Page 18 of The Sun God's Prize
“You’regorgeous,” he breathes.“I’m going to make so muchrananfrom you.”
It’s clear to me that the Sunnish warrior is just as pleased with his situation as Vunoshe.“I won’t disappoint you,masterre,” he says with a nod, voice deep and rumbling.
“Fight good,” the other man says in a rough accent.As I guessed, he’s from the Overkingdom, likely a captured soldier who has found himself in the same situation as me.
“I’m sure you will, sweetheart,” Vunoshe pats the blond on the head before exhaling a big, happy breath.“Hanso certainly knows his manflesh.”He spins on me, eyes narrowing.“I really wanted him to see your talents.Two hundred.”He snorts.“Please.Still, he’ll hear of my triumph soon enough.”Ah, so he’s less proud of his mate’s assignment than he appeared, jealousy blooming on his clever face.“We’ll see who has the best story to tell when we again meet.”
“You will, of course,masterre,” the Sunnish man says with a flashing grin before boldly looking the small man up and down.“Once you sample the merchandise yourself, that is.”
Vunoshe’s pupils flare, filling his dark eyes to black.He leans in and kisses the big man on the lips, and the warrior answers with an equally eager mouth.When the slaver leans away, he’s flushed and breathless.
“Even better,” he whispers.“I’ll have to take full advantage of the day’s travel then, shan’t I?”
A day.I pretend to watch as themasterrepulls his robe open and guides the big man’s mouth down to his cock, the small, thin thing barely a stick poking out from a thick mat of curling black hair.But the massive warrior falls to his knees, full mouth latching onto the three-finger length, licking and rolling his tongue around the tip barely bigger than the cap of a mushroom.
Vunoshe leans into the attention while I fight the squint of concentration that’s trying to surface.I ponder over his moans of eagerness, the sucking sounds of the warrior’s greedy mouth.One more day.And then… will I be where she needs me to be?If so, I have to be ready to break free.
The Sunnish fighter is clearly talented, because themasterrecomes again after only having orgasmed a short time ago.Vunoshe thrusts his little hips violently, almost comical in his extravagant climax, but I’m not laughing.I have to be ready to escape when we make landfall.
One thing is certain.I willnotbe sold.No matter what the dragon wants.
The Sunnish warrior is kissing the slaver’s stomach now, tongue lingering in the trail of thin hair that climbs toward his belly button.Vunoshe steps back, tucking his robe around him, smile languid, though he does nothing to help the warrior who struggles, still shackled, to rise and sit on the bed again, awkward and uncomfortable as it appears thanks to the heavy weight of chains and bindings.
“You will do,” Vunoshe says.
He binds us all to the rings on the floor, one at a time, starting with the Sunnish man and finishing with me.None of us fight back or complain, though the collar is tighter than usual as he secures me firmly, running a thick chain through all three of our restraints, binding us together with a heavy pin and a bulky lock.
When he’s done, he leaves us there in the stuffy, humid air of the small cabin, the dull sounds from outside barely reaching us.
The Sunnish man is the first to speak.“We’re almost there,” he whispers.“You’re doing well.Once we’re in the arenas, we’ll have more freedoms.I promise.”
The blond is squinting at him, concentrating, then nods.Struggling to understand, is my guess, the pair touching fingers despite their bindings.The simple, soft caress surprises me, not in its kindness, but for the fact that they’ve somehow found caring in this terrible process.
I’d meant to hold my own counsel and distance, but I’m driven to speak.“Where are you from?”I ask that of the blond who sits up abruptly, jerking against our mutual chain to do so, his pale eyes widening in surprise and near-delight.Or as close to it as he can get in this situation.
“You’re from the Overkingdom,” he says in a baritone voice that barely rises in the heat.
I nod as the Sunnish man frowns at me and then at his companion.
“You can understand her?”His confusion has me wincing internally.
“I can,” his companion says, frowning then.
“As can I.”They both exchange a look that has them turning toward me again.“I am Onu, once of Mino,” the Sunnish man says.
“Carrigan,” the blond says, “of Sarn.”
“Remi of Heald,” I say, falling short of my full name.There’s no love lost between my country and Sarn, after all, and though I admit to my homeland, Carrigan doesn’t need to know everything.
“Heald,” he says, eyes widening further.“I’m sorry, soldier.”
It’s a genuine apology, a kindness I’m not expecting, and I nod in return.“And you,” I say.Then turn to Onu.“You seem content with your fate?”
“This path is my destiny,” he says.“My mother fought, my father.I was born on the sands.But they only dreamed of the Sun God’s city, Remi, the Dominae far from the Domes of home.”I have no idea what any of that means, but he’s visibly excited by it.His dark eyes sparkle as he smiles, white teeth even and bright.Someone’s taken care of him all this time, made sure he kept his appeal, handsome and charming.“I have fought and proven myself finally worthy of the destiny I was born for.”
“I tried to tell him he’s worth far more than dying for someone else’s pleasure,” Carrigan says with tenderness that reminds me of Atlas.Then, speaks again.“Fight for you,” he points at Uno.“Nomasterre.”How strange that I hear both the same, though the second is heavily accented.It’s the dragon’s magic at work, but I’ll never explain it, I don’t think.
“And I’ve asked you,” Onu laughs, “what’s the difference between dying for a king on a battlefield compared to fighting under the eyes of the Sun God for glory andranan?”
