Finally. Felix paid from the ludus funds and tucked the rolled bundle under his arm. The price was a little high in his opinion.
“I hope to do business with you again soon,” Ilias said with a smile.
“My sister is bald and pastes her eyebrows on.”
Ilias’s mouth went slack. Felix gave a nod and turned away, squeezing his eyes shut in horror as he marched out of the markets and back toward the Ludus Gallicus.
My sister is bald and pastes her eyebrows on?
That was not the way to control the situation.
Plus, Felicia was going to kill him.
XXV
ADAMP CHILL CLUNG TO THE AIRas the winter sun climbed into the sky, illuminating puddles from the previous night’s rain. Adel filed out of the triclinium, her dawn meal of gruel and ash-laced water sitting in her stomach like a stone. She’d forced it through bruised lips and now wondered if it would stay there. Biting back grunts of pain, she made her way toward the gladiatrix ring.
“What happened to you?” Wulfula edged up beside her, voice low in concern or... possessiveness. As if the thought of someone else’s hands on her might send him into a jealous rage.
Adel kept her eyes forward. “You should see my opponent.” Even speaking made her face hurt.
“Always too much confidence.” Wulfula shook his head. “Are you training to be acestusnow? You’re supposed to duck and block during the fistfight, you know.”
Adel sighed, too tired for this. “You do not need to worry about me, Wulfula. I am not your concern. Nor do I answer to you.”
“You will need me one day. And when you call, I may not answer.”
Adel pressed a hand to her heart. “May that day come soon.”
The magistri barked orders for the provocators and gladiatrices to begin the day on the palus. Adel paused at the rack of rudes and jostled for the best of the wooden swords. Her favorite felt heavier today, as if the handle was filled with lead weights. The thought of swinging it for hours on end made her limbs feel heavy before she’d even begun. She rubbed her elbow, black and blue and tender. She’d never felt like this after a match, even when her arm had been sliced open. Perhaps, like an old sword, she was losing her edge. It happened to every fighter at some point in their career. They climbed a mountain or hill of success, stood at the top for the briefest of moments, and were shoved down the other side without warning. Perhaps her tumble was coming. Perhaps she was already in a free fall.
The thought made her mouth dry and laced her limbs with panic. She couldn’t be falling yet. She’d barely begun to rise.
Berit stumbled to stand opposite Adel, the palus pole between them. There was a strange gray cast to her skin in the morning light and Adel had the sudden sinking feeling that Felix had been telling the truth after all.
“Are you well?”
Berit gave an unconvincing nod and licked her lips as if her mouth had gone suddenly dry.
Ignacio barked at them to begin, and Adel swung first. Berit’s following swing was sluggish. The rudis nearly flung from her hand.
“Tighten your grip,” Adel encouraged. “Do not let Ignacio see you. He will keep you training long past the evening meal if he thinks you need to work harder to sleep at night.”
Out of the corner of her eye she caught a glimpse of Jovan stepping out of his office, eyes fixed on the gladiatrix ring. A man in shimmering blue moved to stand beside him. Someone looking for entertainment, or was it the game master? She couldn’t tell from here. Either way, Berit wasn’t putting on a good show.
Just do not drop it.
“Keep on.” Her words emerged sharper for the spectators.
The girl swung again and clamped her lips shut, shoulders jerking. Her sword bounced off the palus and spun through the air before clattering through the gravel two gladiators over. Jovan’s eyes snapped toward them.
Berit bent over, gulping air.
“Are you going to be sick, Berit?” Adel snapped, eyeing Jovan. “You should be, with that performance.”
Berit lurched forward and lost her morning gruel. She dropped to her knees, her limbs quivering. She spat and swiped the back of her hand across her mouth.
Adel shouted for a slave to clean the sand as she circled the palus to squat in front of her cousin. “Did you drink the wine last night?”
