Arena Shifters (A Paranormal Romance Novel) (13 page)

He
turned to the House guard. “If you expect to live another day, you better leave
now and come back with our physician and more guards. Do it now!”

There
was no way he was refusing him. The man knew he was in trouble for taking the
bribe. This was the only way he was going to get out of this alive. He ran out
of the room half hoping Primo would kill the kid. That would also solve his
immediate problem.

As
Lucius was waiting for the guards to return he noticed a dagger sitting on the
night stand arms-length away from his position. As he looked at the blade and
thought of what Primo had been doing to Petronia he began to rage. He looked at
Petronia. He looked at the evil man. He looked at the razor sharp knife and got
an idea.

“She
can’t breathe. Help me sit her up!”

Taking
his time, Primo sauntered over to where Lucius was kneeling beside his
plaything. It was a shame he was going to have to give her up. But no matter.
He could always get to her again. He was an important part of the House of
Tiberius. No one would punish him as long as she lived. So…perhaps he should
help. He knelt down by Lucius and reached out to the barely conscious girl.
That’s when he felt a sharp jolt in his side. He looked down and incredulously
there was a knife sticking in his side; his knife. The kid had stabbed him.

Lucius
yanked out the blade and made to stab Primo again but the man was too fast for
him. He easily knocked the blade from his hand, and grabbed the kid by his
throat with his other hand.

“You’ll
never get away with this,” croaked Lucius.

“Oh
I will you little shit! And I’ll find her again and make her my plaything again
and again until she begs me to take her. And there’s not a thing you can do
about it.”

Lucius
was certain the man was wrong. He couldn’t treat his father’s gladiators this
way and get away with it. He was so certain he didn’t feel too badly about his
failed attempt to kill the man. A few minutes later he heard the guards
approaching, and was surprised to see his father in tow.

“What
are you doing here Lucius?” He asked his son angrily. “You shouldn’t get
involved in things of this nature.”

“What
am I doing? I’m saving the life of one of your best gladiators, that’s what I’m
doing father.”

“And
in the process insulting a very important man. And why is he bleeding. What’s
going on here?”

Primo
smiled wickedly. “Oh it’s just a scratch really. We had a little
misunderstanding, but we’re best of friends now aren’t we?” He said, looking at
Lucius.

Dominus
addressed his physician. “Get the man taken care of, and when you’re done you
can see to the gladiatrix’s wounds.”

Lucius
couldn’t believe what he just heard. The girl should be treated first, not that
evil man. He was about to protest, but his father just turned around and walked
out. Lucius could do nothing but follow his father out while making secret
plans of revenge.

* * * * *

CHAPTER FOURTEEN:

Punishment

* * * * *

His
15
^th
birthday, his coming of age day came and went and he could not
have cared less because the one person he wanted there was lying feverish in
care of the House physician and unable to attend. Two weeks have passed since
Petronia was nearly beaten to death by Primo, one of Dominus’ key slaves. In
fact the man was so important, not only was he not punished for nearly killing
the House of Tiberius’ most celebrated gladiator, he was given a virgin slave
as a,
sorry we had to take your plaything away
, consolation prize.
Lucius just wanted to kill the man!

Petronia’s
days and nights ran together in one long miserable scene. She was in such a
state most of the time she didn’t know whether she was dreaming or awake. There
was one face that stood out to her though, and when she saw his face she was
pretty sure she was dreaming. In her dreams he would sit at her side feeding
her, giving her drinks, and tending to her wounds. She knew it was a dream
because no son of Dominus would even dream of doing those things for a common
slave; even if she was The Gladiatrix. So she held onto those images in her
dreams and it helped her get through those days when the pain was so great she
knew she was awake!

She
was just about to go to sleep again when she became aware of someone entering
the physician’s chambers. She didn’t feel like turning her head to see who it
was but she assumed it was Doctore coming to see if she would ever return to
the Arena. She was totally surprised when Lucius sat down on her pallet next to
her.

She
heard the door close as the physician left to give them some well paid for
privacy. He would of course report the lad’s visits however much Lucius paid
for his silence. He was, after all loyal to Dominus, not to his son who may
never live to see power in his father’s stead. Too many people viewed him as
weak, and a weak person was bad for the Ludis. What Lucius didn’t know is that
his father was already looking into his options for someone else to inherit the
Villa and his beloved Ludis. Lucius would not find out about that little detail
until it was too late.

“How
are you today?” Lucius asked when Petronia opened her eyes.

“So
this is real? I’m awake?”

“You’re
very much away Toni,” he replied, using his pet name for her. “How do you
feel?”

“Fine,”
she lied. In reality, she felt like death warmed over. It was the same everyday
with little change.

“You’re
not fine, I can tell.” He replied. “Look, I brought you something.”

And
then he proceeded to feed her tiny bites until she’d had enough. His patience
was endless. He never tired of helping her. In the early days when she had
vomited in his lap yet another time, he never even thought to complain. He only
cared for her. He staid as long as she was awake and sometimes he just watched
her sleep. For him it was enough to be in her presence.

When
school started up again he was forced to forgo his visitations as he had too
many responsibilities and too many duties as the heir to the House of Tiberius.
When he finally did get a break from everything he hurried to the physician’s
quarters to see her. When he arrived he was surprised to see she wasn’t there. He
hurried out to the Ludis praying to the gods that she was there and had not
been taken to the afterlife. He was pleased to see her there thrashing another
gladiator headless of the rain. He wished he could go talk to her but it would
not do to interrupt her training. Instead he would have to try to just
run
into her sometime later. He satisfied himself with just showing up and watching
her training from the balcony of the Ludis. What he didn’t know was that his
father was well aware of his attentions and had finally decided to do something
about it.

