The Gladiator's Downfall

by Kristen Banet

  “We all need something to get started with, aye?”

  “Aye,” she repeated again, mystified by his generosity. She wrapped her hand around it again.

  “Also, I noticed ya never lost that pack. Ya got it onto the ship. I put it away. Thank ya for that.”

  “Nevyn trusted me with it.” She was still looking down at her fist in front of her, and thinking about what she held.

  “Aye. That’s what we do in the Company.”

  She nodded and held the coin to her chest, returning her gaze to the flying Andinna. They trusted each other, and he was saying that extended to her. They trusted her.

  And she could trust them.

  34

  Mave

  It was much later when she returned to her cabin, laughing about how Zayden had crashed into a wave when he didn’t judge the height right.

  “It was great. Just whacked right into it!” She threw her head back, the laughter so unrestrained, she thought she was mad for a moment.

  I’ve never laughed so much in my life. Why is it so funny? He could have been seriously hurt. She just kept chuckling, remembering how out of nowhere it was. Everything was fine and he’d been gliding, looking away from where he was going. They all watched him go straight into the swell.

  Rainev agreed, falling onto the other bed in her cabin. “I’m never letting him live it down. That was too good. He knows better than that. I had to shift and save him! Again!”

  Their laughter filled the room to the point that a thump hit the wall and Zayden could be heard cursing them from the next room.

  “Hey, Rain…” Matesh walked in last and pointed. “Go bunk with your dad tonight.”

  “Oh?” Mave raised her eyebrows at him. Why was he throwing Rain out on her? He didn’t get to decide if she was letting him stay the night. She did.

  “The rite to do the tatua requires privacy between the Blackblood and the Andinna. And nudity,” he explained. “That’s why I’m doing it, actually. Since we’ve…seen each other nude, and you know me better than the other Blackbloods in the Company. Rain doesn’t know the rite.”

  “Damn. You’re doing that right now?” Rain growled, leaning back on the wall.

  “You think she should wait to get what is owed to her?” Matesh crossed his arms.

  “No,” Rain mumbled, but didn’t move.

  Part of her felt bad for sending Rain out. A bigger part of her wanted him to hurry up and get out.

  “Go, Rain. I can’t wait any longer for this.” She went with honesty. She needed this. This piece of her that felt missing, this something that made her one of her people, accepted among them.

  “I’m going.” He sighed and got back off the bed. “I can’t wait to see them in the morning, illo amyr. I bet they’ll be lovely.”

  “Thank you, illi bodyr.”

  He closed the door behind him when he left, and she looked at Matesh nervously. “Nude?” She didn’t know why she needed to clarify.

  “Yeah.”

  She turned her back on him and began to strip. She wasn’t sure why she was so nervous now, or why she was stripping away from him like this. This felt ritualistic and odd. Not passionate, or the hurried rush to get to fucking. Just strip. It felt a little like when she whored as a gladiator, but she knew it wasn’t like that.

  She turned back around once she kicked off the pants. Matesh was nude as well, and he pulled two stools out from the corner and placed them in the center of the cabin, with two bowls in the middle. One was already full of water. A dagger was placed in the middle of the bowls, along with a small roll of bandages.

  “This…gets messy,” he whispered. “We’re doing it the proper way and not the temporary way. These will be emblazoned on your skin with magic and they will never leave or change, only be added to. These aren’t the ones the gladiators did to themselves to compensate for the lack of magic.”

  “Okay.”

  “Sit down,” he ordered quietly, gesturing to one of the stools. He sat on the other as she went to where he wanted. “I, Oldura Matesh Corva, will perform the rite of your coming of age on this night. Do you accept this, Maevana Lorren?”

  She didn’t like the use of her full name, but she noticed he used his own as well. Corva. A good last name, she thought.

  “I accept,” she replied, trying to make her voice strong.

  He lifted the dagger from the floor and cut open his left palm and squeezed a fist. His blood fell into the empty bowl.

