Gladiator Read Online Free PDF Page A

are. The monster who ordered the massacre of women and the enslavement of children. I have no qualms about ending your life right now. Now let her go.”
    She clutched at her throat and he slung her hard against the prison door. Veronica coughed and spluttered, gasping for breath. “Fine. Have it your way. But know this. You could have been free for one simple act. You chose the wrong side, Tristan Shane.”
    “Guards! Bring her!”
    As the guards approached, dragging Alex between them, Veronica’s eyes never left him. But he didn’t care. He’d been charged by his wife to let Alex protect him. He knew if he were to ever make the past right he would have to honor his vow to Alexandra.
    “Step away from the door.”
    The guards approached Tristan. He took Alex from them and lifted her up in his arms. Her body was completely limp. Her nose was bleeding and there were electrical burn marks all over her skin. Her face was bruised, and her throat bore purple fingermarks. He felt winded. Veronica was nothing if not sadistic.
    As the cell door banged shut behind the guards, Veronica asked, “Aren’t you going to ask me why I had this done to her?”
    Tristan ignored her. He carefully laid Alex on the bed and smoothed her hair from her face. Veronica sniffed. He laid a gentle hand to Alexandra’s cheek and joined her on the bed. She moaned as she stirred.
    “Shh, be still. You’re hurt.”
    “How is it that such a simpering idiot can inspire such loyalty?”
    “Because she isn’t looking to rule the world. She’s looking to heal it.”
    Veronica said coldly, “The world is going to die sooner or later. And because of her insistence on siding with the slaves she will die before the sun’s light goes out.”
    He looked to the jealous woman he had ravished so often and said, “As long as I breathe, so will she. And as long as she breathes, the masses revile you. They will turn on you. Maybe not at first, but if you do kill her, they will deem her a martyr. And then, you will have to deal with me. I may be angry and broken, but I’m not a lost soul seeking to survive. Not any more. If she dies I will have my vengeance, no matter what the cost.”
    “ Guards ! Enjoy your time with her. As fleeting as it is. Because when she goes, you will be mine to do with as I please.”
    Alex murmured, “I’m sorry…I’m sorry…I’m sorry…”
    The bile pooling in his gut was hard to quell. “Go. Now.”
    “Or what? You’ll kill me?” She tittered.
    Tristan placed a hand at Alex’s stomach and she groaned in pain. He looked at her and saw his dying wife there in her place. “If you don’t go now, Veronica, I swear I’ll paint the walls with your blood.”
    “Oooo I just love it when you talk dirty to me.” Alex began to chant—and Veronica doubled over in agony. Tears rolled down her cheeks. “Enjoy her now. You never know when your time will be up.”
    The guards made a chair with their hands, lifted Veronica up and carried her out of the bowels of the prison. Alex began to shiver violently. Discharging power when she was so weak had drained her.
    Tristan lay by her and pulled a blanket over them both. He cuddled her close and pressed his lips to her forehead. “Hang in there Alexandra. You’re going to make it out of here. I promise I’ll get you out if it’s the last thing I do.”
    She wept and held him so close their bodies were as one.
    “I promise you I’ll do everything in my power to find your children,” she whispered.
    His heart ached. “Don’t talk. You need to heal.”
    “I feel them out there.”
    “Shh.”
    She was silent. He was grateful. Dealing with the thought of his children suffering overwhelmed him. Knowing what had happened to females under Seymour Law made him nauseous.
    He touched her stomach again and she groaned. “What did they do to you?”
    “They tried to make sure I never reproduced.”
    “If you’re the Prophecy, then why do your children matter?”
    “They want to