Champion in Love (bxb)

CHAPTER 6. Messalina Augusta

"Your Empress," Victor said, sticking out his lower lip in a pout, because he had to explain himself to stupid Fidelis, "she would want to see a barbarian chased by her husband's troops, right?"

With how deeply Messalina despised Claudius Caesar? I doubted she would be entertained by such a spectacle, but I didn't care to discuss the Empress' intimate secrets.

"Maybe," I said.

Something cold flickered behind Victor's eyes as he smoothed his knee-length breeches down his thighs. It was the only item of clothing he didn't remove from his oiled body. "Then I'll give Fidelium and its Empress a blue-skinned barbarian to loath."

His upper arms were more likely to provoke lust in Messalina. But, once more, I kept my mouth shut. I wasn't going to discuss the Empress with the quad and Rufius Fulgentius, particularly because the latter screamed, "Brilliant plan!"

The pudgy man even tried to bodily push Victor to the tunnel. He might as well put his shoulder to the Palatine Hill! Victor folded his arms across his chest and glared at me. He wouldn't go until my say-so.

"It's a dumb plan, rookie. You'll get clobbered." I gritted my teeth.

"No."

"Allow me one moment to talk some sense into him!" I begged Rufius Fulgentius. The Empress would keep.

Rufius Fulgentius' feet pumped and slipped on the straw-covered stones of the floor. Victor didn't move an inch and his face remained as impassive as the slabs underfoot.

"Noble Rufius Fulgentius! They'll scar his pretty face! Or break his nose. Who'd want him if his nose looks like a clam? "

Victor's eyes flung open in genuine surprise. He pointed at Laurentius and his quad. "These? Break my nose? They won't leave a scratch on me!"

The boys bristled, except Junius. Junius rubbed his chin, head tilted to one shoulder, assessing the challenge. Obviously, I wasn't the only one who saw through Victor's pretense during his first week in our training yard.

"I wouldn't bait them if I were you," I said. "Rudii don't have a sharp edge, but they are heavy."

He raised and dropped his massive shoulders in an equally massive shrug. "It doesn't matter. I promise, they won't touch me."

I chewed my lips, tempted to hand him enough rope to hang himself. Then, a torch lit up in my mind. "I'll tell you what. If you get as much as a bruise, you'll give me your name. I'm tired of calling you a rookie."

"You can always call him Prickus Colossus," Quintus piped up, "we all do."

I didn't take my gaze of Victor. His eyes narrowed as he held it. The world collapsed to just us, to the exclusion of everyone and everything else. A chill of exhilaration climbed up my spine.

"Deal?" I asked.

"Fair." Victor nodded. "If I walk away from the fight unscathed, you'll tell me why your parents sold you as a slave."

Rufius Fulgentius hopped from one foot to another, listening to the applauds filtering in from the hall. The excitement was peaking and if we missed it, it would be hard to recapture the public's enthusiasm.

"If he doesn't, I will!" he squealed, "just go to the arena already!"

"Your real name to my family story." I extended my hand to Victor. Unhurriedly. He took it, just as deliberately. Let Rufius Fulgentius squirm! He wasn't a part of this moment.

Victor's hand was warm, dry, and rough with calluses. I wanted to keep holding it, but we shook on the bet, and that was it. Well, almost. As I released him from the handshake, I said, "Just put your sandals on, for Mercury's sake."