  “I can only do so much at a time, so we’ll be repeating this next month when we arrive in Olost as well, and probably after that. I think your body has a lot of story to tell.” He smiled at her. “My uncle will be angry, but I’m going to do more than I should tonight. This will be enough to get to your chest as well.”

  “Thank you,” she whispered.

  “You deserve it,” he murmured back.

  He cut another slice on his left wrist and let that bleed too.

  “Won’t those scar?” she asked softly.

  “Yeah, but that’s fine. To do these, we’re taught to cut in the same place every time, so we’re not covered in scars. You’ll find similar cuts on my uncle’s hand and wrist. His right. He’s left-handed.”

  She nodded, watching the blood slowly fill the bowl. It didn’t seem like much, but he said it was enough and she believed him. She didn’t know how any of this worked, which only made her more nervous.

  Finally, he pressed the dagger to the wound and slowed the bleeding. It still dripped, but it no longer freely flowed. He put the dagger down and grabbed the small bandage roll, wrapping his wrist and hand lightly. He picked up the bowl of blood afterwards and stood up, moving closer to her.

  “Raise your face to me and close your eyes when you’re ready.”

  She looked up at him, rising above her like a statue of a god. He was a gorgeous male. She took in the sight, not wanting to close her eyes to it.

  “Mave.” He gave her an arrogant smirk and she closed her eyes immediately. Arrogant male.

  A second later, a small trickle hit her forehead - and it was hot. The blood, his blood. He whispered in Andena, something she hoped she would understand one day. Blood magic didn’t require words, he’d said, but maybe this was because it was a rite, blood magic for a specific purpose. The words were beautiful, and she let them flow around her as the blood, in strange patterns, ran across her face and down her neck onto her chest.

  He continued to speak and the blood heated up even more, nearly painful, almost like a brand. She clenched her teeth, but refused to move so she didn’t mess anything up. A hiss escaped from her, the only indication it hurt.

  “Growing up is painful,” he whispered. “Dunk your face forward.”

  She did and was relieved by the cool water. She pulled back and he grabbed the remaining bandages to wipe her chest gently.

  “You look beautiful,” he said. “Stunning. Would you like to see?”

  She found no words, just nodded. He walked to a small chest in the cabin and pulled out a handheld mirror. He held it before her and she couldn’t stop the gasp that left her lips.

  Black lines decorated her face around her eyes, harsh and bold in some areas, yet delicate in others, much like how she felt. She was a brutal warrior, yet insecure. It swirled and pointed in sharp ways, like something dangerous. They weren’t perfectly symmetrical, as her scar on the right cheek was now the same stark black. From it fell three pointed, bold lines. The black made her eyes stand out even more than they had before.

  For once, she believed those words. She was beautiful. She was an Andinna. She was a warrior.

  She was free.

  He tilted the mirror so she could see her neck and chest better. Her chest was bolder, delicate swirls and points and dots that met at a sharp point between her breasts, then flared again underneath them. It wrapped around them, bringing out the size of her chest.

  “Stunning,” he whispered again, putting the mirror down as she wiped her eyes.
He sat back on the stool across from her and she looked at him, unable to find words to show how much it meant to her that he had done this.

  So she gave up on words.

  She reached for him, leaving her stool to grab his face. She moved to straddle him as their lips met. A growl from deep in his chest told her that her affections would be returned. He grabbed her hips and pulled her closer to sit fully on his lap. She moaned at the feeling of his cock rubbing against her, ready and willing to take her and be taken.

  “Mave,” he growled out, running one of his hands from her hip, up her back, to the back of her neck. “Are you sure?”

  “Yes,” she purred, kissing him again. “What else could I possibly want after you and Rain destroyed my life? My awful, broken life. All with a few kind words and a chance.” She kissed him again, then sank her canines in his bottom lip. He snarled, moving her hips to grind against his erection.

