Gladiator of Rome (#1 in Gladiator Series)

Chapter 19

Chapter 19

As she saw Pompeia and Artorius lying together it felt like she had been kicked in the gut. A wave of nausea swept through her body as her vision blurred and she could feel herself swaying back and forth on her feet. Blinking rapidly she tried to clear the double vision and in doing so she saw the smile on Pompeia's lips. Clamping her teeth together tightly she could not even look at Artorius as she turned and walked away without saying a word. What hurt the most though was that Artorius did not even call her name, not that she expected him to if he had been sleeping with Pompeia the whole time and was just using Krista. 

Walking slowly all the way back to Ludus Magnus just in case the guards were to report back to the empress on her state of mind, it was only once the guards had left did she break out into a run but she didn't run to Lazarus as she might have done when she was a child. Instead she ran to the armoury, picked up a sword and disappeared into the empty training grounds where she could vent her frustration not just at Artorius but at herself also. How stupid was she to believe that Artorius truly cared for her?

With the full moon high in the sky and flooding the training arena in light Krista charged at the first training post she saw and swung the sword straight at its perceived throat. The familiar strike reverberated up her arm which helped to settle her anger as she spun around and delivered a similar blow on the opposite side. She continued to hack away at the post until sweat dripped from her body and she could feel her anger boiling over and with each strike she would let out screams of frustration. Hair clung to her neck and face with sweat and her arms grew tired as the emotion left her body and she was just left wondering how she had not seen it. She had entered the games with a clear vision of what she wanted and what she would achieve but somewhere along the way she had deviated from that path and her vision had become blurred.

Looking over her time at Ludus Magnus she had saved a slave girl, became involved with a gladiator when she vowed she would not and she had become wrapped up in politics with the Emperor's sister. And now that same Empress and that same Gladiator were wrapped up together.

Growling in rage as she thought about it again she ripped the sword from the wooden post before she quickly stabbed the blunt blade back into its cylindrical shape. Hacking away with a vengeance, the image of Artorius atop the Empress seared onto her eyelids, Krista vented her frustration out onto the post as she remembered the scene.
The low flicker of candle light, the sound of their breathless moans and the way their bodies were joined together infuriated Krista as she gave way to all skill and simply hit the post as if she was trying to fall a tree with an axe. Her grip was tight around the sword's hilt, her muscles quivering as sweat beaded her skin in the cool night air.

"Krista?"

Pausing with her blade dug into the training post, she glanced over her shoulder and saw Artorius stood hesitantly behind her.

His chest was bare as he was disrobed of his armour, and his body was slick with sweat born of passion.

The lustrous black waves of his hair were swept back from his face to expose the flush in his cheeks and the rawness of his lips.

Krista's jaw clenched as she turned back to her sword imbedded in the wood and yanked the blade free from the post, keeping her back to Artorius.

She did not utter a single word as she just went back to taking her anger out on the post.

She was worried that if she opened her mouth she would lose her concentration, and the control she currently had over her body. And if she lost that Krista was afraid of what she might do to him.