by Zara Starr
Gage shook his head. “You have already been released into my care. You are no longer a prize, you belong to me. The prize quarters are off-limits to you now, but I am allowed to go in there and collect your things.”
Amelia thought about it for a moment. She was about to say ‘no’ when she decided that there was something.
“Something different to wear,” she said. “Something not quite as revealing.”
Gage nodded, turned, and disappeared out of the locker room. Amelia didn’t know what to do, so she sat down on one of the benches and waited.
It felt like forever before Gage returned, but when he did, he had a pair of pants and a T-shirt for her. She was so glad – she hated being put on display like this, and at least he was allowing her to change. When he had taken her out to dinner, he had told her that he wanted her in skimpy clothing.
Maybe when they returned to wherever he lived, he would force her to wear clothing like that again. After all, she was under no illusion that she would have any kind of freedom with him.
But she would figure that out when they got there. Right now, she just wanted to get out of the gladiator dome.
After changing out of the ridiculous outfit she had worn until then, Gage led her through a couple of tunnels and suddenly, the door opened onto the parking area.
It was wonderful to be out in the open again, to breathe fresh air. It had been weeks since Amelia had been outside, and even though she had been able to move around quite a lot in the prize quarters, it hadn’t been the same. She took a deep breath, sucking the fresh air through her nose and letting it out slowly through her mouth.
Once again, just like when Gage had taken her to dinner, a black private transport pod arrived.
“Come,” Gage said, opening the door for her so that she could get into the pod, first. When he climbed in after her, he closed the door.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
“Home,” he answered.
The way he had said it had made her feel like she should be relieved – like she should feel something akin to happiness.
She leaned her head against his shoulder as they rode, waiting for the feelings to arrive, but they didn’t. She didn’t feel any kind of warmth, any kind of happiness. She struggled to recognize what she was feeling. It was something, it just wasn’t what Gage might expect her to be feeling.
Gage was a good guy. He treated her well when they were alone, even though he changed completely in front of the crowd. But it was a part of the game, she understood that. If she stayed with him, he would probably treat her well. He would dote on her, she had seen how he had been with her the night before the fight.
And Amelia did like him. Gage was very different from what she had thought at first, and she felt glad about that at least.
But home? This wasn’t home. Nothing on Saitha would ever be home. Her home was on Earth. Or, at least, it had been.
She had no idea what her future held, she had no idea if she would ever be able to return. The feelings of loss hit her like a brick wall. In a way, she felt numb. But underneath the surface, her emotions were all over the place.
Earth was her home. But as she considered the universe she had just discovered, she didn’t even know if she wanted to go back. At least, not immediately. After everything she had been through, Amelia felt like she had changed in many ways.
Now that she knew that the universe was so much bigger and so much more populated than she had ever thought, she realized that there was a lot out there that she wanted to explore.
She was a scientist. She could be the first human to document a thousand new alien species. She could do so much. She could further her career. She could become a scientist of real worth. And one day, she could return to Earth and tell them all she had discovered.
Whatever she decided to do, she knew that she couldn’t stay with Gage. Even if he wanted her to. Even if she felt that, in a way, she wanted it too.
She just couldn’t be a slave, belonging to someone as if she was nothing more than an object, as if she had no worth at all.
She wanted to be free. She wanted to do it all as a free person.
No matter if she thought Gage was good to her, she had to get away and win her freedom.
She had to escape as soon as possible.
Chapter Twenty
Gage
As they headed toward his mansion, Gage felt proud of himself. The human female was at his side. He had made it out of the fight with no more than a bruise. He had managed to win another tournament so his name was becoming bigger and bigger in the gladiator world, and the Saithin guards knew nothing of what had happened between him and Amelia the night before.
The fight had been fantastic. Enough entertainment that the crowd was anxious and cheering, the excitement so thick he had nearly choked on it. There had been times when he had been worried, but he had managed it well.
He had won, he had made it through just like before. Maybe it had been a little harder than usual. Maybe he had been slightly distracted, but it was all right, for everything had ended the way it should have.
For a moment, he thought about the Karzem fighter. He wondered if he had died from his wounds or if he would survive. He wondered if the damage was permanent, or if the gladiator would fight again. It made his chest twinge a bit. He loved the fight, but he never liked it when he had to kill his opponents. He hoped the gladiator had survived.
He shook the thoughts of the warrior from his mind. He never gave his opponents much thought after he had beaten them – he shouldn’t. After all, you didn’t look back, you only moved forward. It was the only way to grow.
He thought about his prize again, leaning against him with her head on his shoulder. He was deliriously happy that she belonged to him now. The last time he had won females, they hadn’t seemed too pleased to belong to him. After all, the slaves didn’t have choices in the matter. Many resented it.
But Amelia had wanted this. He understood why too. She didn’t want to remain at the gladiator dome. She wanted a life.
