Page 8 of Gladiator's Captive
Chapter Five
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Serena
I had to see my father one last time. Had to give him one last chance before thrusting my life out the window.
“Father!” I called from the hall, vaguely noticing the absence of the guards, then walked past the closed door I once held as sacred as the images of the gods.
The scene that greeted me on the other side made me stop dead in my tracks.
As the door closed behind me, my eyes went from my father to an unknown towering figure. My eyes slid over the broad shoulders and to the long line of fur running down the man’s back.
Then I recognized Rager.
The Muharib was even more impressive this close. His size was stunning, almost seven feet and wide, well-muscled shoulders covered in the striping pattern of his kind. His features were strong, flattened, and broad. The dark stripes on his skin made the shimmering of his feline green eyes even stronger. Vertical pupils fixed on me and I thought I saw something there. Something that wasn’t hatred or anger or violence. Something full of hurt and need.
Then the illusion was gone.
Rager sprang on his long legs, faster than I could react. My back was completely molded to the gladiator’s spectacularly muscled chest, the heat from his skin penetrating through my fine silk dress. His smell entered my nostrils, male and strong, the smell of summer sweat and dust. The smell of man and danger.
Fear ran at the speed of adrenaline through my veins, spreading between two heartbeats. My mouth dried and my breath became fast and shallow. An impossibly powerful arm closed around my chest, long, thick fingers wrapping around my neck.
The fingers around my throat squeezed and I knew I was going to die.
“Free me.” Rager’s voice in my ear was rough and low, full of anger and death. “Remove the marker in my arm and I will hand you the life of your daughter.”
My blood stopped in my veins as I locked eyes with my father. There was not an inch of fatherly love in his eyes as Arenius detached his gaze from me to look back at Rager. My throat quivered with fear, my lips trembling with words I didn’t speak. Begging would serve no purpose, would stir no feelings of protection and love.
I was one of many of his possessions, nothing more.
“You won’t kill her,” Arenius smirked, not even sparing me a glance as I swallowed a desperate sob. “She’s an innocent. Her death would serve no purpose and I’ve never known you to be a wasteful man.”
At my back, Rager growled, the sound low and savage, the vibrations from his chest running along my spine.
“Do as I say or I won’t hesitate. And as soon as she’s dead, you’ll join her in the afterlife.”
Rager’s fingers squeezed some more, constricting the flow of air to my lungs. I reached with desperate fingers, trying to pry them away, but it was no use. He was so much stronger than me; I was no more than a child against him.
“And hand over a thousand coins,” Rager insisted, his arms pinning me against his body with a cruel force. “Or she meets her fate.”
I shut my eyes as I understood the depth of Rager’s mistake. He wanted to trade money for something my father should consider even more valuable: my life. Only my life held no true value for Arenius. I was doomed if this was Rager’s last resort.
“She’s not worth that much,” Arenius countered as I forced my eyes open again. The ugly words left trails of salt on my soul, but I remained silent.
“You won’t save your daughter’s life?” Rager spoke with disbelieving words. “Your own blood isn’t worth more than coin to you?”
Shame and hurt flamed in my mind. I was worth nothing more than the business deal my father would strike thanks to my marriage. I always knew, yet to hear him ready to forfeit my life for a thousand coins made me feel as worthless as he always said I was.
“If you won’t hand over the coins, then remove the marker and consider us done.” Rager spoke again, disdain and anger in his voice now that my father had made clear what little he thought of his hostage. “My life is mine from now on.”
Arenius chuckled then looked down on his wrist at the magnetic key that kept all his slaves locked in permanent connection with him. An expression of pure evil shone in his eyes when he looked back up at Rager.
“Your life?” Arenius spat the word out. “Look what the life of a slave is worth.”
In a fast, jerky motion, Arenius pushed on a blinking light from the wide bracelet covering his forearm midway to the elbow. Somewhere in the house, a woman screamed in agony. Seconds passed and the scream faded. My cheeks covered with tears as silence wrapped the room in a deadly velvet. The servant, whoever she had been, was dead. The poison contained in the implant inside her wrist had been released. A poison as deadly as it was painful.
