Page 63 of Gladiator's Captive
“He’s at the gates already. He knows she’s here,” Ry answered, his face etched in fear, but his eyes hard. “Serena has to leave now.”
“Who?” I spoke low, but I already knew. Who else would come for me?
“Your father.” Ry glanced at me and for the briefest moment, there was pity in his gaze. “He’s talking with Wylder as we speak, negotiating your surrender. The enforcers are refusing to let Wylder’s men in our quarters for now, but we won’t be able to hold them for long. With the sum he’s offering for you, it’s only a matter of time before we’re too outnumbered to resist.”
Rager moved instantly, his face focused, his movements precise. In a few seconds, he was fully dressed. All the warmth and comfort of a few moments ago had been leeched from the air and a seeping cold slithered all the way to my bones.
“Serena, get dressed,” Rager commanded without looking back at me. “We have no time to lose.”
“I will hold them off as long as I can,” Ry said.
For the briefest moment, Ry locked gazes with Rager. Rager nodded, then Ry exited the room, leaving us alone. The dizzying thought that I was never going to see him again fluttered in my mind. I got up, fumbling around for my clothes as tremors agitated my entire body. How did my father find us so fast? Tartarus was in the middle of the deep desert, a place the Galactic Empire had never been able to properly survey.
“Faster, Serena.” Rager was the stern general again, no trace of warmth or care as he turned a cold, harsh stare my way. “We have to get to the ship landing before word gets out of the reward for your return. It might already be too late.”
I swayed on my feet, suddenly lightheaded. I knew this could happen, that my father was not the type to let go of what he considered his property, but it had been weeks. I had been too happy here with Rager, so happy I forgot, even for just a little while. It had been a mistake, but one I didn’t regret making.
“Serena!”
Rager’s harsh intimation shook some sense into me. I finished dressing in a few fast, efficient movements, then came to stand by Rager. His eyes were open, his face focused. He was every bit the formidable creature so many had come to worship in the arena. Lethal and deadly, beautiful like the looming angel of death.
He opened the door again and took my hand. I followed him, trusting in his instinct to save us both. I ran in Rager’s footsteps in the deserted hallways, taking turn after turn in almost total darkness. I didn’t know the way Rager was taking me, but I trusted in his choice. He had been working for Sayk for weeks now. He hadn’t told me his plan, but I knew he had worked out things for just this possibility.
That we would have to escape our new haven to find a new one.
The way wasn’t long, but I lost my bearings early, the stone hallways looking always the same, the turns sharp and impossible to keep track of. It didn’t matter. We were not going back.
I was only sad I didn’t have time to say my goodbyes to Janet or Sayk, but knew they would understand.
We finally arrived at a dead end. My heart pounded painfully in my chest as I turned around staring blindly at the long hallway ending in liquid darkness.
“Where are we going?”
“Do not worry.” Rager spoke low and fast as he worked his hands around the back wall. “This is not a dead end. Sayk brought me here the first night we arrived on Tartarus. Apart from him, there are only two other people who know about this exit.”
Okay. This isn’t as bad as it seems. We’re going to get out.
“Who else knows?” I asked as I stood just behind Rager.
“Sayk and...”
But Rager didn’t finish. Because he didn’t need to.
Wylder stood on the other side of the door and he didn’t stand there alone.
My father was with him.
