The King (Zolan Book 3) ✓

21

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DEE

I can feel him coming. The vibrations of his stomps on the brick floor make way to my heart and my cunt, both of which he had been driving crazy yesterday.

He must have found out about my deal with the ringleader. I want to sink to my knees in defeat. I can't fucking do anything right. I could fix the transmitter, couldn't connect with the entertainers, couldn't keep my deal with the ringleader to secretly aid Vadnar.

He does everything to keep us alive, and I just keep failing.

The guards appear with him, and I gasp at his appearance. He's beaten. Blood dripping down his nose, cuts scattered on his chest, and bruises beginning to form.

There are more guards than usual as they scramble to open the cell door. I keep my eyes on his, which look at me with so much anger I almost confuse it for the passion I had seen in them yesterday.

He enters, and I press my back against the wall, my fingers aching to do the opposite and tend to his wounds.

The cell doors close, and one guard undoes Vadnar's restrains. His chest heaves and nostrils flare as he waits. It's like he's in the enraged mode. What got him here? The revelation that I was humiliated in front of hundreds?

He charges forward, and I gasp. All air escapes when he presses his chest against mine, pinning me to the cell wall.

"Vadnar," Hull speaks from his cell. "Don't hurt her."

Vadnar doesn't even acknowledge Hull as he sneers at me. "You lied to me?" His voice is so steely it could claw at the brick walls.

"I—" I am speechless.

"After I gave you my word and my fucking cocks?"

I remember those words. The promise that he would take care of me. And how could I forget those cocks as they filled me with so much love and trust?

My eyes flicker to the guards, who still linger there.

"Tomorrow," says Vadnar, his voice so low it's nearly untraceable—just like the remnants of his seed inside me. "Tomorrow, I'm breaking us out of here."

My eyes widen. He's whispering this here, while the guards are feet away? It's too soon for this; too risky. We have no plan.

"But..."

He leans in, touching the tip of his cold nose against my cheekbone, and I'm taken back to the day we met on the farm and he did the same thing.

"After what you've done, the risk you put yourself in, I'm left with no option."  He pulls back, directing his scowl at the guards. "Get lost!" His punch to the bars sends them scrambling. Then he corners me again, looking like a different man. And I hate that I've done this to him.

I palm his cheek gently. "We can't rush the plan, because this isn't just about me. The other gladiators deserve freedom, too."

"It's all about you, human!" he booms. "I will always put you before those men. And I don't care if that makes me the monster the slavers see in me."

Feeling panicked, I blurt, "It was just one arena performance. I didn't get hurt."

"You announced your existence to hundreds of Zolanos. And now they all see the beauty I see in you. It's only a matter of time before they set a price and try to buy you. No. We're getting out of here."

What the hell have I done?

"But the colosseum is crawling with guards."

"I know," he says, stepping back and pacing.