GladiatorsAtonement (2 page)

Chapter Two

Eratos was stunned when the words came out of her mouth. He
couldn’t believe such a beautiful, exotic creature such as Helena desired him.
He had often thought of it, thought of that moment before Thelonius had caught
them, when he pressed into her softness, overcome by his desire. For Helena to
offer herself to him was something from his dreams.

Resist, there is no time for this. Remember Thelonius’
threat.

Yet he couldn’t stop himself. His cock grew stiff under his
tunic, his blood heating. Even through her billowy stola he could see her
nipples harden. It was not empty words of offer, Helena did want him.

“Pardon?” he asked.

Helena moved closer to him, the scent of wildflowers and
myrrh assailed his senses in a heady, intoxicating way, wrapping him up in a
warm cocoon of arousal and want. His plans of revenge were quickly forgotten as
Helena pressed herself against his chest, her body soft, warm, melding against
him.

“I will let you torment Thelonius, but you must not kill him
until after you have lain with me for a fortnight. I will not be left a virgin
widow.”

“You are a virgin?”

“Aye, Thelonius has no strength in his rod for me. Even if
he did I would not let him. I burn with the same hatred for him as you.”

How can someone so innocent burn with so much hatred?
Still, he would not risk her life. He had to kill Thelonius first.

“Helena, I cannot promise you that. I must dispatch
Thelonius to Tartarus.” He tried to sidestep her and she blocked his path. She
gripped his arms, her fingers digging into his flesh.

“Please, you must not. Promise me.” Her eyes were moist with
tears, and her actions bespoke that of a frightened woman.

Why? I thought you wanted him dead as well?
But he
could not ask the question— instead he only reacted with gut instinct, pulling
her tight against him and grinding his cock against her. A sigh of pleasure
escaped past her lips, her eyes widening in surprise as he pushed her against
the wall.

“I will gladly do as you wish,” he whispered in her ear,
hoping he could keep his promise to her, though he seriously doubted it. “I
have thought of no one but you since that stolen moment five years ago.” Her
lips were so close. He cupped her face and brought them to his own. It felt
almost sacrilegious to be claiming such a soft, delicate, refined creature, to
meld his dry, cracked lips against something as supple and moist as hers, but
he could not help himself.

And just as he recalled time and time again, she tasted
sweet.

Like honey.

Helena broke away from his kiss, panting. “Not here.” She
pushed away from him and grabbed his hand, tugging him forward. “Come.”

Eratos followed her willingly as Helena led him through the
servants’ entrance. The darkness of twilight covered them as they sneaked
through the silent villa.

“Thelonius keeps to the upstairs, locked in his room like
the coward that he is. My chamber is on the far side of the house, far away
from him. No one will disturb us there.”

Eratos felt like an untried youth as Helena led him to the
far corner of the villa where her modest bedchamber lay. It had been so long
since he had been with a woman, so long since his intended had been killed on
the battlefield when Caratacus fell to Scapula.

It had been so long since he had the favor, the softness of
a woman’s embrace. He had thought of nothing but revenge for so long, he had
forgotten what it was like to feel desire, lust…need.

And by the gods he wanted her.

Her bedchamber was simple, meager for the lady of the house.
It mattered naught to him at this moment as she led him into her room. She shut
the wooden door behind them, sliding the bolt across.

The tension between them was palpable. Like the calm before
a tumultuous storm. They stood frozen in their respective spots. Helena was
only a few feet from him, yet it felt like a great chasm yawned between them.

“I have thought about you often,” she said, breaking the
silence between them. “I dreamed of you taking me, possessing me.”

“Aye, I have thought of the same,
anam cara
. Your
face has haunted my dreams, helped me through the nightmares of existing.”

She stepped closer to him, her eyes sparkling in the
darkness. A beam of moonlight filtered in through the slats that covered her
window. Helena was an ethereal beauty from his deepest desires, and he longed
to plunge deep inside her. But he could not. He had to be gentle with her.

“Eratos, I have dreamed of this moment,” Helena said,
stepping forward and running her hands over his chest.

