Chapter Fourteen

VICTOR

“You performed well, Master Custodis.”

I strode behind the servant on bare feet. A silent Runa padded at my side. She’d had little to say since we’d left the pit. Nor had she met my eyes.

“Yes, I did.” It was a good performance. One full of grace and refinement. No doubt the other competitors were eager to pick my bones clean after that display.

I cast a sideways glance at the sorceress. Did Runa find my presentation appealing? I’d felt her eyes on me. Her heated gaze prodded me to greater heights. I’d strived for mediocre but couldn’t bring myself to perform so dismally in front of the woman who’d once held me captive.

“Here we are,” Milani said. “Gamma cell’s bathing chamber.”

Before us was a pool worthy of the ancient Greeks.

In the center, there was a large, sunken expanse of steaming water.

From the tiled walls, gurgling streams emerged in gentle waterfalls for those who preferred a cascade.

Bubbling nooks waited to soothe aching muscles.

In those secluded hideaways, I noted several writhing couples.

Runa’s head swiveled in the same direction, and her indrawn breath whistled in my ears.

I resisted the urge to study her expression. What would I find there? Shock? Arousal? I wondered strictly from an intellectual standpoint, of course. After all, now we were partners, I needed to understand the nature of who I worked with.

Milani turned to us. “Tomorrow, you will face your first trial.” The baleful gleam in her rounded eyes hinted she didn’t expect to see us again. “Tonight, you shall rest and rejuvenate. In the morning, I will assist you with your costumes.”

“Costumes?” Runa asked, breaking her uncomfortable silence.

“Why, yes.” Though it seemed impossible, the servant’s eyes grew larger. “During the Fallen Trials, contestants are presented before the king, his most honored lords, and leaders from other kingdoms. It’s important that you represent Carcerem in a favorable light.”

“Favorable light? Ha!” Runa scoffed. “Then maybe he shouldn’t have selected his competitors from the realm’s dungeons.”

“But who else among us would have the most reason to survive, representing Carcerem’s undying spirit?” Milani asked, her expression bordering on fanatic. Another one of Idris’s fans, no doubt.

I met Runa’s eyes. With that look, we held a wordless conversation. Both of us agreeing—the servant’s ignorance was astounding.

At the realization that we’d begun to speak without speaking, an act reserved for those who were far more intimate, spiders crawled through my insides. While I’d admit I found the sorceress attractive, she was merely a means to an end. The tool that would enable my return home .

“Fine garments, lavish bathhouses—these kinds of luxuries are wasted on criminals,” I informed them.

Runa snorted an inelegant sound, then turned a gaze of longing to the heated pool before us. “Shut up, vampire. Though tomorrow we may perish, tonight we live .”

I imagined the little thief had never experienced such luxury. I scoffed, turning to express as much, only to find Milani helping the sorceress disrobe.

Cultured gentleman that I was, I failed to notice how the servant drew the coarse tunic over the sorceress’s head, revealing her lean torso and creamy expanse of flesh.

The way her generous breasts swelled over the top of the plain fabric band containing them.

I also paid no mind when her leggings soon followed, sliding down her shapely thighs.

Thighs that were toned from her time on a horse and yet still supple.

Nor did I care about the simple undergarments she wore, the coarse fabric cut high enough to bare her generous cheeks.

Sweat trickled down my temple, my blood heating. Did they have to keep it so warm in here?

“Master Custodis?” I blinked as if awakening from a trance to find Milani standing before me. The reality of my actions struck me. What was I doing? Ogling the chit was beneath me. What was I, an animal? I looked up, noting others appreciating the same sight.

Filthy ingrates. Perhaps I’d pluck their eyes from their skulls. Deep in my chest, a low rumble emerged. I tensed at the odd show of emotion. Was that a…growl? Surely not. It was this place. It was doing something to me. While I struggled to unravel my reaction, Runa waded into the water.

“Shall I assist you?” Milani asked.

“Quickly,” I ordered, not wanting to let Runa out of my sight. Who knew what kind of mischief the sorceress might find without my supervision?

In moments, Milani had me out of my sandy clothing. Unlike Runa, I stripped down to bare skin. Why not? My physique was flawless. Despite all the battles I’d fought over the years, not a single scar marred my flesh.

Liquid warmth encased my toes. I stepped deeper into the pool, taking a moment to note Runa’s direction.

Our eyes collided. The sorceress’s gaze slid over me in a heated caress. Across my chest, down my defined abs, then lower to my stiffening shaft, which seemed to have developed a mind of its own.

Traitorous bastard . My body reacted as if she’d reached out and stroked me.

Smirk pulling at her full lips, Runa raised her eyes to mine and quirked a challenging brow.

A challenge my cock was all too eager to answer. What the hell was with this place? Was there something in the water? My control was better than this. I hurried deeper until the water covered my hips.

Runa led the way to a small alcove and submerged herself in the steaming bath. Bubbles shot from the walls, and I sat beside her. Jets pummeled my back, relaxing my muscles. Elbows propped on the ledge behind her, Runa let out a moan.

Twitch. Twitch.

Curse my rebellious shaft.

“By the fates, that’s delightful,” she purred. “I believe I have sand in places I didn’t know existed.”

I clenched my jaw, refusing to notice the way her position thrust out her breasts.

When I failed to respond, she angled me a glance. “Why so tense, vampire? Worried you’ll be sullied by the bathwater of honest criminals?”

“Honest,” I snorted.

She narrowed her catlike eyes. “Not everything is as it appears on the surface, you know. Aristocrats are always so quick to judge. ”

“Or perhaps things are exactly as they seem. Lie, steal, cheat, plunge a knife into someone’s heart, you’re a criminal.”

“And you’ve never lied, stolen, cheated, or killed?”

