Lucullus’s words cut through her shock and dread. “I understand.”You can handle this. Youmusthandle this. If she couldn’t, then she’d have no choice but to return to her parents’ farm, where eventually she’d wake up to discover she’d been married off to one of their neighbors.
This life might test her, but that life was intolerable.
She gathered her legs beneath her and forced herself to rise to her feet, though she still felt unsteady. “I’ll inform Achilles. And if you’ll permit me, I’ll inform Ferox as well.” She bore responsibility for this whole situation, so it was her duty to undertake the awful task of telling them both.
“Very well.”
Achilles would likely be eating breakfast around now. Better to get this over with, so she nodded to her uncle, then left his office.
26
Herstepsheavywithdread, Velia made her way to the hall where the gladiators took their meals. It was nearly empty at this early hour, but Achilles was there, tucking into a bowl of steaming barley porridge.
She slid into the seat across from him. “I need to talk to you.”
He raised his eyebrows as he shoveled another spoonful of porridge into his mouth. “Then talk,” he said through a mouthful of food.
She hesitated, trying to find the words. “Your next match…the emperor has commanded…it will be against Ferox. And it will be to the—to the death.” She swallowed hard after forcing out the terrible mandate.
He paused, the spoon halfway to his mouth. She eyed him warily, unsure how he’d react. In any other situation, this would be a death sentence for him.
His arm lowered, returning the spoon to the bowl. “When?”
“Next week.”
Achilles leaned back, a considering look in his eyes. “All right.”
Velia frowned. “All right? I’ve just told you that you’ll have to face the man who trained you, the man whomadeyou, in a fight to the death, and all you have to say is ‘all right?’”
Achilles shrugged. “If you told me it was to be two weeks, or three, or a month…then I’d be packing my things and fleeing in the night. But now…” A touch of excitement flared in his eyes. “I have a chance. Imagine if I beat him, the great Ferox. My fame would explode. People would speak of it for years!”
Velia’s stomach twisted. “You can’t really be thinking of killing him.”
He returned to his meal, his appetite seemingly reinvigorated. “It’s either him or me, isn’t it? That’s what the emperor has decreed.”
A thread of an idea occurred to her, and in desperation she clung to it. “Listen.” She snatched the bowl away from him, ignoring his squawk of protest. “You must know you’re still at a disadvantage. Even injured, Ferox is ten times the fighter you are.”
He scowled at her. “Thanks.”
“I know he won’t want to kill you,” she continued. “What if you both agree not to kill each other?”
Achilles grabbed for his bowl back, but she held it out of his reach. “The emperor ordered it to be a death match,” he said. “I’m not stupid enough to defy that.”
“But Ferox is leaving anyway after this match.” Hope sprouted within her. Maybe, just maybe, if Achilles agreed…she could save them both. “He has nothing to lose by disobeying the emperor. So if you were to throw the fight, let him win…I know he’d swear not to kill you.”
Achilles finally succeeded in clasping his fingers around the edge of the bowl. He yanked, and they wrestled for a momentbefore his superior strength wrenched it from her grasp. “You talk as if I’m afraid of dying.”
“Aren’t you?”
“If the gamble is between dying or winning more glory than I ever could have dreamed of less than two months into this…I’ll take the bet.”
“Please,” she said desperately. “I can’t lose either of you.”
He gave her a dispassionate glance. “I’m not going to throw the fight, Velia. I know the odds may be still against me, but if I have the chance, I’ll kill him. No mercy.”
His words made her feel sick, but there seemed to be nothing left to say. Achilles’s eyes were steely with determination, and he seemed entirely unfazed by the prospect of death.
“Fine,” Velia sighed. She rose to her feet and turned toward the exit.