“I too,
anam cara
.” He caressed her cheeks before
taking her lips in a gentle kiss. His hands roved down her body as he peeled
away her stola and robe. He sat down on the edge of her sleeping pallet to
fully appreciate the glow of her skin. He pushed the muslin off her shoulders.
It slipped down her body, pooling on the floor. He deftly removed his cloak,
tossing it over his shoulder.

His heart raced, his cock hard and thick with need as she
reached out and ran her fingers over the faint scars that nicked his face. Her
touch was soft and branded his skin in a way he had not felt in a long time. He
grabbed her hand, kissing the inside of her wrist where her pulse raced against
her skin. Her sigh of pleasure was like music to his ears.

Helena sighed softly as he pulled her down onto his lap. Her
bottom was supple and he could feel her honey against the bare skin of his
thigh. He captured her lips with his. Eratos kissed her fervently, letting her
know how much he had desired her. With each kiss, he tried to tell her without
words that he thought of no one but her those nights he was away.

She kissed him again, snaking her arms around his neck,
letting his tongue plunder her mouth. Her nipples brushed against the thin
fabric of his threadbare tunic.

He broke the kiss, pushing her against the damask sheets.
She watched him in a pool of moonlight that sneaked in from a slatted blind as
he undressed. She was like a goddess, her legs spread open, her sex wet, pink
nestled against the dark triangle of curls and waiting for him. Helena’s eyes
widened as he approached her naked.

Sensing her trepidation, he kissed her. “I will make sure
this is enjoyable for you.”

“I know you will. Come to me.” She held out her arms,
beckoning him. It was all the invitation he needed as he sank on the pallet
beside her.

He trailed his hands over her body, lingering on her
breasts, cupping them, kneading them. Helena’s eyes closed and her body arched.
He leaned over, kissing her breast before laving her nipple with his tongue. A
moan escaped past her lips and she pressed herself closer to him.

“You like that,
anam cara
?” He chuckled softly.

“By the gods, yes.”

“Do you want me?” he teased, nibbling on her neck.

“Yes, Eratos. Only you.”

She gasped in surprise as his hand slipped down her body
between her legs, his fingers caressed her slit, making her wet with desire.
His blood burned with the need to bury his face between her legs and taste her.

Kissing down the length of her body, he lingered, his lips
over her stomach and hips down to where he had just been caressing. Her hips
rose instinctively as he ran his tongue over her slit, tasting her sweetness.

She let out a small cry of delight.

“Do you like that?” he teased again. Helena moaned, but did
not answer with words—instead her hands ran over his scalp, forcing his mouth
back to her sex.

The tip of his tongue found her clitoris and began to swirl
around it, licking it upward. She began to grind her hips against him.

“You taste sweet,” he murmured against her thigh before his
fingers parted her folds, rubbing her clitoris with the pad of his finger in a
circular motion.

She grasped him, holding him in place as he sucked and
licked between her thighs. His cock twitched, demanding release.

Eratos shifted then and moved his shaft to the entrance of
her pussy. He looked down at her, legs splayed, her eyes glittering like
jewels. He wanted her and only her. He thrust forward quickly, breaking through
her maidenhead. There was a small sputtering of pain. She clutched his
shoulders as he held still, his cock buried deep inside, stretching her. She
was so tight around his cock, she sheathed him so well.

“I am sorry,” he moaned, his eyes closed. “Gods, you are so
tight. It has been far too long.” He surged forward, slowly. His hands spanned
her slim hips and held them up so she met every one of his sure thrusts, moving
up and down his hard cock.

Thrusting harder and faster, Helena clutched at the bedding
and he felt her sex clench around him. She arched her back, crying out as the
pleasure overtook her. Eratos quickened his pace, holding her tight against him
before muffling his cry of ecstasy and stiffened, spilling his seed into her.

He slipped out of her, falling beside her on the bed. Helena
rolled on her side and slide her arms around him.

“I should go before I am discovered.” He tried to move, but
Helena held him down.

“No, please stay with me. Please.”

