Total pages in book: 22
Estimated words: 20872 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 104(@200wpm)___ 83(@250wpm)___ 70(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 20872 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 104(@200wpm)___ 83(@250wpm)___ 70(@300wpm)
“But today,” the announcer continues in his booming voice, “our beloved gladiator has a trio of opponents who would have Mars himself throwing down his weapons and begging for mercy. General Gaius has searched the wildlands of Afri and brought back the fiercest warriors and the most savage of beasts.”
I kick the sand as my mind wanders back to Elovissa. I groan as I remember the excitement in her eyes as she stroked my long spear. When I return tonight, I’ll return all of the pleasure that she gave me, and then some. I want to see my Venus shivering with lust as I bury my face between her legs to taste her sweet nectar.
“Esteemed General Gaius Agricola, leader of the Southern armies, along with your Emperor, Vespasius, are pleased to give you, the trio of terror!”
I roll my head to the side as the large doors open with a heavy groan. I’ve seen so many things come out of that door, that I’m not worried one bit.
Not now that I’m fighting for my Elovissa. My Venus. My muse.
I’ll cut through anything presented in front of me if it meant getting home to her and her ripe little virgin body.
The crowd roars as three dark men walk into the arena holding chains. At the end of each chain is a beast I’ve seen only once before. It was my seventh or eighth match in the arena. Afterward, I learned they were called hyenas. Their jaws can snap a man’s bone with one bite, but they die just as easily with the plunge of a sword.
I grip the handle of my sword as the three men begin to circle around me, their hungry wild beasts snapping and pulling at their chains to get to my sweaty flesh.
With Elovissa’s name on my lips and the image of her slender body on my mind, I grip my sword and get to work.
I must look like an animal as I walk back to my cell with the blood of my fallen opponents drying on my body.
The beasts were easy to slay, but the men put up a fight that would make Mars proud. Unfortunately for them, my sword was quicker, my wits stronger.
And my will—fortified by my virgin muse—was impenetrable.
“Great fight, Kaeso,” the guard says with a grin as I pass him. “I won ten silver denarii. Enough to take my girl out on the town. Anything I can do for you?”
“Remove the men from the baths,” I say as I walk to my cell. “I want privacy.”
“Your wish is my command,” he says as he sprints past me to empty it, unlocking my cell along the way.
I suck in a breath as I stand at the iron bars, watching my love sleeping on the bed. She’s curled up under the blankets and the serene peaceful sight of her washes the adrenaline of battle away. In its place comes a loving warmth so sweet that it brings water to my eyes.
The creek of the iron door opening awakens her and she sits up with a gasp. My hands squeeze into fists, hating that this ripe beauty is wracked by fear of men. I’ll spend the rest of my unworthy life instilling a sense of safety and love inside her to replace that angst.
Her eyes widen with a different kind of fear when she sees me. “You’re hurt?”
She jumps out of bed and is in front of me at once, examining my body for wounds.
“It’s the spilled blood of my opponents,” I whisper to her, watching as she takes my big arm and turns it around to check for any gashes underneath. There’s nothing there but solid unyielding muscle. “I am not hurt. The only pain I experienced was the pain in my heart from being so far from you.”
Her soft sleepy green eyes make their way up to mine and my heart wrenches around in my mighty chest like a thrashing beast.
“Come,” she says as she takes my wrist in her tiny hands. “Let me wash this off you.”
I let her guide me to the baths where we’re alone once again. The waterfall is roaring as it surges out of the rock wall into the warm baths below.
My Elovissa is a true enchantress. So pure and innocent that she could bring the gods themselves to their knees.
I gaze down at her pristine angelic face, loving that she has a wild untamed personality to match.
Her tiny fingers being to work on the straps of the leather armor strapped to my forearm, pulling and sliding it until the manicae slips free and falls to the cold wet stone under our feet.
I get a chill on my hot sweaty skin as she runs her fingertips up my forearm, making sure that every bit of me is intact.
This woman already feels like home. And for a slave like me, being sold and dragged across the Empire multiple times over the years, that’s saying a lot.