  There was nothing else she could say. Everything she had ever known was gone. Everything she had ever earned and fought to keep was gone. Small gifts from them, ones they might not have realized they gave her, had turned into something she couldn’t turn back from.

  She might have fallen as the Champion of the Colosseum because of them, but she didn’t regret a moment of it.

  He moved a hand between her legs and she gasped as he sank a finger deep inside her, like they had done together before. She rode his hand like she wanted to ride his cock. His other hand stayed on the back of her neck, keeping her from moving away from him. He kissed her neck, his horns rubbing against her skin as he roamed, exploring her collarbones. His thumb pressed against that sensitive bud and she clutched his shoulders, her nails digging into his skin. His tail wrapped around hers to hold it in place.

  “Do you want it?” he asked softly. “Are you sure?”

  “Yes!” This time, she said it like a desperate plea.

  He removed his finger and grabbed her hips with both hands again. She moved as he dictated and felt the head of his cock pressing against her core. He didn’t force her to sink on it - she did that on her own, a long moan escaping her lips as she lowered down on him.

  Once she was fully seated, he wrapped an arm under her ass and stood up, pushing her back and wings against the wall between the beds.

  “I’m going to take you all night,” he whispered huskily, a dirty promise.

  “Good,” she murmured, looking into his emerald green eyes.

  His hands moved again, to squeeze her ass and he pulled out, nearly all the way. Then he shoved back in and she saw stars.

  She wrapped her arms around his neck and held on as he pushed into her, thrusting at a relentless pace. It felt like an eternity since they had last touched each other and this was them finally, hurriedly taking the chance before something else could rip them apart or stop them from doing the deed.

  Her wings were crushed to the wall behind her, but she didn’t mind as her world was entirely focused on the male pushing her to an edge she hadn’t been able to find in years.

  “Don’t stop,” she demanded. “Harder, please!”

  She wanted it strong like she knew he was, with no holding back. He snarled back, seeming happy to please. He pulled her off the wall and dropped her on a bed. Her ass hung off and he grabbed her hips, staying between her legs. He was back in her with a solid thrust, and that drove her over, screaming his name, her hands trailing down his abs, gloriously toned and maintained not for vanity, but because he was a warrior in his prime, everything she found attractive and wanted.

  He just kept thrusting as she came, leaning over her as he continued. He was tireless as he drove her viciously to another peak.

  She pulled him down further, ignoring how their horns clashed, and she bit into his shoulder, breaking the skin as she screamed on him, that second orgasm even more shattering than the first.

  He roared, that male Andinna sound of victory, and thrust several more times, so hard she found it nearly painful - and yet still loved it - then he came as well, sending hot streams deep in her.

  She kept hold of him as the world returned to them. He panted and groaned as she removed her teeth. She shamelessly licked the blood off him as well, making him growl.

  “That…is the most sensual thing I’ve ever seen.” He lifted up and pulled out of her slowly. For the first time in her life, she missed a male’s presence there when it was over. Normally, she couldn’t wait for them to get out. Now she just wanted him to come back.

  “Did you mean all night?” she asked softly, moving up on the small bed. It wouldn’t fit both of them without some effort. She figured they could make it work, though, if she stayed pressed up against that hard body she enjoyed so much.

  “I don’t lie to females,” he crooned, that arrogant smirk coming back.

  She’d hoped that would be his answer.

  35

  Luykas

  Luykas leaned back and hit his head on the wall. Again.

  He should have known this was going to happen. Well, he had known it was going to happen, but he didn’t expect the bond to be so strong. He glanced down to see his rock-hard cock begging for a release.

  Again. Not like it hadn’t already had two.

  Then again, it was just reacting to Mave’s pleasure pouring through him. She was getting hot and busy with Matesh.

  All. Fucking. Night.

  Luykas had a feeling he wouldn’t be getting any sleep for the entire trip to Olost. Or ever again.

