Anzil (Gladiators of Krix #2) - Miranda Martin Page 0,22
patience has never been my strong suit.
“Then we’ll figure out what’s next,” I answer.
The group murmurs, and while no one speaks up, their fear is palpable. I breathe it in with every breath, oppressive, making the air itself heavy. I walk over to the door that leads to the stairs up. We’ve gathered in the slaves quarters, deep beneath the house. The guards are far enough off that I don’t think they can hear us. I’m going to have to risk it.
Walking back to the middle of the room, I motion for them to huddle close. They press in, and I wait a moment longer until I’m as sure as I can be no one is eavesdropping.
“I’m going to get us free,” I whisper. “Adeline and I will do it together, but you have to listen to us. We can’t cause problems or attract attention.”
There are several gasps and loud murmurs. I make shushing motions, watching the door. There’s no telling when one of the guards might come to investigate noises.
“Listen to her,” Adeline says. “If anyone can get us out of here, it’s her.”
I smile my appreciation, then walk to the door. Adeline follows me.
“That’s a really tall order,” she whispers.
“I know,” I say. “I’m working on it. One step at a time.”
“Mission first,” Adeline murmurs.
“Exactly.”
ANZIL
I shouldn’t be thinking what I am. When she came, everything changed. I’ve known many women in my life, but none are her. Not a one could compare.
No other woman acts like her, has her confidence, or her skill. She is incredible. Untouchable. All that I want. She dominates my mind. When I sleep, it is only to dream of her. Her and freedom. An idea I thought I had forgotten.
I have been complacent. Accepting of my lot in life. The gilded cage I’m trapped in is still a cage. She’s right, too. The guards are lax and unskilled. They may be better armored and armed than we are, but they don’t know what to do with it.
Getting past them is easy. Once we’re free of here, though, that’s where the challenge lies. Even mewling babes know of Krix. Seven Widows curse this planet and all its offspring. Stories tell how Krix was behind the times of trouble, and in the aftermath of those wars, Krix still looms large.
Rolling on to my side, I listen to her deep and even breathing. She sleeps as if there is nothing to be concerned with. Sleep eludes me. The accusing looks of the dead wait behind my closed lids. The litany of my failures that I had buried in the gallons of blood spilt to water the sands of the arena.
We leave at first light. While I should be sleeping, the voices of the dead woke me, and now I can’t find my way back to the Grey Widow’s lands. She mocks me with my failures. White Widow save me from my mistakes.
Deep in my heart, an ember I thought long extinguished has been reignited by Kiara. Her passion was the breath of air that fanned the forgotten flame. Now my veins burn and my skin itches and rest eludes me. She needs freedom, and I need her.
I turn over again and hear her sigh heavily. I wait, silent, not wanting to disturb her sleep. I count the moments ticking by, waiting to hear her breathing.
“You awake?” she whispers.
“Yes,” I answer.
She sits up on the bed, pulling her knees up to her chest. I sit up too, staring. The moonlight seeps through the cracks in the window to my room, casting her in a silvery light that makes her glow. My cock stiffens, throbbing and aching with unspent seed.
“Am I wrong?” she asks, her voice quaking.
I want with all my heart to go to her, but I can’t read her. Would I be welcome? Am I pushing too far? Never in all my life have I felt such uncertainty.
“About what?” I ask, deciding to hold my place.
She bows her head and shakes it side to side, delicate curls hiding her face. When she looks up, her eyes glisten brightly.
“All of it. What if I can’t rescue them? Can’t get us free? What if more of them die?”
The heartbreak isn’t in her words, it’s in her voice. Fear, despair, pain that echoes my own. Before I think, I’m moving across the room, letting my blankets drop to the floor.
“God! Really?” she exclaims, moving away across the bed.
Only then does it hit me that not only am I naked,