Page 41 of Once a Villain (Only a Monster #3)

him with a short sword, and the man slumped. As he did, though, the gladiator himself was struck in the leg by a thrown knife.

Apparently, some of these humans were armed.

Nick twitched, clearly wanting to intervene. But he couldn’t do anything from in here. “I have to get into the arena.” He hadn’t put the gladiator clothes on yet, but he already looked like one—he had the same dangerous

strength.

“If we keep going around this curve”—Jamie pointed left—“we’ll reach some big open arches in about a minute. That’s where

they drag the bodies in from the field.”

“Too visible,” Tom said. “And he’d have no shelter.”

“And we’re too far from Eleanor,” Joan added. Fear was high in her throat, but she forced herself to consider the options.

She turned to Nick. “If you go in that way, you’d have to fight through that whole battlefield to get to her.” He’d have to

make it through all that scenery and the river obstacle. “The chamber we were in earlier...” It had been much closer. “I can use my power to break open the

wall into the arena there.”

“Still too visible,” Tom said.

“We don’t have time for the Grave power!” Ruth said. “ Look. ” She pointed at the jagged-edged tear in the air. It seemed to be growing even as they watched—more with every new death.

“Wait—” Jamie interrupted them. “I have an idea.”

He darted out, and they hurried after him as he navigated the maze of chambers with ease. Within a couple of minutes, he’d

brought them to an empty chamber off an obscure corridor. It was the level below the arena—windowless and dim.

There was a platform here—one of the large ones—with a wagon still on it, the caged sides lying on the ground. Together, they

dragged the wagon from the platform, clearing it.

“This is the closest launching room to the imperial box,” Jamie said. “You’ll come up among the scenery, north of their model Thames. You need to go now ,” he added. “I can feel the tear even from here. I think the timeline’s about to hit the tipping point. If we don’t—”

Joan held up a hand to stop him. She’d heard something close by.

Jamie mouthed a question, and then his eyes widened as he heard it too. People were walking this way.

Joan tiptoed to the chamber door and risked a quick look. She pulled back. Guards , she mouthed. She held up eight fingers to the others. There was nowhere to hide but behind the door, and they wouldn’t all

fit.

Tom squared his shoulders.

“ No! ” Jamie breathed as Tom walked out into the corridor. Before anyone could stop him, he scrambled after Tom.

And now there was room behind the door. Joan, Ruth, and Nick shuffled into the small space. Joan’s heart was in her throat.

After a minute, a guard said, “ Hey! ”, sounding startled. “Where did you two come from? Where are your credentials?”

I’ll handle it! Ruth mouthed to Joan. As Joan moved to stop her, Ruth whispered into Joan’s ear, as stern as Joan had ever heard her: “Stay

here! If they catch you, they might kill you—you’re human!” Ruth peered around the door and slipped out of the room too—presumably

choosing a moment when the guards weren’t looking. She marched up the corridor. “Where’s the bathroom?” she said loudly. “That

guy just sent three of us down here, and we’ve been walking for ages .” She sounded so irritated that none of the guards replied immediately.

Joan clenched her hands into fists, wishing it were her out there. She and Nick were still crammed behind the door, Nick a solid wall at her back.

“ Who sent you down here?” the first guard said.

“Oh, just escort them out.” Joan could almost hear the second guard’s eye roll.

“But what are they doing down here? No one should be down here!”

“Who cares?”

“I’ll escort them,” the more sympathetic guard said.

Joan tensed. A long beat went by, and another beat. When there was no more conversation, she risked a quick look around the

door. The corridor was empty. They’d all left. Now it was just her and Nick.

“All clear,” she whispered to him.

He visibly released the breath he’d been holding. “Let’s do this, then,” he whispered back.

He sorted through the gladiator clothes he’d retrieved: a short leather skirt and tunic. Joan glimpsed his trousers coming

off, and quickly turned to the elevator controls, heat rising to her face.

They still hadn’t kissed in this timeline, but ever since that night in the garden, it had been coming. Joan felt electricity

rush through her every time he looked at her. Every time they touched.

It hit her now that this might be their last moment alone together. She swallowed hard, tears burning the backs of her eyes

as she tightened the scabbard around her waist and looked over the levers and buttons next to the platform.

She felt rather than heard Nick moving closer, and turned. “Oh,” she heard herself say stupidly. Her mouth was suddenly dry.

He stood in front of her, dark hair tousled, a short sword buckled to his own side. The gladiator outfit should have seemed

like a costume, but it didn’t. The leather was slightly worn, and the whole thing fit him like a glove. He looked like a hero

of old.

He took another step, and they were breathing the same air, his hands cupping her waist. Joan tilted her face up, heart pattering.

She could sense Nick’s desperation—as strong as hers. His eyes burned into hers as she tilted her face up for the kiss.

His hands tightened around her waist, but instead of kissing her as she knew they both wanted, he gave her an odd, apologetic

smile—just a twist of his mouth—and he moved her gently backward, as if guiding her in a dance, steadying her as she tripped

and stumbled over something.

“Nick?” she said uncertainly.

He touched something close to the ground and jumped back. Joan lunged after him instinctively, but not fast enough. She gasped

in fright as caged walls sprang up around her, as a low ceiling shut her in. He’d put her in the wagon. In the cage.

“What are you doing ?” She grabbed the cage bars, shaking them as the other humans had, but they wouldn’t budge for her either.

Nick’s eyes were gentle on hers. “I know what you were planning. You were going to come up with me.” He gestured to the sword

at her waist. “I couldn’t let you do that.”

Joan could taste unshed tears at the back of her throat. She hadn’t said a word about that, but it was true. Her plan had been to join him up there. “Let me help you,” she whispered. “ Please. ”

His hands folded over hers where she was clutching at the bars, and he leaned his head against the cage as if needing to be

closer to her. “I’m the only one who can kill her. And I can . I can do this. But not if you’re up there with me. I wouldn’t be able to think of anything else but protecting you.”

She felt a tear fall. “I don’t want you to be alone.”

“We’ll be together soon,” Nick said hoarsely. “We’ll take the timeline back, and then we’ll have all the time in the world

together. After this.”

Then he did kiss her—through the bars, urgently and passionately, as if he wanted to do nothing else. Joan kissed him back just as desperately.

As she’d wanted to kiss him in the garden.

Joan couldn’t breathe—she didn’t want to. She didn’t want anything but to feel the slide of his mouth against hers. She could

hear her own soft sounds as the kiss sent sparks through her whole body. Could hear his uneven breaths in response.

“I love you,” she whispered against his lips.

A sound tore from his throat, and he deepened the kiss for just a moment before shifting, reluctantly, back. He didn’t take

his dark eyes off her as he stepped onto the platform and pulled the lever to make it rise. “I love you ,” he said.

He tugged on a metal mask to conceal his face, and then he was gone, sealed from view by the platform.