“You’re not a slave anymore,” I say, vowing it to her, to myself, to the gods in Olympus. “You belong to me.”
“I’m your slave now?” She doesn’t cower like the other women who have been thrown at my feet. Her chin stands proudly, her bright green eyes defiant as she stares up at me.
“No,” I say as I gently reach for her hair. Her eyes never leave mine as I let the silky blonde strands fall through my fingers. “But you belong to me. No other man will touch you or look upon your virginal body in a lecherous way again, or I swear that I, Kaeso Vinicius, will pluck their eyes from their skulls and snatch the soul from their bodies. I will burn Rome to the ground before I let another man touch what’s mine.”
The wet damp air charges with a dry heat as her eyes roam down my giant arms. They’re covered in scars from long ago forgotten battles and gashes from long-dead opponents stupid enough to stand against me. I’ve always stood several heads over my fellow men. Even as a child.
The slavers always got good use of my strength. I pulled the carts in the fields for hours, outlasting even the oxen. I crushed rock in the depths of the dark mines where the air was so thick it was unbreathable and the heat was so scorching it made men weep. And I’ve slain countless warriors and unworldly beasts, staining the sand of the Colosseum red. I’ve done all this for my masters, but what I will not do, what I refuse to do, is give this goddess back. They’ll have to send an entire legion of Spartan soldiers to try and get her back from my possessive hands.
“I do not doubt that you can burn the entire world to the ground if you so wish,” she says as she takes my big hand in hers. “With hands like this, Jupiter himself would tremble at your feet.”
My heart is pounding like the drums of war as she runs her fingertips over my monstrous knuckles. Her tiny slender hand looks like a child’s next to mine.
“Are you a gladiator?”
“I am.” My voice is so deep and rough compared to hers. Mine is like the grunting of a savage giant, hers like the sweet song of Calliope or one of the other nine muses. It brings a shiver to my thick skin and a tremble to my body as I watch the words form on her entrancing pink lips.
“I’ve heard about the famous gladiators of Rome. Where the most ruthless warriors in the world battle for dominance and fame.”
“You’re looking at the most dominant gladiator of all time.”
She swallows hard as she studies my brute face, scars and all.
“You’ve killed people?”
“Yes. Many.”
“But you won’t kill me?”
My jaw clenches as I look at the purity flowing off her in waves. How could anyone want to steal this beauty from the world?
I want her eyes to be alight at everything she sees, her smile wide and parted, revealing those brilliant white teeth. The thought of her eyes closed, her skin cold, makes me shiver with a horror that I never knew existed.
“I’m your guardian now,” I say, dropping to my thick knee. Even this low, my head still towers over hers. “I swear it, my Venus. I will protect you.”
She swallows hard as she reaches up and drags the back of her hand along my stubbled cheek. Her eyes are locked on mine and I can tell she’s studying me, trying to see if this is all a trick before I ravage her.
“But why?” she asks with confusion in her green eyes. “I’m no Venus. I’m but a slave. A wretched ungrateful child, I’ve been told.”
“Who told you that?” I hiss through gritted teeth. I’d like to get my hands on anyone who would call my beauty such a thing.
“People from my past,” she says. “People who will stay there. I am no Venus.”
“But you are,” I say, desperate to make her see. “The goddess would kill herself on the spot if she saw your decadent beauty. You are my Venus. My goddess to worship now. What is your name?”
“Elovissa,” she says. My cock begins to harden when I see the flicker of her wet pink tongue behind those sparkling white teeth.
“Come, Elovissa,” I say as I stand back up. “You look tired. I know that being a slave isn’t easy, but I promise you, those days are over.”
She looks skeptical as her eyes dart around my unimpressive cell. The buckets of water in the corner, the bed made of straw, the iron cage locking us in.
“I am exhausted,” she whispers as she looks up at me. It’s then that I see the tiredness in her eyes, the weariness in her bones. I wonder when the last time she got a good night’s sleep was.
“Then sleep,” I say as I take her hand and guide her to my bed. “Sleep like you’re safe, because you finally are.”
She sighs as she lies down on the thin blankets that aren’t good enough for her. I vow to surround her with the finest silks and materials in Rome. One day, I will provide her with all the luxury she deserves.
The protective beast in me watches as she curls up into a ball, pulling her knees into her chest. A deep moan rumbles out of my throat when I see the curve of her bottom under her dirty dress. What temptations lie under there…
I steel myself and try to ignore the throbbing of my hard cock—an impossible task. My Venus needs sleep. I want to give her whatever she desires, whatever her body needs, but right now, she needs the type of release that only a worry-less rest can bring.
I plan to stand here all night, watching every second of her slumber, but she turns to me with half-closed eyes.
“Can you lie with me?” she whispers.
“I will do whatever pleases, my Venus,” I say as I climb onto the mattress, shifting it and raising her up with the tremendous weight of my body.
“I just need someone to hold me,” she says as she turns back toward the wall. “Can you hold me?”
“I’m already holding you in my heart,” I whisper as I wrap a big arm around her. “I can hold your body too.”
She grips my wrist with her tiny hands and pulls my arm against her like she’s never going to let me go. I pray to the gods that she doesn’t.
It’s not long before her body relaxes and her breathing deepens. She’s fallen fast asleep, safe in my arms where she belongs.
I spend the next wondrous hours breathing in the intoxicating smell of her hair, feeling the fleshy abundance of her breasts against my arm, and wondering what I have done to please the gods such that they would provide me with this virginal sacrifice.
My cock rages, but I keep it at bay, not wanting to defile this virginal beauty just yet. There will be plenty of time for that. But right now, I just want to hold her like she asked of me.
When she turns on her back hours later and I’m treated to the calm beauty of her ethereal face, I know I’m in love. I watch the delicate curve of her cheeks, the supernal hue of her lips, the serenity of her closed eyes until the morning sun creeps in through the one window down the hall.
And for the first time in my life, I have something to lose.
Chapter Three
Elovissa
“How long have you been watching me?” I ask when I open my eyes in the morning and see Kaeso’s warm protective gaze washing down on me.
“Not long,” he whispers.