Early
one evening while Lucius was working on his studies up in his room, his father
showed up unexpectedly.

“Hello
father,” he said getting up from his desk and stretching his legs.

“Hello
son, how are your studies going?”

He
knew his father had no interest in his studies so he was curious as to why he
should visit him here tonight.

“They’re
fine father. Now I really am quite busy so-”

“Relax
Lucius. You work too hard. A lad your age and with your means should take time
out to enjoy life.”

“I’ll
do my enjoying life when summer break arrives, but for now I really must-”

“You’ll
take a break tonight. I am sending someone up to keep you company in the baths
so please present yourself in fifteen minutes.”

Lucius
knew there was no point arguing with his father when he was in this mood so he
closed his books and went to the baths wondering which slave his father had
tasked with the duty of distracting him. No one was there when he arrived so he
took off his toga and walked into the steaming waters. He had to admit, it
actually did feel pretty good.

“Ah
there you are.” It was his father again.

“What?”
He asked without turning around to face him.

“No
don’t be so cross. I think you’re going to like who I have chosen for your
company.”

“I
doubt that,” he began as he turned around. He stopped mid-sentence. Standing
there at his father’s side was Petronia wearing a simple tunic and looking as
radiant as ever. Still…

His
father smiled wickedly. “Isn’t this what you have wanted all along? Well you
can finally have her.”

He
clapped his hands twice and another slave appeared. He turned to her. “You are
to see to it that she,” he pointed to Petronia, “gives him a good time.”

“Yes
Dominus,” she replied.

This
was not what he wanted to have happen. If anything ever happened he wanted it
to be of his own free will and hers as well; not because his father commanded
it. He didn’t even know if he thought about her that way. By the look on her
face she was not pleased about his father’s latest idea.

Now
he turned to Petronia. “Well, take off your tunic. Show the boy what he’s
getting.”

Lucius
turned bright red as Petronia looked down in shame and began to undo her tunic.
When she just stood there trying to cover herself up and Lucius wouldn’t even
look at her Gaius decided he was going to have to get the party started. To
Lucius’ horror, his father walked up behind her and opened up his toga.
Petronia bent over grabbing her ankles as his father entered her repeatedly.
This was, Lucius thought, quite possibly the worst night of his life. This
wasn’t supposed to turn him on, or get him to get interested in the party. It
was all just a way his father was punishing him for all the time he had spent
with Petronia when she was healing. For the first time he realized what kind of
man his father was, and he swore he would be nothing like him.

* * * * *

CHAPTER FIFTEEN:

The Decision

* * * * *

On
good days when Petronia was still confined to the physician’s quarters she
would contemplate what she had witnessed the day Primo had taken her. She could
deny it no longer. Something weird was going on in the House of Tiberius. She
had been perfectly willing to write off her previous encounters with the beasts
as due to wine, exhaustion, a spell, whatever, but she could not erase what she
had watched before being taken. The question was, what should she do with the information?
She was pretty sure Dominus didn’t know she knew about their shape shifting
abilities, but Primo definitely knew she was aware of the secret of Gaius
Gracchus Tiberius. There had to be away to use that information to gain status,
maybe even freedom. Problem was, she was pretty sure if Dominus knew what she
had seen and figured out, he would kill her instantly to silence her. That was
the only smart thing to do under the circumstances. There had to be a way to
protect herself and leverage that information to gain power and maybe even
freedom. Not for the last time she wondered if she had made the wrong choice
when she decided to side with House of Tiberius against the slave revolt.
Thanks to her dozens of slaves had been put to death along with her only friend
in the world, Albinia. She also figured it was a matter of time before Primo
used her knowledge against her as well. If he threatened her, she would be
forced to barter sex for silence; a choice she was pretty sure she would choose
any time.

She
was disturbed by rumors that Dominus, who held the title of Lanista was
interested in politics and may consider selling his villa, Ludis included and
move to Rome. There were even nastier rumors of Primo somehow gaining his
freedom, or just becoming a Lanista so that Dominus could be freed up to pursue
politics. Most thought he wouldn’t completely give up the Ludis as it was a
consistent moneymaker for him and it offered a measure of prestige. Nastier
rumors said that somehow Primus masterminded the death of the Lanista’s son in
order to remove him from the possibility of one day becoming Lanista in place
of Dominus. Primus was a slave, but he walked around like he was king. It
wasn’t all in his head either. He did have more freedoms than even Petronia and
the best gladiators did, and it was the gladiators that always had the most
privileges.

Every
so often her thoughts strayed to Lucius. He was becoming a handsome young man.
Not that she had any interest in him. She shuddered when she thought about the
incident in the bath house. In the end Dominus hadn’t forced his son to have
sex with her, but he had made Lucius watch as he had his way with her. That was
about the most humiliating thing she had ever been subject too. Whenever she
saw Lucius she found she could not meet his gaze, and the chances for that were
plenty. He was always around now that it was summer and he was through with his
studies for the next couple months.

Now
that it was summer and the weather was nice, there was an ever increasing
number of days the Arena was open. Dominus had stepped up his purchases and
they now had nearly three dozen gladiators, including a new gladiatrix whom
Petronia had yet to spar with. It was nearing a long day of training in the
Ludis when Doctore called her aside to inform her that in two days she would be
fighting in the Primus on Saturday. That was big news indeed. Only the most
important fights happened in the Primus. When she asked who her opponent was
going to be, she received the shock of her life; it was to be Primo. He outrage
was justified. To pit her against a man who was not even considered a gladiator
was a huge insult, and in front of so many. But the bad news didn’t stop there.
She was to throw the fight; to let him win. She had objected with such
vehemence that Doctore had to march her into one of the cells to finish their
conversation. She still remembered it word for word.