I fought a smile. “Never.”

Runa barked a laugh, the sound erupting like bubbles in the finest of champagne.

She tilted her delicate chin, peering down her nose at me.

“You know, you’re not the only one with a silver tongue.

While speaking with some of our competitors, I learned that Reuben stole food to feed his family.

Dexter accidentally dropped a lantern and was convicted of arson.

And Adolph attempted to free his ailing mother from debtor’s prison and was captured.

There are many here who are more than criminals. ”

“I suppose you’ll say you are one of them. That you are wrongly accused. A generous outlaw stealing for the good of others.”

“Oh, no.” She grinned. “I’m guilty as sin. The worst this place has ever seen.”

My lips curled. “Yes, you are.”

Again, her laughter had my insides twisting. I tensed my stomach, quelling the reaction. This female, this thief, shouldn’t have this kind of effect on me or any effect at all, for that matter.

In rebuttal, I uttered a disappointed sigh.

“Your opinion of the others is rather naive. Reuben killed the shopkeeper and two of his customers in his endeavor. Dexter razed a building containing his ex-wife and her new lover. Adolph gutted a guard who had three children while rescuing his drug-addicted mother.”

Runa sank deeper into the water. “It’s all in your perspective, I suppose.”

Given her casual response, she hadn’t believed a word of my lies. Interesting. There were few capable of seeing through my manipulations.

Feet scuffed behind us, and I tensed .

“May I help you with your bath, Master Custodis?” Milani asked.

Of course, the simple-minded servant would want to touch me.

I glanced in Runa’s direction, finding the narrow glare she directed at the other woman amusing.

Could it be my partner didn’t appreciate the servant’s attention?

Perhaps she was annoyed at witnessing proof that I was, in fact, irresistible to the opposite sex?

“Yes, by all means,” I said with a flutter of my hand.

Two slim legs hit the water flanking me. Milani sat on the ledge, placing my frame in the cradle of her thighs.

“I selected a special fragrance for you. One I’m certain you will enjoy.”

“Very well,” I agreed absently.

Sudsy hands caressed my upper back, Milani’s fingertips kneading my flesh.

I had to admit it felt divine. “Harder,” I groaned, and the brownie complied.

Heat seared the side of my face. The source—Runa’s daggered glare.

Finished with my shoulders, the servant guided my head back to rest in her lap, then proceeded to bathe my chest. While I found her ministrations relaxing, her honey and wheat fragrance singed my nostrils. She smelled nothing like the sorceress’s spicy fragrance of pears and cinnamon.

With my upper body spotless, Milani trailed a hand up the inside of her thigh. “If you’d like, Master Custodis, it would be my honor to nourish you before your first challenge.”

She offered her femoral? It had been a while since I’d fed in such an intimate fashion. The effects were known to be rather orgasmic. However, the thought of Runa watching me while I fed from the woman held a certain appeal. Before I could utter a word, Runa shot upright in the water.

“That will be enough, Milani. ”

“But—”

“You are excused,” she snapped.

“Yes, Mistress Runa,” the servant whined, withdrawing from the water and slapping away on sodden feet.

Rather than resume her relaxing soak, the sorceress exited the pool and settled behind me as Milani had. One shapely calf on either side of me.

I tensed, expecting to feel her slim fingers wrap around my neck.

Twitch. Twitch.

Bloody hell.

“What are you doing?” I asked, my voice a husky, grating sound.

“Tending to you, oh, fierce and mighty warrior.” She slapped a sudsy cloth on my back, making me flinch. “Does this not please you?”

Twitch . Not at all. “I do find it pleasing when those beneath me know their place,” I dared to taunt. Soapy fabric smacked my face, and I whipped the offending cloth away. Fire stung my eyeballs, and I tilted my head back at Runa.

“Do you have an issue with the servant tending to me?” I asked, genuinely curious as to her response.

Runa sputtered. “No, well, yes, but no.” She stiffened. “Of course, I have a problem with people being treated like slaves.”

“And yet, you allowed her to assist you too.”

“That’s different.”

“Is it?”

“Men are such idiots, desiring women who will wait on them hand and foot.”

“You think this is what I desire?” I had no interest in brainless simpletons. In the past, I’d courted educated females with impeccable bloodlines and solid social standings. If our liaison would further my own agenda, all the better. Females who were nothing like the little thief .

“Don’t you? Shall I wash your hair next, oh, mighty lord?” Runa simpered, resuming her role.

“Absolutely not.” I’d no desire to have it yanked from the roots.

“Don’t you trust me?” she purred.

“Have you given me a reason?”

“You don’t trust me, and yet you let that female sit at your back.”

“The servant wasn’t a threat.” Runa, however…

Angry fingers threaded through my damp hair and pulled. Lips brushing my ear, Runa snarled, “And now that I am sitting behind you, what does that make me? Friend or foe?”

It was an excellent question. One I shouldn’t answer.

Instead, I angled my chin, offering the sorceress my throat. “You tell me. Do your worst, little thief. If you dare.”

Strangely, it was both an insult and a compliment. I’d little concern the minx would kill me. After all, we had an accord. Runa was many things. Foolish wasn’t one of them. I had something she needed.

Twitch . Fates, save me. Not you!

For a moment, the sorceress seemed to consider my offer, and something deep inside quivered, eagerly awaiting her response.

With an angry splash of her legs, Runa slapped her hands down on my head and shoved.

Water sloshed over me in a deluge, shooting up my nostrils and burning my sinuses. I surfaced with a roar to find my attacker storming away. I studied the furious swish of the sorceress’s generous hips, not hating the view.

Despite my anger at being dunked, a smile cracked my lips. I couldn’t remember a time when I’d had this much fun while my life hung in the balance.