Seduced by the Gladiator(40)

I looked to the doctore for help—though he smelled of wine, he still seemed sober enough, and I had no one else to appeal to.

His eyes were pained, but his expression was set as he gestured into the room with a nod of his head. He could do nothing either.

I was alone and at the mercy of this stranger.

“I said, come here.” Slowly, I walked across the room, each step measured, as if it would prevent the inevitable. But no matter how slowly I moved, soon I was standing directly in front of the man who, though I had never met him, terrified me.

At first I kept my eyes on the ground—I did not want to look at this man. At the last moment, though, the steel that had made me the most successful gladiator in the ludus snapped into my spine.

I would not let this man see that I feared him. I would show him how strong I was—I would show him that I myself was someone to fear.

“Oh.” The sound escaped my lips before I could help it. I had not gotten a good look at the man during the brief moment in which I had seen him in his litter. He was an incredibly attractive man, with hair the color of sunshine, eyes as blue as the sea, and a frame that was smooth and unlined, likely from lack of hard work.

Far younger than I had anticipated, he was slender yet toned, and while I was used to staring at male bodies that had been sculpted from never-ending physical labor, I saw how he could appeal.

Saw the appeal, that is, until I looked right into those guileless blue eyes. There I found the relentlessness, the evil that I had sensed, that had me fearing him.

I wanted to turn, to run, but I did neither, instead standing my ground and continuing to stare him in the eye, though it was a rude and disrespectful gesture for a slave to make.

“I knew that you could not be the mouse you seemed a moment ago.” His voice seemed to contain amusement, but if I listened hard enough, there was an edge of calm that was unnatural and frightening.

I said nothing, retreating into myself, pretending that only my body was there in the room. It was a way to cope that had worked for me before.

From behind me I heard the gentle splash of water from the baths that lay just beyond yet another open door. Feminine giggles followed the sounds of the wet, and within moments two women that I had never before seen returned to the couch on which Gaius sat. One had long red curls, damp from the bath, and the other a fall of raven black. Both were very young and very beautiful.

Both were high on opium, incredibly naked, and completely unashamed of it.

“I have wanted to make the acquaintance of the female gladiator who has been the darling of Rome for a very, very long time.” The man’s eyes were on me as he gestured with his hand to the women. Giggling, the one with hair the color of fire untied the fastenings of his expensive-looking toga, pulling the material away from his body, revealing his cock, which was half erect.

I still said nothing, and he purred low in his throat. I was disgusted that my lack of response seemed to have pleased him.

“We have not been formerly introduced, my dear.” Reaching over as casually as if he were plucking an apple from a tree, Gaius fisted his hand in the redhead’s hair and pulled viciously. She cried out, but it was a cry of pleasure that turned my stomach.

She went eagerly as he pulled her head down to his lap. Her rosy mouth encircled his cock and suckled him deep.

The only pleasure that he displayed was a soft smile.

My entire body began to flush with shame. I knew that something humiliating was coming, and I could do nothing to stop it.

“I wanted to meet you before formerly inviting you to participate in my games.” There were undertones in the man’s voice that I could not fully comprehend. He had something planned for me, but I could not fathom how or why.

“Enough.” Gaius spoke to the redhead as he shoved her away from his cock, hard. Reaching toward the other woman, he pulled her to his lap with rough fingers. Once she was seated on his knees, he spat into his hands, then rubbed it into the crease of her buttocks.

Nausea roiled in my belly as he pulled her back, positioned his cock, and thrust up, hard. A cry escaped from her lips, and a grunt from his, as he sheathed himself in her ass, pulled back, and thrust again.

“I hear that the men of the brotherhood fear your cunt, Lilia.” Anger washed over me, mixed in with the fear. I knew that I was being deliberately provoked, led into something, but could not see my way clearly. As always, I went with the fair answer, the only right one, for me, at least.

“I have worked hard to make sure that this is so.” Flashes of Bavarius moved through my mind with the speed of a waterfall, and I bared my teeth before I could think twice. “I was weak once. Now any man who touches me without my permission will find his cock removed from his body at the touch of my sword.”