Seduced by the Gladiator(84)

“I will give you two choices, and I ask which one you will choose.” Nerves began to worry at my belly. Viola crowded in close to my side. “One. You will be granted your freedom.”

My heart leapt—freedom! The chance to be with Christus, to make a life with him.

That was too easy, and I knew it.

“You will have freedom, but you will be forced to live apart from your love. You will never see him again.” Christus growled low in his throat, and I felt like doing the same.

I did not appreciate the threat of separation, not even by the emperor himself.

The emperor raised his eyebrow at the growl. “I have not said that this will happen, gladiators. I am merely posing a riddle.”

“Two. You may remain together for as long as either of you live, but you will return to the ludus and to your dominus.”

“Oh, that is dreadful.” Viola covered her hand with her mouth as soon as she had spoken. The emperor looked at her with his eyebrows raised, surprised by her outburst. She looked down at her feet, abashed, then raised her chin defiantly as an afterthought.

“Why would you do such a thing? What does it matter to you?” Viola was clearly upset as she rubbed a hand over her belly in agitated circles.

I held my breath. Oh, what had she done? She had spoken so far out of turn, the emperor would not be condemned for ordering her execution.

Instead he seemed intrigued by her boldness, as he had been by mine earlier. “Calm yourself, child.” Though the emperor himself was young, Viola could not have been more than half of his age.

I saw his eyes linger on the curve of Viola’s belly, and wondered if he suspected, as I did, that the child was of his blood.

He turned to Christus and me, and his expression was stern.

“I require an answer to my question.”

Opening my mouth to speak, I found that the words froze on my lips. I knew what my decision would be in a beat of the heart, but I suddenly needed to hear Christus speak first.

What if his feelings faded in the face of freedom? I would not blame him for the choice.

No, I would not blame him, though it would rend my heart in two.

“Have you ever been in love, Your Imperial Majesty?” Christus had been quiet for much of the time that we had been walking with the emperor, allowing me to do most of the talking. Now he looked the man straight in the eyes, and I saw the ferocity of the gladiator who had fought for my life reflected there.

The emperor seemed somewhat taken aback, but he had his answer at the ready. “No. I have not.”

“I thought not.” The words Christus spoke were cool. “If you had ever loved a woman, truly loved one, then you would know that there is but one choice. A life with freedom, but without your love, is not a life at all.”

Warmth flooded through me. He chose me. Christus chose me. Even when we returned to the ludus, we would be together.

The lips of the emperor were twitching, and I rather thought that he was trying to repress a smile. “Your answer is the same, Lilia the fierce?”

“Without question.” I wished, very much wished, that we were not in a public market. I wished to demonstrate my love for Christus right at that moment, and I rubbed my thighs together in an attempt to assuage the ache.

The emperor tilted his head up, looked at the sky, at the gray clouds that continued to swirl through it. The rain that had been threatening to pour began to sprinkle down on us, like a gift from the gods. When he had finished contemplating whatever it was he thought of, he turned to Viola.

He surprised us all when he placed a very, very gentle hand on the curve of her stomach.

“And you, my dear. Where do you wish to go?”

Viola’s eyes darted left, then right, to me and Christus, to the emperor, and back to me. I could see that she was completely overwhelmed by the question.

I knew, from things that she had told me, that she had never been asked a question like that in her life.

“I wish to go with Lilia, wherever she goes.” I felt a strange thump in the vicinity of my heart. “Even if you send her back to the ludus—which you should not—I would go and serve in the house there. She is the first person who has ever shown me kindness.” Again startled by her outburst, she ducked her head, mumbling the last. “If you would have me, of course.”

“Hmm.” The emperor regarded each of us in turn. When his eyes fell on me, I saw why the man had such fervent followers.

His eyes were magnetic, pulling those around him ever closer.

“I have made my decision.” Without warning, the emperor began to walk again. With a sidelong glance at Christus, then at Viola, who regarded me with wide eyes, we followed.

We had no other choice, after all.