Love of the Gladiator (Affairs of the Arena Book 2) Read Online Free Page A

women into gladiatrices. If you falter, I will work you. If you fail, I will drop your carcass into the sea. And if you succeed, I shall be the first to hold you up.”
    He grinned wickedly then.
    “It is my hope that you ladies take great pleasure in training. I certainly do.”
    Gwenn's heart sang. She would compete as a gladiator. And she would earn herself a legend, just as her father had years before.
    Murus unloaded a bundle of training swords on the sands before them. As Gwenn picked up her sword, she smiled—and she did not stop.

Chapter 5
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    T he women took up arms and began hacking at training posts in the sands. Their forms were laughable, and so Lucius laughed. He was joined by one of his retiarii, Ajax.
    “Do you think their breasts will get in the way?” asked Ajax. “I think they will. I think that one there, the busty one? I don’t think she’ll be able to swing around her tits come time for the arena.”
    “Maybe she’ll smother her opponent with them,” suggested Lucius. “I’d pay to watch that.”
    The retiarii should have been training—and Lucius should have been ordering it so. But Murus was occupied with ordering the gladiatrices about, and shortly after Murus’s speech, Porcia left.
    So, much discipline was lost. All the gladiators were stunned at what they saw. It was if they witnessed a bear talking. Maybe at some point the idea would normalize, but for now the sight of women training on the sands was unequal in the staggering madness of it all.
    Ajax and Perseus, a secutor, were regular drinking friends of Lucius. “Friends” in the sense that he drank, and they drank, and they did this together more often than not.
    Since arriving at the ludus more than a year before, the two had been on a winning streak a mile long. When they fought together in competitions of two against two, they were unstoppable. Lucius liked to attribute some of that success to his own work as Ajax’s doctore. It was from these two where Lucius got much of his regular wine. Winners had certain privileges, and drinking freely was among them—so long as it did not seem to affect their training.
    After the escape attempt several months ago, a great many of Lucius’s former friends and acquaintances were gone or dead. This saddened him. The memory of it was a great reason to drink.
    Still, many familiar faces remained. The resilient young Conall still fought for House Varinius. His fighting style was reckless and often ugly, but the crowd liked to see him, even as he lost.
    After Caius left, Conall had become steadfast with Flamma, the ever-dangerous veteran who now stood as the Champion of House Varinius—though not of Puteoli. Porcia had lacked the pockets and the clout to arrange the fight to make that level of prestige possible for Flamma.
    Septus also remained in the ludus, though he too was simply a doctore now. He taught in his old style—secutor—ensuring that fighters could stand the heavy armor they had to wear for success. He was the leader of the gladiator collegium still, which, among other duties, ensured that fighters who died in the arena had proper funerals and that their wealth was properly dispersed.
    Lucius was glad for the presence of at least this many friends. They had fallen away from him over the past several months, like mud caked heavy on a heel drifted away during a long journey. But, it felt good to know they were in his back pocket should he desire to call upon them.
    “They’re not even pretty,” said Ajax. “I mean, that would be one thing, wouldn’t it? If you could stand to look at them.” He pointed to Gwenn on the sands. “Look at her. Look at those scars on her. What man would want to pay to see her fight? She can’t even make blood flow to a man’s crotch, what’s she going to do to make blood flow on the sands?”
    “That’s enough.” Lucius was surprised at the harshness in his tone. He banged his tall stick upon the rocks circling