She nodded. “There will be three calls in total.”
“I’ll walk out last.”
“Yes, but the third call will signal battle. After the second call, we will give it a few minutes, then we will walk out together. You’ll remove your mask, like a bride with a veil, once you face the two opponents from your perch. Don’t be afraid, Ava.” She grabbed my hand and squeezed. Her voice was strong. “Youare the power here. These lions will bow atyourfeet.” She took my hand and pressed it against my chest. “You have the heart of a lioness.Youbring dinner to the table. The one who hunts is the one who feeds the desire.Yourulethem.”
You rule thembecame a chant inside of my head as we waited for the second call. Once it was sounded, I reached out for Noemi’s hand and held it. She was a steady presence in a trembling world.
She led me closer to the door, where she opened an old wooden cabinet and grabbed a gold mask imprinted with the face of a lioness. She placed it over hers and then grabbed another one for me.
After she secured it, I asked her for a minute alone.
She searched my eyes and then left.
I ran over to my bag and dug around. I pulled out thepistolahidden in my tampon box and secured it behind the girdle.
Time didn’t seem to exist in those breaths, but after she knocked and then led me out, I took a deep, steadying inhale, and held my head up as I silently exhaled. The two soldiers outside of the room bowed to us and then led us to a shaft that was controlled by what seemed like a wooden pulley. Men oversaw working it, and after we stepped on, their muscles strained as they manually lifted us higher and higher.
The noise outside was insane. The men were already scenting bloodshed and ready for dinner and a show, and I had an equally insane urge to lift my wrist and check my watch to see if it was warning me about the high decibel levels.
Technology didn’t exist here.
Only ancient traditions.
As we rose in the center of the crowd, complete silence engulfed the previous riot, and then music started, like the music I’d heard after we’d arrived, but softer, more angelic, heralding our arrival.
My eyes found Luca right away. He was sitting in the VIP area of the amphitheater. He wore a mask connected to a crown and a purple robe.
My next breath trembled out when our eyes met.
I’d seen those eyes up close and personal not long ago, but in this setting, they were different.
They each claimed a side between romance and ruthless, the centers of two opposing sides in all this madness, but they worked together with a focus that rivaled twenty/twenty vision.
He’d proved he was the king of balancing the two, which was why he was crowned king of beasts.
He gave me such a subtle nod, I would have second guessed it if Noemi wouldn’t have noticed it, too, and squeezed my hand.
The second thing I noticed was the two boxes next to Luca’s. It was hard to tell by bodies alone, because they were all so similar, but it seemed like each man had a side of supporters. On Nazzareno’s side, Beni and Aristide, and who I thought were Luca’s sons.
The third thing I noticed was all the red. One single scarlet rose was placed on the arm of each seat. Petals trembled when a gentle warm, wind blew, sending a few of the delicate pieces of flesh from the flowers swirling.
I smelled carnage in the air.
Manure and blood from the amphitheater’s crude floor.
My eyes naturally went to the center of it.
Two men stepped up at my attention.
Both were bare chested, but wearing the same lion masks, and they landed above their throats. Three slashes across created opening in their faces. A dark burgundy cape was secured by a brooch matching their face shields. Each man had leather wraps around their wrists and wore sword belts. Both men were barefoot. Loin clothes were the only scrap of fabric covering their privates, and they each held a bronze shield with the imprints of a lion.
Noemi leaned over and in a voice above a whisper, to be heard over the music, she named each piece of clothing and explained how it helped protect them. There wasn’t much of it between the two of them.
Nazzareno and his cousin were built similarly—they all were—but I knew the shape of my husband’s body intimately. I knew the scent of his skin and could close my eyes and imagine those powerful thighs wrapped around my body. It was an odd thing to think of while I was freaking the f out on the inside, but the way he would thrust inside of me, the power in those thighs…it made me shiver when I remembered it.
Maybe because I was inflicted with this insanity too.
This was such a powerful display of manly virility…it was hard for me not to feel it pressing in on the softer woman inside of me.
