Page 25 of Gladiator's Captive

“Good girl,” Rager whispered, then placed a single, soft kiss on my forehead. “I won’t be long.”

With this, Rager withdrew his hold on my chin and straightened. The loss of the contact made me lock my jaw and it was all I could do to stop myself from crying as Rager’s broad back disappeared.

As I sat alone in the dark, it all came washing up over me. All the fear, all the loneliness that had been burdening my life up to the moment the Muharib gladiator dragged me over the balustrade. It drowned me, deprived the air of oxygen.

Then, finally alone with my fear, I wept.

Chapter Thirteen

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Serena

I stopped crying as abruptly as I had started when I heard voices coming from somewhere in the distance. Rager would have been able to tell where and from how far, but all I could tell was that they were male and two.

Soldiers.

My face felt numb with fear as I crawled to the edge of the boulders, looking out. The desert was barren and cold, but with the light blue dawn light, I clearly saw them. Two Imperial Guards, as I feared. But there was something odd about them, about the way their uniforms seemed ripped and worn at the elbows. About the way they shifted their gazes around every so often.

Then I understood.

Those are not Imperial Guards, but deserters.

This meant my father had kept his word and that no one was coming after us. Those were just criminals looking for a place to lie low. It should be reassuring, but it wasn’t. Because Rager was already inside the outpost. Vulnerable.

“All that money,” the first one said. “We’re set for life.”

“Shut your yap,” the second guard answered, but there was an undertone of excitement in his voice that made my skin crawl. “We don’t even know if Tartarus is this way.”

“I told you my source is legit,” the first guard retorted, somewhat irritated. “We’ll go there, then get off Valcan for good. No one will come find us past the mountains. Another day is all it will take.”

I tensed, listening intently. What were they talking about?

“You better be right, Setius, ‘cause if we ever go back to Villea, we’re sure to end up in the arena as fucking fodder for Arenius’ wild beasts.”

The guards walked fast, holding their weapons high and at the ready. Too soon, they disappeared behind a bend in the rocks, still holding the long, deadly prods that were the Imperial Guard’s standard issue.