Page 18 of What Fury Brings (Wrath and Fury #1)

“He was the first man we allowed to join our ranks. He worked so hard to be competitive with the women. Put on an enormous amount of muscle so he’d stand a chance. And now he’s given it all up for some affection and her money.”

“Why do you care?”

“First, because you’re going to take harder hits than I anticipated. And second, when you beat him, Andrastus—and you are going to beat him—Glenaerys will punish him in ways I cannot save him from.”

He knew that feeling all too well. How many times had the king hurt his mother or siblings with Sanos helpless but to watch?

He mentally shook himself. He wasn’t going to find kinship with this woman. They were not the same.

“I still don’t understand why you’re worried for a man.”

Amarran women treated men as their playthings. Why should she be so concerned?

“Because I’m responsible for my soldiers. And just because some in my kingdom are demeaning and degrading toward men, do not think for a moment I am one of them.”

Sanos looked pointedly at his swollen wrists.

“You are the exception, as you continue to be difficult.” She bent to oil up his legs next. “I thought Athon a friend, but Glen has turned him against me, just as she’s done with everything else. I suspect it won’t be long before she tries to come for you, too. But she can’t have you. You’re mine.”

The hands on his skin suddenly felt different. Hotter , most prominently. That heat started to travel upward.

No.

He was naked, and he refused to become aroused for this entire crowd to see.

“Can’t I oil myself up?”

“With this many people looking? Not a chance. We have a show to put on. We’re supposed to be already fucking.”

She really should not say that word while she had her hands on him and he was naked .

Desperate now, Sanos tried to find some sort of topic change.

“You said I would beat him. I didn’t realize you had such faith in me.”

She stood and walked behind him to tend to his back.

“You said you were a fighter, and I can’t afford to lose in front of the entire country.

So, yes, you’re going to win, because there is no other option.

I have the popularity vote of the people.

Glenaerys knows it. This was a desperate play to garner more of their favor.

” She paused. “How much training, exactly, have you had?”

“Swordplay and wrestling every day of my life for as long as I can remember.”

“How often do you win?”

“There is only one man who has beaten me in recent years.”

“Your father or your brother Sanos?”

The pause perhaps lasted longer than he should have let it. He’d slipped up. He was rumored to be one of the best fighters in his kingdom. Being better than Sanos would be an outrageous claim for Andrastus.

“My father,” he said carefully. “I let Sanos win because to not do so would have drastic results.”

“I see. Men and their fragile egos. The crown prince cannot have his younger brother besting him. What will the world think?”

“Precisely.”

A pause. “I may hate the man entirely, but Atalius is a masterful fighter. If he’s taught you half of what he knows, I’m eager to see you fight.”

He hated the praise heaped upon his father, even though she gave it begrudgingly. Almost as much as he hated making himself seem like a spoiled brat.

And then she said, “You may yet redeem yourself for allowing me to walk off with you out of your own kingdom.”

He scowled even though she couldn’t see it from behind him. “In the past, I’ve never had cause to worry for my life at brothels.”

She said nothing in response, so he continued. “You shouldn’t have taken me from there, you know. The whores will likely be put to death for aiding you. There’s no way you managed to pull that off without the assistance of the madam.”

Olerra moved her fingers up to his neck. “Then I suppose it’s a good thing I paid them each a small fortune and moved the lot of them to Amarra.”

He rounded on her. “What?”

She grabbed his forearm before continuing her ministrations. “They were a few hours behind us on the road. I gave Madam Blanchette enough vyra to poison every man in the brothel. Then she and the girls were escorted by palace staff all the way here to start new lives.”

He didn’t know whether to be impressed or livid.

“You uprooted the best brothel in Brutus? Just picked it up and moved it here?”

“I doubt Madam Blanchette still runs the brothel. The women now have other options, and the business wouldn’t be nearly as lucrative here.”

“Why?” he demanded, his incredulity rising with every new revelation.

“Because most of the clientele are differre women. Amarran brothels are mostly full of male prostitutes and the occasional madae and madereo.”

He went quiet. Even if he escaped and made it home, Blanchette’s was gone forever. His brothers would murder him for this. He would murder her for this—if her other crimes against him hadn’t been enough cause for it, this one surely was.

She stepped close, and he had to force himself to remain still under the threat of her proximity. “Remember your fear when you thought I might give you that toxin and take you against your will?”

He blinked.

“Imagine allowing others to touch you being the only way to scrape out a living. You men in Brutus are pigs, denying women their own land. Their own money most of the time. Women who have no men to look after them must sell their bodies to them instead. Is that the way you would have it?”

“They like being whores!” he protested.

“They’re paid to act like they like it. Would you have such a fun time sticking your cock inside them if they looked miserable the whole time?”

“You act all high and mighty, when your men are forced into that life here. It is the same.”

She said, so quietly he almost missed it, “Perhaps it shouldn’t be.” But then she said, in her usual tone, “We didn’t choose this. Your sex did. My society is a result of the crimes of men.”

“What does that mean?”

Her eyes narrowed. “I tried to give you history lessons on the road. You refused to listen. Now enough talk.”

Sanos leaped forward when he felt her hands on his ass.

“I suppose next you’ll need to sluice up my cock?” he asked bitterly.

“Only if you think your competitor will try to grab you by it?”

“What the hell kind of wrestling is this?”

“The kind meant for female enjoyment. Now, get out there and don’t get yourself hurt.”

She slapped his ass before he could walk toward the center stage, and the crowd went wild again.

Sanos wanted to turn and glare at her, but he realized a moment later that she was putting on a show.

They needed to appear to be fucking for her sake.

He needed to be housebroken to secure her throne.

So he could eventually be allowed to go home.

And apparently the first real course of action he was to take toward that goal was to wrestle another man almost twice his size, while naked.

There were stones laid into the shape of a circle at the bottom of the amphitheater. Soft mats spread over the center. At least if he fell, he wouldn’t break something. No, any breaking would come from the large man opposite him.

“Are you ready, Athon?” the eunuch overseer asked. Sanos recognized him from the palace.

“Yeah,” the man barked in return.

“Prince Andrastus, are you ready?”

Up close, Sanos registered that Athon was a foot taller, a truly impressive feat considering he himself was over six feet. His competitor’s muscles were godly, almost unsightly with the way they bulged off his skin. He was covered in scars, earned from sword nicks and battle wounds.

Still, he said, “I’m ready,” to the overseer.

“No biting or going for the groin,” the eunuch announced. “Anything else is fair game.” He held both hands high in the air before dropping them.

Athon lunged.