Page 51 of Black Sea

I gave in as well. After removing my boots, I fell back on the pillow, closing my eyes to enjoy the wave of well-being that spread through my tense body. Amlach was right: It was truly nice to lie down on a bed again.

However, I couldn’t relax. As each second passed, my anger only grew stronger.

For millennia, I’d dreamed of finally finding the mate meant for me and no longer having to spend even a single night alone in my bed.

And now I was sharing it with a human. A person who had nothing to do with me, with whom I could never have a future.

Why had the Spirits drawn such a cruel and lonely path for me?

“Could you stop breathing like a dragon about to breathe fire?” Amlach said, already sleepy.

“No,” I growled, hating myself for the urge to turn toward him and wrap my leg around his hip, moving closer until my body was pressed against his.

“Great,” he grumbled, hugging his pillow.

I watched the curve of his biceps, thinking back at how they had contracted with each blow he had delivered to the guards.

Imagining them bulging up as, kneeling between my legs, he held me steady by the hips and . . .

“Come on, Elf,” Amlach whispered in a tenderer tone.

I blushed violently, fearing that I had been caught in the middle of my forbidden fantasy, but his eyes were closed.

“It’s not so bad here,” he added with a little smile.

That’s when I saw that some strands of my hair were on his pillow, and Amlach was rubbing one between his thumb and forefinger. So slowly, with kindness.

I was supposed to tell him to stop, that my hair was not his to stroke. But I didn’t.

Instead, I watched his face until I noticed he had fallen asleep. Then, finally calm, with my breathing synchronized to his, I closed my eyes and surrendered to sleep.

30

A shower of white petals gently caressed our bare arms and gathered at our feet as we paraded beneath the tunnel of semi-transparent red fabrics, stretched between one balcony and another, alongside the other gladiators and their Masters. The crowd lining the streets cheered for their favorites, urging them to show no mercy.

The kids were fascinated by Amlach and me. They kept asking me to show them my ears, while demanding of him whether he was a giant. A little girl trotted toward me with a yellow rose in her tiny hands, but her mother grabbed her before she could hand it to me, giving me a frightened glance before retreating into the crowd with her daughter in tears, holding her close to her chest.

I turned to see Master Roxior, who was sprawled on the pillows in his litter carried by four sturdy slaves, following us. I caught his gaze through the thin curtains hanging from the litter’s roof.

Today, he would position us on the chessboard to make his enemies see that the time for his revenge had finally arrived, and it would be brutal and relentless.

Today, I would officially become a puppet. I would fight to survive. I would defeat anyone who came against me.

But I would never, ever be an assassin.

Amlach’s little finger brushed against mine. Our eyes met briefly, then I shifted my focus to the two Roxior’s guards leading us in the parade.

Surrounded by the scarlet light and the scent of roses mingling with the crowd’s smell of sweat, we arrived at the roots of the massive Rubra arena.

Dug into a red granite hill, it featured multiple entry tunnels at the base, where citizens lined up to pay. I tilted my head back to gaze at the natural pinnacles atop the walls, feeling infinitely small before that structure radiating death.

Roxior’s soldiers led us to one of the final entrances. The litter was set down on the ground, and the Master, dressed in a cerulean toga, jeweled with gold and sapphires and wearing black pigment around his eyes, emerged from it with very little grace. He entered the arena, and we followed with the guards behind us.

Just before crossing the arch, I saw a gladiator lingering with his Mistress near the tunnel to my left. His physique was so slender that he seemed disproportionate, and the sun beating down on his black skin made it look almost liquid.

He noticed I was looking at him and grinned with a smile that made me shiver, as his white teeth were unnaturally sharp, resembling a shark’s.

Amlach grabbed me by the elbow and pulled me over the entrance.