Chapter XXX #3
It killed her to admit it. He dangled freedom in front of her, same as all the other men, but with one difference that changed everything.
He’d never asked her for anything. Instead, he’d been the one giving, sacrificing for her.
Caring for her despite her barbs and armor.
Delivering her atta’s ring when he could have kept it for himself.
If there was any reason to trust him, it was for these actions, and yet—Trust. Such an easy thing to give when she shouldn’t.
And now? When he’d never once given her a reason not to, why did her voice stick in her throat?
She managed to nod.
He let out a breath, as if he’d been holding it, and the corners of his mouth turned up in a cautious smile. “Good. Remember that.”
She opened her mouth to ask why, and at that moment the door burst open. Four ludus guards rushed inside. Felix stepped away from her. Adel twisted around to see who they were carrying in, but their hands were empty. Two went for Felix.
“I’m in the middle of—” His protest was cut off as the guards wrenched his arms behind his back. “What are you doing?”
Hands clamped around Adel’s arms and yanked her off the operating table before she could voice a question of her own. Pain jolted through her thigh.
“Jovan will speak with you two.”
“He could have simply asked,” Felix grunted.
They hauled him outside first, Adel trotting to keep up with the guards on either side of her.
The dangling needle tapped against her knee with each step.
She should have known Jovan would be angry.
Demand an answer for her inexplicable victory.
But to take Felix too? Was he in trouble for warning her?
“Brutus, what is going on?”
“I don’t know, . I’m only doing my job.”
They marched around the courtyard and into Jovan’s office, where he stood with Blandus Albus.
If Jovan looked pale, Albus looked as if he’d slit their throats and think nothing of it.
The guards released them and left them standing side by side before the ludus owner and the lanista, as if they were children ready for a scolding. Or worse.
“What have you done?” Jovan asked, as if the wind had been knocked from his chest.
Anger surged through her. A rich question coming from the two men who had set her up to fail, or die, this very afternoon. She might have exploded had Felix not spoken first.
“What have I done? You’re the one who dragged me here like a criminal. You might have come and talked to me, or sent a messenger.” He adjusted his tunic, tucked it into his belt. Adel had never thought him one to care about his appearance.
“We’ve lost a great deal today.” Blandus Albus smacked a codex on the desk.
“A great deal,” Jovan echoed. “And after all I admonished, you still went against me. Spit upon everything I have worked for. Everything I have tried to do for you.”
“What do you mean?”
“I gave you a chance, Felix. And you threw it back in my face today.”
“How so?”
“Do you deny your part in the ’s victory?”
“Victory sounds like a good thing.”
Blandus Albus crossed his arms. “One of the magistri saw you with her before her match. Did you give her a potion? Tell her about the sword?”
Felix was silent.
“Well? Do you deny it?”
He lifted his chin. “I did not give her a potion.” He was calm.
Too calm. “But I do not deny telling her of the sword, nor do I regret my action. Adel has earned you more than your share of profits, and for you to turn on her is despicable. Set her free if you wish her gone, but do not use her like this.”
“Adel?” Jovan faltered, pressing a palm into the desktop in a way that betrayed his shock.
“Use her like what?” Albus sneered. “Like a barbarian slave? That is her lot. I bought her, and she owes me this.”
Adel sucked in a breath.
“She’s earned her slave price a hundred times over and you know it.” Felix narrowed his eyes.
“I lost a fortune today, because of her!” Blandus Albus roared.
“If you have lost a fortune, it is your own fault,” Adel spat. “I did everything you ever asked of me and still you denied the one thing you promised—”
“Know your place, woman, and be silent!” Jovan shouted, spinning on her.
Her whole body went hot with fury. “You said you would make me a magister—”
At this Jovan threw his head back and laughed.
“And you were foolish enough to believe it. Look around you.” He threw out a hand as if to offer a view of something other than a male-dominated office.
“Have you known a woman to have such a position? If you have believed such nonsense, that is on your own stupid head. Speak again and I’ll have you gagged. ”
“You are despic—”
Jovan flicked his wrist and another hand swung around from behind, clamping over her mouth with bruising force and pressing the back of her head against a solid chest. She flailed and kicked, only stilling when a knife flashed, resting against her throat in cold threat.
“Stop.” Felix reached for the knife and was hauled back by the other guards.
“This school is in shambles after today and you are both to blame,” Blandus Albus growled. “I’ll be lucky to recover a tenth of what I lost.”
Felix grunted as the guard wrenched his arms behind his back. “It sounds like you underestimated her skill in the arena.”
“As you underestimate my ability to ensure this ludus is secure.” Blandus Albus settled back, suddenly calm, as if his anger had been snuffed out as easily as a lamp. “Did you think I would not know that you had stolen my fighters from beneath my nose?”
Fear struck the center of Adel’s chest, though Felix merely frowned. “What are you talking about?”
“Do you deny hiring body-bearers to carry out that louse-ridden gladiatrix alive? Two witnesses say the body was breathing.”
“That is impossible. She was dead. I gave you her heart.”
“And yet, I have a witness who says they saw you accepting a pig heart from a monk. Will you deny it?” Blandus Albus asked. “Did you do the same with my Gaul?”
Felix lifted his chin and said nothing, the gesture defiant and not sorry at all.
Jovan erupted like Vesuvius. A quiver, a quake, and then the explosion.
“You were an investment, supposed to be a loyal asset to the ludus. Generations of our family have run this ludus and you have betrayed us all—and for what? A barbarian slave?” He rounded the desk and drew back a practiced fist that met Felix’s face in a sickening thud.
“Traitor,” Jovan spat. “I told you before, when investments fail, we cut them loose. The curse of Hades fall on you for this treachery.”
“He’ll answer to more than Hades,” Blandus Albus added. “Wait until Emperor Honorius hears of this. You love these slaves so much?” He leveled a glare at Felix. “You can join them.”