Eratos looked at her, her brown curls tumbling over her
shoulders. Her lips were swollen with their shared kisses. Even though he
should go, he just couldn’t. He wanted to stay with her and make love to her
again.

“Aye.”

Helena leaned across him, kissing him. “Besides, this room
has an access point to Thelonius.”

Eratos cocked an eyebrow. Helena stood up and padded across
the room and opened what Eratos had assumed was a small cupboard. Sitting up,
he peered closer and saw a set of stairs twisting around a corner.

“What is it?”

“A servant stairwell. I discovered it after Thelonius left
last time. It leads into his bedchamber. From his room the door to the stairwell
is under a large panel of Thracian art. I do not think he knows it exists. It
is a way to enter his bedchamber undetected. So, I propose a bargain.”

“Oh?” Eratos asked, intrigued.

“Torture him instead of killing him.”

“Do not kill him? Why, I thought you wanted him dead as
well?”

Helena opened her mouth, and then shook her head. “Would it
not be sweeter to seek your revenge slowly? He has done so much and I would…I
would hate to see you travel down the same road of violence as he has done.”

“Helena—”

“It is why I showed you the passageway. I trust you. Eratos,
you are a better man than he. He deserves more than a swift death.”

She was right.

“Aye, I will try to hold off killing him.”

Helena shut the cupboard and returned to the pallet beside
him. Eratos collected her in his arms as she snuggled down against him. He ran
his fingers over her body, caressing her until she fell asleep. For he planned
to visit Thelonius tonight and give the bastard a message he would not soon
forget. Even though he would not kill him, he would make the jackal quake in
his boots. He would torment his former master the way he had tormented him.

It took only a couple of hours before Helena’s breathing was
deep and even in sleep. Her arm was draped across his chest. The moment he took
her maidenhead he almost lost himself, he did not think he could feel such
pleasure, such joy again. It scared him. He would have to keep his distance
from her, lest his heart was hurt again.

The thought of losing another loved one would be more than
he could bear. Helena murmured in her sleep and rolled to the opposite side of
the sleeping pallet. Eratos quietly rose and padded over to the pitcher and
bowl of water. He washed himself and pulled on his tunic.

Helena had begged him to stay the night, but he had some
unfinished business to attend to. Silently he opened the door to the servants’
stairwell, a secret staircase that would take him to Thelonius’ chamber and
bypass the guards.

At the top of the stairs stood another door, Thelonius’
door. He paused, pressing his ear against the wood, listening. All he could
hear was the steady rhythm of sleep. Lifting the latch, he entered the room,
moving as quiet as a shadow. When his eyes adjusted to the moonlight filtering
into Thelonius’ room, he had to stop himself from snarling when he spied his
former master’s large form curled up on a luxurious pallet in the corner of the
room.

He moved softly against the padding of the Persian rug that
covered the expanse of the bedchamber until he stood over Thelonius. It would
be so easy to kill him. Eratos unsheathed his small dagger, the iron glinting
in the beam of moonlight. He swore he could see the beat of his jugular,
taunting him.

Instead Eratos ran the blade along his palm, drawing blood.
Walking over to the wall opposite Thelonius, he smeared his blood on the wall,
and then carved
ultio ultionis
underneath the blood. Making it clear he
wanted one thing from Thelonius.

Revenge.

As much as he wanted to stay and see the look on Thelonius’
face when he woke up, he had to depart. Moving just as quietly, he made his way
back down the stairwell into Helena’s room.

When he entered her chamber he saw she was sitting up, the
sheet pooling around her waist, her long brown hair cascading down over her
shoulders. He caught a glimpse of her coral nipples peeking through the strands
of hair. She was still naked and his cock hardened again with need.

“I was worried,” she whispered. “When I turned over you were
not there.”

“I paid Thelonius a visit.”

Her eyes widened in fear. “Did you—”

“I did not break my promise to you.”

Helena gasped when she caught sight of the blood. “Your
hand, are you all right?”

Eratos sat on the edge of her pallet and she gingerly took
his hand. “I’m fine,
anam cara
. All I did was leave him a message of intent.
It is not deep and already the bleeding is waning.”