Page 12 of Gladiator's Captive
Serena
“Do what you must.” I lifted my chin, forced myself to meet his dark gaze. There was nothing showing in Rager’s face, not a trace of emotion as he stared down on me. “I only demand you make it quick and painless.”
“What are you talking about, little girl?” Rager frowned with confusion, then understanding made its way in his eyes. “You think I will kill you because you cannot walk?” Surprise made way to anger in his face, turning the masculine alien features into a fearsome mask.
“I should.” There was a tremor in those eyes, a glint of violence and madness, a hatred so deep-seated, my heart bled. “I should make you pay for what your father did to me. What he did to so many others.”
I held Rager’s gaze, the reflective irises as unreadable as mirrors. My lips were sealed. I wouldn’t have been able to speak even if I’d known what to say to save my life. Time suspended as I held the alien’s gaze, all the suffering endured by my father’s gladiators coming back to my mind like a flood. All those people, all those massacres in the arena.
“You’re right.” My voice rang in the dawn’s air, surprisingly clear. Not a trace of tears remaining. “You should kill me.”
A tic agitated the corner of one of Rager’s eyes, the only sign betraying the emotions that brewed under the surface. Tension ran along the naked, broad shoulders and just for a moment, I wasn’t scared anymore. Then it was over and fear ran through my veins, renewed and stronger than before. I’d seen what Rager could do, knew how many other lives those hands had taken. Mine would be nothing more than a drop in a sea of blood.
Rager took another step, his body hovering so close I could feel the heat of his skin in the air. He looked down on me with emotionless eyes, his prominent cheekbones almost hiding his eyes from view. His muscled chest glowed under a fine layer of sweat, the only trace of exhaustion showing on his body after hours of running.
“I am what your father made me. A killer, a gladiator.” His tone was flat, empty. Those beautiful eyes were on me and that hard mouth twisted with what I could only interpret as disgust. “But I am not a monster to murder a defenseless woman.”
The words hung in the air, full of hidden meaning. Rager was right. I had assumed he would kill me without a second thought, but I had been wrong. He wasn’t the killing machine people saw in the arena. But if Rager wasn’t the monster I thought he was, then what was he?
“I was wrong to think that of you.” I whispered, a sudden shame burning my cheeks. “I am sorry.”
“You should be.” Harsh, cutting words from hard, fleshy lips. “But as sorry as you are, you still can’t walk and we’re still too close to your father’s home for my comfort.”
“You’re going to leave me here, then.” I nodded, despising the whiny, fearful tone of my voice. This far out in the desert and crippled, I was as good as dead anyway. He was simply not going to dirty his hands.
“Don’t tempt me.”
There was something in the Muharib’s expression. Something cruel and severe that had nothing to do with the violence of the arena, and everything to do with the way he seemed to be in total control of himself and in total command of me. That intensity, that utter dominance stirred something, deep in my belly. I pushed it down as soon as the sensation grew.
I wasn’t stupid enough to defy him now. Not when he offered me a chance to live, even if it was just a glimpse. I cast a wide glance around, peeling my eyes away from the gladiator through sheer willpower. The desert was endless, vast and unforgiving. We were so far already, I had no idea where home was.
I was doomed with Rager. I was doomed without Rager.
There’s no getting out of this. My only hope is to stay alive long enough to find a way to escape.
This meant I had to get a grip if I wanted even a glimpse of hope to survive. And I really did want to survive. I had to make him talk, to get him to trust me enough to get the information I would need to seize my chance. There would not be many opportunities to slip between those big, strong fingers, I was sure of that.
“Is that your plan?” I lifted my chin and did my best not to appear as terrified as I felt. “Run into the desert until we both collapse? I didn’t take you for the suicidal type.”
Rager looked down on me with a closed-off expression, then shook his head.
“You don’t need to worry yourself about my plans.” Rager scanned the desert, his eyes reflecting the light. Seeing things I didn’t see, clues in the landscape, hope where there was none. “All you need to know is that I will keep you safe as long as your father holds his side of our deal.”
“But where are we going?” I insisted. Even though I had no power over it, I was reluctant to go further into the desert than I already was. “There is nothing out there.”
Again, Rager turned his face to the desert, but this time, his expression was full of longing. I watched, guilt immediately biting into me despite the situation. Freedom was out there for him, far from the arena and its constant massacres. Far from my father. Far from the world that saw me as a citizen and him as nothing more than an animal.
“There’s a Galactic Imperial outpost about five miles from here.” Rager pointed somewhere over the horizon, but all I saw was endless desert. “It’s been abandoned for years, but it’s going to keep us safe for the day. Dawn will be there in a few hours. We’ll travel again when night falls.”
“How do you know?” My head pounded, agony spreading in a steady pulse. My mouth felt like sandpaper and the very idea of water made me try to swallow down my parched throat, but I refrained from complaining. Rager wasn’t hurting me and I didn’t want to give him any reason to.
“All you need to know is that I do.” Then that gaze set on me with a resolve that made my bones cringe. “Now, if you know what’s good for you, you will stop questioning me.”
How will I ever escape him? He’s stronger than me, faster than me, and he knows how to kill with his bare hands.
Rager didn’t say it, but the hard, cold look in his eyes was clear. Rager wouldn’t hesitate. He had already killed hundreds; what more was a single woman’s life, especially one who was the daughter of the man who had enslaved him for ten years?
As Rager allowed me time to recover, turning his attention to the desert, I couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something I didn’t understand. Something that would explain everything.