  He wasn’t even in his bed. He was hiding in the cargo hold, below everyone, where his brother couldn’t realize something was wrong. He’d done a bit of sorcery as he’d made the blood bond so that Mave wasn’t constantly bombarded by his feelings. It had been the only thing he could think of to make it easier on her, since she didn’t agree to it.

  He should have done it to both of them, but he didn’t have the time and there was no going back now. He also wondered if doing it for her made it worse for him. Their heartbeats were synchronized, and he was flooded with everything she felt. Not her emotions themselves, thankfully, but her physical signs. He would know when she was in pain, stiff, or sore. He would know when she was getting the best pleasure of her life. He was going to live through a reflection of all of those things.

  It made things incredibly weird, since he barely knew the female and was feeling just a portion of what she was. Even with just a portion, he was rock hard.

  “Fuck me.” He hit his head on the wall again. Thankfully, his horns didn’t hit the wall as well or he would have punctured a hole in the ship already.

  I did this to myself. If Alchan knew, he would be laughing at my misfortune.

  He grabbed his cock and began to work it, trying not to consider exactly what he was doing. He just needed to get it out of the way and hope he could pass out before the next round. He was fucking impressed with Matesh in that moment. That male didn’t know how to keep it down, it seemed.

  He finished quickly, something he thanked the Skies for. He was exhausted and just wanted a moment’s rest. He should have gotten some sleep earlier. He should have figured those two would start up, having done the rite for her tatua nude, as was dictated by Andinna customs.

  He put himself away and groaned at the mess. He had brought down a cloth, knowing this was what he’d be doing. He cleaned up and left the cargo hold to go back up to his shared cabin with Alchan.

  “Luykas, we need to talk.”

  Luykas turned to Leshaun before he was able to get inside his cabin. The old male was in the dining area, sitting on a stool at the table. Luykas bit back annoyance and went to the older Andinna and sat across from him.

  “I’m going to ask you nicely to make this fast. I’m tired, run ragged, and just want to find peace and sleep in my bed.”

  “What you did would have gotten you seen by a Council if we were still in Anden.”

  “Which part of what I did? Using blood magic to strengthen sorcery so that we could race through our enemies without
serious casualties? Or forcing a blood bond on a female so that I could push the sorceress out of her mind that would have haunted her and tried to control her for the rest of her life?” Luykas ran a hand through his hair. “Leshaun, I do things you hate so that everyone here lives through the day. I’m willing to take the anger of our gods for that. I’m willing to take the anger of the Elvasi gods for it too. We’ve been fighting against the Empire for a thousand years. Once, this company was forty males strong. Now look at us. If anyone dies, someone is losing something important, and Kian didn’t even join us on this one. Alchan and I forced him to stay home with his wife and the rest of her mayara.”

  “I wanted to say I’m sorry for being so angry with you,” Leshaun whispered, sounding weak and tired himself. Luykas sat up a little straighter. “I don’t like what you do, but I promised you when I joined the Company that I wouldn’t question you. I wasn’t so angry about the sorcery and blood magic. You’ve done that countless times, and while taboo, I also think it’s ingenious. You blood bonding to her…you changed something about it, didn’t you?”

  “I can feel her, like any blood bond should, but she can’t feel me,” he answered. “I only had time to bind that spell in the bond once. I chose to protect her and deal with shit on my own. It’s been a rough night.”

  “I’ve…heard,” Leshaun replied diplomatically. “I think everyone has.”

  “I’m happy for them, certainly. To find each other in a place like the pits is astounding. I’m just…overloaded by it. I need to find a way to separate her from me a little. Luckily, the emotional connection is only brought through touch - but the physical…I figured it would be good to know when she’s in pain. I didn’t realize it applied to pleasure.”

  “Why do you think that Varon and Nevyn blood bonded?” Leshaun raised an eyebrow. “I believe they redo it every five hundred years to keep it strong.”

  “Fuck,” he groaned. “I don’t look at her like that. I just wanted to repay the debt.”