Chapter Twenty-One - Gladiators

The first person she saw was Marcus, the one who had bound Xander to a chair. Wanting to turn and run, she forced herself to look at their faces in turn. The guard beside her cracked a joke, though some of them were slow to smile. No Flavius, which was worrying.

“Do you know why I am here?” she asked, vexed because her voice sounded so small.

One of her hands was trembling and she grasped it with the other one before clasping them in front of her to disguise the fact.

“Yes, Princess,” one of them said.

He looked older than the others, and at least he had afforded her some respect.

“My name is Eithne,” she told them. “It would please me if – if … ”

There was no easy way of completing that sentence without implying shame.

“You are still the daughter of a Queen, my lady. No matter what.”

It was the same man who spoke up, coming to her rescue as easily as if it were second nature. Had he had his own family in another life?

“What’s your name, gladiator?” she asked.

“Carl,” he said