Her reason for wanting to go with him wasn’t exactly what he would have liked, but it still meant something to him that she had wished to belong to him.
Even though she had tried to use him, what they had felt when they had been together last night told him that things were going to be different with her. Everything was different with her, from the moment he had seen her.
Of course, Amelia wasn’t his only prize. The huge sum of Saithin currency wouldn’t hurt. He loved the myriad of prizes he won when he took the tournament, he liked expanding his positions, and he loved winning.
With how much money he had made so far, he didn’t need to do anything for money in order to live comfortably, not for a long time if he didn’t want to.
He didn’t even have to fight. Of course, he wasn’t just going give up, but he knew that it was his choice, and he relished in that fact. He was very aware that there were many creatures that didn’t have the choice to decide what they wanted to do.
He felt a little guilty that Amelia was listed under those creatures – that she was just a slave. But he knew that he would treat her as more than that. To him, she was more than that.
The transport pod arrived at his home. It was a shiny, black, domed mansion on the side of the cliff outside of the Saithin capital. He had purchased the place with his first season’s winnings, and he loved it.
There was something about his home that made him feel at ease, at peace. It was away from the hustle of the city, away from the urgent need to conquer all the time, as was the Saithin way. When he was home, when he wasn’t in his battle clothes, when he could just live his life, Gage was calm.
They landed in the hangar and he disarmed the security system. He motioned to Amelia, who was still waiting in the pod. She looked nervous, unsure of herself, and Gage wished that he could predict how she would react, read how she felt. He had started getting used to the fact that he couldn’t read her, but it
didn’t make it any easier.
“This is my home,” he said, taking her hand. She didn’t pull away from him and he was glad for that. Together, they stepped through the large front door.
He gave her a short tour of the mansion on the way to the room he had made up for her. It was decorated in red and black, the colors that he liked the most. Tasteful and dramatic, with a feminine touch thrown here and there.
“What do you think?” Gage asked.
He looked at her expectantly, hoping that she would like it.
“I like it,” she said.
Her tone wasn’t completely convincing, but seeing that Gage couldn’t predict what she thought and felt, he had to take her word for it. He struggled with that, quite a lot now that she seemed so different, so withdrawn.
At the gladiator dome, after her initial silence and hesitation, she had been confident all the time. So brave, even though she was just a slave. Had it been a lie? Was this the real Amelia?
He pushed back the thought. He would have plenty of time to get to know her better.
“If you want any changes made, you just need to ask. It will happen immediately.”
Amelia shook her head. “I don’t need you to make any changes. Thank you.”
Gage shook his head. “You don’t have to thank me.”
Amelia nodded. She was strangely quiet. Gage told himself that he wouldn’t worry too much about it. He couldn’t read her and he had to accept that. He had stopped trying to, even though it was frustrating. He knew that it wasn’t something that worked with her, and it was still intriguing.
Of course, Amelia had been through a lot, and he would allow her to adjust to her circumstances, to her surroundings. If, after a while, she was still withdrawn, he would start to worry. But for now, it was understandable.
“I will allow you to be alone,” he said. “I need to take the time to clean up, to put away my weapons, to unwind. I’ll give you a more thorough tour of the house once we’ve both freshened up.”
Amelia nodded, not saying anything. He left, closing the door behind him to allow her some peace as well.
He walked to the armory, stripped off his weapons, and put them away after cleaning them one by one. He took his time with the antimatter pistol, seeing that his favorite weapon had won him the fight.
While he cleaned, he ran over the battle in his mind again, wondering what he could have done differently. But everything had worked out right and Gage found that he wouldn’t have wanted to change anything at all.
After his weapons were all cleaned, he stepped into the shower and washed off the grime, the sweat, and the blood of the fight. His nose had not been broken, only knocked so that it had bled. The bruise on his jaw was a nice reminder of the fight that he had won.
For the rest of his body, he was untouched, and he felt triumphant because of it.
He dressed in white linen clothes, the clothes that always made him feel like he was coming down from his adrenaline high, and he walked outside.
He sat down on the grass, crossed his legs, and flipped his palms up on his knees. He closed his eyes and let out a deep breath.
For the first time in a long time, he was able to meditate, to focus on draining the aggression and violence from his system. His mind wasn’t distracted by Amelia, she didn’t have him worked up into a frenzy. She belonged to him now, she was right there, in his house, waiting.
He had won this tournament. He was a victor yet again.
And Amelia was his.
Everything was as it should be.
Chapter Twenty-One
Amelia
When Gage pulled the door closed behind him, clicking it into place, Amelia’s shoulder’s slumped.
So, that was how it was going to be then. It didn’t matter that Gage kept saying how much he was glad she was there, she was still a slave, a prisoner. It was clear in the way he had locked her in – as if she was a possession that had to stay put – as if he didn’t trust her to be free to move around the house.
