19
Claudia
When we arrive at the club, Colosseum is packed with the usual Saturday crowd. Antony greets us at the rear entrance as Noah drags Alec’s unconscious body from the trunk of his car.
“You’d better have a good reason for pausing tonight matches,” he growls as he lets us in through the old locomotive shed he uses as a staging area for his fighters. “They’re baying for blood out there.”
“Good.”They shall have it.
We come out in a large shed that must have once housed a locomotive and now serves as a locker room and training space. A couple of fighters warm up in a makeshift ring, while others sit around drinking and doing lines of coke. An old trench extends from one end of the shed to the other – once a space for the engineers to work under the locomotive, it’s been turned into an underground tunnel connecting this room to the arena, so the fighters can come and go without having to walk through the ravenous crowd. The room reeks of old sweat and blood. Noah props Alec up on a stone bench in one of the cells we reserve for prisoners, and shackles his arms above his head. The other fighters look on with interest. A few call out insults of Alec, but they return to their card game. They’re used to sharing their digs with the damned.
Antony’s lip curls back as he recognizes Alec. He looks to me, and understanding flickers in his eyes. “How the fuck did you get him out of Vault without anyone seeing you?”
I pat George’s shoulder. “It was all George’s idea. She pulled the fire alarm. We snuck him out a side door in the chaos. Right now, Nero’s people are too busy dealing with the fire department to notice a missing guest. The firefighters are going to insist on searching every room, which means that when they find Daphne he’ll have a hell of lot of explaining to do. He’s gonna be so pissed.”
Behind me, I hear a whoosh of water as Noah upturns a bucket over Alec’s head. I wanted to be in the room when he woke up, but I’ve got plans to make. The work of an Imperator is never done.
I take George’s hand and place it in Gabriel’s. “You don’t have to stay for this,” I tell her. “I won’t fault you if you leave. But I want you to know that I’m doing this for you. I am a shit best friend. I’ll probably forget your birthday. I won’t reply to texts. I’m flaky and damaged and self-absorbed and a general bad influence. But I can give you this. I can give you the justice you can’t take for yourself. Do you understand?”
George nods.
“I can get Tiberius to take you home if—”
“I’ll stay.”
My eyes narrow. “It’s not going to be pretty—”
Her eyes narrow right back. “Make him suffer.”
That’s my girl.I kiss her cheek, then touch my hand to Gabriel’s, rubbing my finger across his jaw. “Your job is to look after her,” I whisper. “Be your big-hearted, beautiful, broken self. Let her fall to pieces with you, because I don’t have it in me to be human tonight. Not where he’s concerned.”
Gabe nods. He leads George off toward the staircase leading to the private area reserved for Imperators. Noah drags a struggling Alec from his cell while I whisper my plans to Antony. He whistles. “And I thought the beating we gave him in class was brutal. I’ll make the preparations, cousin. This will be fun.”
I leave Alec in Noah’s capable hands and take Yara with me. We don’t follow George and Gabriel through the private entrance. Not yet. Both Nero and Constantine and their people are here tonight. I want to make an entrance. I want to make it clear just how much of a threat I am.
I drag Yara into one of the guest rooms, and we touch up each other’s makeup. Alec tore the hem of Yara’s dress, and I have his blood speckled up my arms. I don’t bother to wash it off. Let them see that their Imperator will get her hands dirty.
We link arms and emerge at the back of the crowd just as Noah enters the ring, his barbarian mask firmly in place. People leap to their feet, cheering for their favorite fighter, knowing they’re about to see something special. But no opponent enters the ring. Noah stands still as a statue, his naked chest glistening with sweat beneath the harsh floodlights, the mark of August clearly visible on his wrist. Yara and I start to walk toward him. Women gasp as Noah drops to one knee, his head bowed in reverence to me.
Slowly, heads turn toward us. I hold my chin high. The crowd parts. Men stare at Yara with hunger in their eyes, but no one dares to make a move.
Every eye in the place is on me.
I raise my chin to the VIP area, where George and Gabriel sit at the August table, a bottle of something between them. George nods to me. Beside them, the other two tables are full of people, but I’m only interested in two men.
Constantine stares down his long nose at me, his eyes dancing with the promise of blood. If I were into older guys and didn’t already have three boyfriends I’m totally crazy about, I might’ve been into him. Bloodlust looks good on him.
Nero grins, his whole body shaking with suppressed laughter. But it’s a ruse – I can read his rage in his eyes. I’ve dealt him too many blows – freeing his shipment of girls, swiping the animals he intended to use to sell his entertainments, and right now the fire department is around at his new club. To add insult to injury, I’ve hijacked our people at their most bloodthirsty to deliver some kind of message.
I surprise him. And for all his false mirth, Nero Lucian doesn’t like surprises.
Eli’s mother sits beside Nero, scowling at me. She hates me because if I marry Nero, she won’t be able to. Well, she’s welcome to him.
Beside me, Yara holds her head high, holding the crowd back with nothing but her remote, penetrating stare. I hear whispers about her. Word spreads through my people that she was one of Nero’s girls, and now she walks by my side, reinforcing the law I’ve laid down. The August family doesn’t deal in skin, and in this new world, anyone can rise in favor. They don’t know how special Yara is – she wasn’t born for this life, but Nero’s crueltymadeher, shaped her into a brutal and calculating ally, a woman I’m proud to have at my side.
By the time I walk onto the gangplank atop the arena, the crowd is on their feet, roaring and baying for blood. An Imperator interrupting the entertainments unannounced? They know something very special is about to happen. I raise my hands for silence.
“Hello, everyone. Are you enjoying the fights?”
