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

the sands. “Return to training. Position five.” He raised his voice so the other retiarii could hear him. “Position five! And repeat until I say otherwise.”
    Ajax glowered at him but walked away. He and the other fighters quickly resumed training, hacking at their posts with gusto.
    Lucius did not know why he had come down on the man so suddenly. His heart raced, blood pumping in his ears. It was like hearing words against her drummed up some long-dormant protective instinct he no longer knew he had.
    It was just his hangover. Women were a far more simple matter than he was making this one. You bed a woman and then you forget about her, just like all men have from the beginning of time. He no more needed to focus his thoughts upon Gwenn than he did upon putting a harness across the sun.
    And yet, even so, he turned his gaze back to toward the women. Gwenn hacked with much enthusiasm, but little skill. There was a free, open eagerness on her face. She enjoyed the work, that was clear.
    “A strange investment, hmm?”
    Lucius turned. It was Iunius, a slave and a eunuch. He was the man in the ludus who was responsible for getting fighters what they wanted. He managed bets at the arena, and generally had his hand in all manner of shady practices.
    “I would caution you not to speak to me of investments,” said Lucius.
    “Is your blood still hot about that?” Iunius tsked. “Come now, Lucius. Think you I control the markets?”
    “I think you’re a liar and a cheat, and I think you’ve given me a dozen sure-things that turned out to be trash.”
    Iunius’s mouth shrugged. “Very well. Let me know if you want to procure a present for the one you keep staring at. It is my understanding women enjoy flowers.”
    Lucius scoffed. He doubted very much Gwenn would want anything like that.
    And he wondered why he cared so much about what she would want.

Chapter 6
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    G wenn struck at the post with all her might. There was a satisfying thwack as the training sword bounced off the wood.
    “Not like that,” said Murus. “Higher. And if you put your foot sideways again, I’ll strike you to the ground. Do you understand?”
    Gwenn nodded and tried again. “Like this, Doctore?”
    Murus knocked her to the ground. She did not see the blow coming at all. The man was fast despite his age.
    “No.” He walked away from her now, going down the line. “I said to be mindful of your feet. Good footing is as important as any other skill in the arena. It is the difference between living and dying. Good form is the difference between living and dying. Good thrusts are the difference between living and dying. Holding your shield up, and not ever letting it down,” he glared at Sabiana, who had begun to do just that, “is the difference between living and dying. You are, in fact, going to find out that unless you do everything well at all times, you are going to die. If you cannot cope with this fact, I suggest you hang yourself tonight. It will be a less bloody death.”
    Gwenn would do no such thing. If she had to be perfect to earn her glory in the arena, then she would be perfect.
    They trained all day long. They trained as the sun broke through the clouds above and turned the wetness from the morning into thick, muggy humidity. They trained with the only breaks being for water, and even those were for just minutes at a time.
    Whenever Gwenn faltered and Murus saw, he corrected her. The lashes of his whip cracked against the air when he wanted their attention. She could hear and see other doctore doing the same across the long field of training sands in the ludus.
    After chopping at the posts for a long time, they broke mercifully for lunch. There was no common feeding area for the women, and so they ate in the same mess hall as the men. They had a table to themselves.
    Gwenn sat next to two sisters, Ros and Kav. They had dark hair and wide faces that would have been full of terror from the day's events