Her sense of guilt added to her anxiety. He was doing this for her so he could leave with her and protect her from being dragged back into slavery. But despite her guilt, she wanted him to go with her. She wanted him to escape this planet as well.
The time they had spent together over the past few days had only increased her appreciation for the big warrior. They had not repeated their escapades in the pool, although she could admit to herself that she had been tempted. But she had not wanted to distract him from focusing on his fights. They slept together every night, and she invariably woke up to find herself in his arms. Just thinking about it caused a throbbing ache between her thighs, and she briefly considered touching herself, but she didn’t want to miss his return.
Instead, she forced herself to sit and pick up the tablet that was teaching her to read Imperial Standard, the most common language in the Empire. Baralt had procured it for her after she’d mentioned being bored when he was not around. She wasn’t foolish enough to try and leave his quarters, but while he was training or fighting, there was little for her to do.
The learning process reminded her of being back in school, and there was a comforting familiarity to it. At her request, he had added a module that specifically dealt with legal issues, and she was slowly becoming familiar with the laws that governed the Empire. But tonight, she couldn’t focus or lose herself in study. She was too worried about Baralt.
The door opened, and he stood in the opening as he bid good night to someone she couldn’t see. He stood tall and apparently uninjured, and her breath escaped in a sigh of relief, but then the door closed, and he slumped against the wall. She rushed to his side.
“Baralt! What’s wrong? Are you hurt? Do you need to see a medic?”
So far he had refused to seek medical aid, telling her it was because he didn’t want word of either his fights or his injuries to get around, but if he was truly hurt, she was going to insist.
“No, my little aria.” He gave her a tired and oddly sweet smile. “My opponent tonight emitted a type of gas that weakens the body and slows its reactions. I’m still feeling the effects.”
“Do you want to take a shower? Do you need to wash it away?”
He shook his head. “The effects will wear off now that I am no longer exposed to it. I think I would prefer to go straight to bed and sleep it off.”
He pushed away from the wall as he spoke, then staggered. She quickly slid beneath his arm to provide what support she could. Of course, if eight feet of heavily muscled warrior collapsed, she would have little hope of preventing his fall. His arm tightened around her. She could actually feel him allowing her to take a minimal amount of his weight, and that worried her even more.
“Aren’t you going to ask me if I won?” he murmured as they moved slowly across the room.
“Of course you won,” she said firmly, then bit her lip. “Didn’t you?”
“Yes, but it was closer than it should have been. I was unprepared for the effects of the gas.” He sighed. “For all his faults, Mehexip does a good job of investigating my opponents.”
Unwilling to credit the manager with any positive traits, she didn’t respond. Mehexip had visited them again, and she’d liked him even less the second time. She could ignore his leering glances, but she couldn’t ignore the way he treated Baralt. He obviously viewed him as a big dumb fighter and was only concerned with how much money he could make off him.
“He arranged tomorrow’s fight, didn’t he?” she finally asked as they reached the bedroom and Baralt half collapsed onto the mattress. “So you have all the information you need?”
“Yes, Isabel. You don’t need to worry.” He gave her that sweet smile again, his eyes already closing.
As he drifted off to sleep, she left him long enough to turn off the lights and set the door alarm as he had shown her, then crawled into bed next to him. Tonight, she didn’t even try to keep her distance. Instead, she curled against his big, warm body. His eyes never opened, but he pulled her close, and she breathed in his musky scent.
He murmured something in his sleep, his body tensing, and she ran her fingers soothingly through his mane until he calmed and his body relaxed again.
Although the fact that he was here and safe relieved some of her anxiety, her mind refused to settle. Tomorrow’s fight would be the last one under his contract, and then Baralt would be free. The following day was the end of the time that she was allotted to spend with him.
They planned to sneak away soon as tomorrow’s fight was over, hoping to slip out with the audience. Tomorrow was a major feast day, and there would be a huge crowd not only at the fights but in the city itself. Hopefully that would help make their presence less obvious. Baralt’s friend Varga had arranged for passage for them on a small trader at what she suspected was an exorbitant price.
One more fight, she thought. He just has to make it through one more fight. Then everything is going to be all right.
Despite