Well, it wasn’t that he was wrong. The reason why Amelia had wanted Gage to choose her in the first place was so that she could escape the gladiator dome, so that she could have a better chance of escaping. She was just upset that Gage saw her as an object he could possess and nothing else.
The way he had treated her before, especially toward the end of the tournament, had made her believe that he saw more in her than just a slave. But she had been wrong, hadn’t she?
It wasn’t even that he had two faces, that he had allowed her to believe something untrue. It was simply about the fact that Gage believed in slavery, that he thought it was normal, and didn’t seem to think that there was anything wrong with owning Amelia. He had no ulterior motive, he was simply treating her the way he treated everything owned.
Amelia struggled with her emotions. She struggled to accept that this was her life now. From one gilded cage to another.
She shouldn’t have been so upset by it, but she couldn’t help herself. A storm of emotions raged inside of her and she tried to pull herself together. But it was difficult. She bawled her hands into fists, clenched her jaw, and tried not to burst out in tears. Or scream.
She had to keep her head. She had to focus on the next step instead of letting her emotions cripple her completely.
It was possible if she allowed her emotions to take over. Because she had started feeling something for Gage, something a lot more than she should have felt for the alien. God, she had been so ridiculous to allow her emotions to get away with her.
Amelia closed her eyes, turning her focus inward, trying to get a grip. She took long, slow breaths, in through her nose and out through her mouth. She focused on becoming calm so that she could think about her next step, so that she could plan her escape. She had to emotionally detach herself from Gage – even though it wasn’t going to be easy – and focus on what needed to be done.
Amelia wanted to get out of there. She wanted to leave. She wanted to go home.
Amelia wanted to escape back to the world where slavery was wrong, where free will was important, where she had rights and could make her own choices.
Earth was the only place she knew of for now, so that would be her aim, despite her earlier thoughts of exploring the universe. It wouldn’t be easy to get there, she was well aware of that, but she would do her best to try.
If she could only get away from the house, if she could get into the streets, she could plan her next move from there.
When Amelia opened her eyes again, she was determined. She had managed to push away her feelings of betrayal, she had managed to see Gage in the right light – as nothing but a jailer – at least for the time being. And she was now focused on escaping.
She looked around the room. It was a beautiful room. Tastefully decorated. Gage had obviously put a lot of time into this room being comfortable, even though it was a prison.
Amelia didn’t really care for the red and black decorations. She preferred earthy colors, something soft, fresh, and inviting rather than overpowering, like the color scheme in the room.
But when Gage had asked her if she wanted anything changed, she had told him that it was fine. Because the moment she tried to change the room she was in, make it something that she liked, it would mean that she accepted it as her space. She didn’t want to do that.
Amelia walked across the room, her feet sinking into the plush carpet that stretched from wall-to-wall. The room was spacious, with a large bed against the far wall and couches that were arranged in a small circle – very cozy, as if she would ever expect company. The curtains around the window were thick and dark, the material seemed like velvet. Amelia could imagine that when they were drawn, they would block out all light, day or night.
But it wasn’t the curtains that she wanted to pay too much attention to. Or anything else in the room. Amelia was focused on the window.
She stood in front of the large window – it stretched from ceiling to floor – and ran her ey
es along the edge of it. She was looking for a place where it would open. Surely, there would be a way to get fresh air into the room? But as she studied the window, her heart sank. It didn’t look like the window could open at all.
The view was spectacular, she had to admit that. The house seemed to be situated on the edge of the cliff, the window overlooking the valley with a sheer drop below and greenery and shrubbery beyond.
A beautiful view, but completely out of reach. Just like everything else.
No, when Amelia inspected the window more closely, she realized that it could open. There was a section that was slightly divided from the rest of it, although it was almost impossible to see.
The Saithin had technology that surpassed anything Amelia had ever heard of, and apparently, they had been able to allow the glass to split from each other without there being any lines or support.
Amelia pressed her hand against the glass, right next to what she imagined was a seam. When she pressed a little harder, a clicking sound had one panel of the glass slide open a little bit.
Excited, Amelia tried again, and the glass panel easily slid open.
It wasn’t a very large area that opened. It was clearly only for the sake of letting in fresh air, but Amelia might be able to slip through it. After all, she had a very slight frame, and she had always been teased by her friends for not being very tall.
Maybe it was going to count in her favor.
It was a little more difficult to get through the opening than Amelia had suspected. The opening was at the height of her torso, which meant that she didn’t have anywhere to stay unless she was going to step on the edge of the glass. And she was worried that it wouldn’t hold her weight, that it would break.
If she injured herself on cut glass now, it would make the whole plan to escape a lot harder. And if Gage heard the glass break and came in before she managed to get away, then her plans to escape would be thwarted completely. Gage wouldn’t allow her another opportunity once he realized what she was trying to do.