Gladiator by Kate Lynd Page A

old. Until they threw me in the cell with you, I was sure my fate was sealed…that my destiny would never be fulfilled, and that people I could have helped would all just passively wait for the end to come. But now…”
    “But now what?” he asked.
    “The only love I’d ever known before yours was my mother’s. Knowing yours…I know what I have to do but I don’t want to have to do it.”
    “You have free will.”
    “Destiny has a way of making you see things differently.”
    “You have free will for certain—or you wouldn’t have reached out to me for help that first night in the cell. You don’t want to die and I don’t think you have to, even now. You just have to trust me.”
    “How can I look at you and know you’ll never be taken from me or that I’ll never be taken from you? I think losing you would render me powerless.”
    “I am forty years old. And if you were six when your brother was murdered, and five when your mother was taken from you, then you already know there are no guarantees in this life other than the inevitable one…that one day you will die. Years ago it was that you would pay taxes and die. Now if you don’t pick a side you have no shield other than a family that sticks together.”
    “I never had that.”
    “How old are you Alex?”
    “Have you forgotten? I’m twenty-one.”
    “Yes, yes. I used to give my father hell for his ‘trophy’ wife, in his later years.”
    “I’m sure he loved her.”
    “I don’t know whether he did or didn’t. I just know he left mom for her when he was fifty years old.”
    “How old was she then?”
    “Thirty-five.”
    “Was she pretty?”
    “I don’t remember. I just know that my mother was shattered. She didn’t always have the greatest grip on reality, and losing him was just the straw that broke the camel’s back.”
    “Did you have any brothers or sisters?”
    “A twin sister.”
    “You never mentioned her.”
    “Aidia is a rebel fighter on the other side of the ocean. I haven’t heard from her since just after the war.”
    “You miss her,” she said, placing his hand to her heart.
    “She was all that I had left. And now I don’t even know if she’s alive or dead.”
    “I wish my brother were alive.”
    “Why?”
    “He would be able to give you an answer. I can’t.”
    “Did you ever see what happened to your brother?”
    “No I just ran, and when he cried for help I failed. There was a lot of turmoil later, but that was just par for the course during that time. And then it was as if he’d never existed.”
    “So no one mentioned him again?”
    “I was little and he’d been little. They must have thought I’d forgotten about him. He’d been disposed of so easily it just scared me. I didn’t ask any questions. I wish I had now.”
    “You were six and still getting over losing your mother. Your instincts protected you then. Your father and sister are cruel. They may have killed you if you had asked questions.”
    “I don’t know. How I wish I could have helped him.”
    “Wherever he is, I’m sure he knows that.”
    “What about your mother and father? Where are they now?”
    “Mom got sick from the fallout and died. I hadn’t heard from Dad in years before the war. But then, I didn’t make it easy on him or Donna. I was just so angry at them. After Mom died, things were even harder at home for me and Hope. We made the decision to stay and stick it out and for our troubles…you know…I don’t regret doing what we did. But I was a different man then in a dying system.”
    “And now?”
    “I was resigned to die in that arena. Fuck your sister until she got bored of me.”
    “Why did you sleep with her? I mean, I get why she favored you. You’re tall, you’re strong, and you’re a sexual animal. And whether you realize it or not, your honor radiates from your core. You’re everything her weak willed loser of a husband isn’t.”
    “An animal, huh?” She blushed. He chuckled. “I was a man