The Champion Read Online Free PDF Page A

than human. To ask him for anything was an affront to her kind’s belief in her own superiority. He recognized the signs well. Other than his loving family, people had always looked down on him. First for being a poor farmer’s son, then for his life as a slave-turned-gladiator. He waited, his expression placid and betraying none of his desire to toss her into the street. If not for his esteem for her cousins, he wouldn’t hesitate.
    “What will it be?” he asked, losing patience when she remained silent. “I’m expected at the arena. I have business to attend to.”
    She raised her chin and attempted to look down her sharp nose at him. “I have several trusted slaves waiting for me outside. I’ll have them search the house and grounds.”
    “I’ll inform my steward,” he said, pleased she’dtaken the bait. Once she left to gather her people, Velus appeared in the doorway, his round face flushed, his breathing labored. “Is all well with you, Velus? You look as though you’ve run the marathon.”
    The steward ambled into the room and closed the door behind him. “Everything is as it should be, master.”
    “Excellent. Where did you take Tibi?”
    “I’ve sent her to the arena.”
    Alexius’s heart stopped. “You did
what
?”
    Velus blanched, obviously realizing he’d made a rare misstep. “I thought she’d be well-protected with your men. I gave her slave’s garb and made Darius responsible for keeping her safe. No one in her family will suspect she’s there.”
    “How could you possibly think that beautiful girl would be safe surrounded by men who plan to face death within hours?” Alexius grabbed a
gladius
from the display of weapons on the far wall and ran for the back of the house. He was shaking with fury and a sickening, unfamiliar sensation he could only equate to fear.
    Outside in the courtyard, he called for his horse and vaulted into the saddle the moment his slave delivered the gray stallion.
    Velus arrived on the doorstep, wringing his stubby hands.
    “See to the shrew,” Alexius ordered over his shoulder as he spurred the horse through the gates.
And if the gods have any mercy, I’ll see to her sister before my men do.
    “Don’t be afraid,” said Darius, the young, ginger-haired gladiator trainer Velus had charged to ensureTibi’s protection. Rather than calming her, Darius’s warning served to raise her anxiety as she followed Alexius’s troupe through the torch-lit path leading into the dank underbelly of the Coliseum.
    “The competitors from the other
ludi
are slaves for the most part,” Darius continued. “They’re shackled and weaponless until moments before they’re armed and released to fight in the arena. If one of them escapes and
happens
to notice you’re a woman he wishes to molest, we’ll keep you safe.”
    His dubious tone suggested such an event was as likely as the arena crumbling around them. Convinced that any slave given the option of running for freedom or ravishing her meager charms would choose freedom every time, Tibi tried to relax and reminded herself that she was here by choice. Although the circumstances were less than ideal, a few hours in the protective custody of gladiators were preferable to a lifetime of servitude to a goddess she didn’t believe in.
    Unable to see through the wall of burly warriors encircling her, Tibi tugged the cowl of her dark wool cloak more tightly around her face. The distant roar of lions and the clang of metal against metal echoed in the passageway, competing with the thunderous din of the crowd that bled down the stairwells from the upper levels.
    In the staging area, pandemonium reigned. The noise of hundreds of men and beasts reverberated through the cavernous space. Air whooshed through huge bellows, stoking fires used not only for light but for blacksmiths forging hasty repairs on a variety of iron weapons. Big cats—lions, tigers, spotted leopards—prowled in cages stacked against the pitted concrete