alternative is death,” he says, his chiseled face filled with shadows.

“But Blayn?”

“He was sold to the dome. That’s all I know. You’ll need to ask him the rest,” Maxym says. “But he has more of a chance of getting out of here than some of us.”

Without another word, feathers swishing, he stalks out of the dining hall leaving me more confused than I was before.

Blayn was sold to the dome?

I know Tatatunga is a lawless place. The need to make credits creates a many headed hydra of unpleasantness.

But lawless or not,sellinga living creature to almost certain death? It makes bile rise in my throat. I wanted to get away from Trefa and now…

“My Izzy.” Blayn executes a low bow next to me, holding out his hand. “I have nested.”

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