GladiatorsAtonement Read online

  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.”

  She smiled. “Still, I shall clean it.” She slid from the bed, the sheet dropping from her body. She padded naked across the room. Eratos growled in appreciation at her womanly figure. He needed her now to appease the bloodlust in him.

  Coming up behind her, he pressed his body into the softness of her back. “Anam cara, I need you.” Nibbling on her shoulder, he said, “Let me love you one more time until the dawn parts us for the day.”

  Helena moaned as he reached around and cupped her breasts. “Yes, by the gods yes.”

  “I have one request though, anam cara.”

  “Anything.”

  “Ride me.”

  The request caught her off guard, but thrilled her still the same. A shudder of expectation rippled through her as he ran his knuckles against her face. Her body was reacting to his touch, her skin felt like as if it were on fire.

  She trembled, but not from fear. She trembled because she wanted more. She wanted to take control of their mating.

  Eratos took her hand, leading her toward the pallet. He lay down against the sheet and Helena leaned over him, pulling his tunic from him.

  “You are beautiful,” he whispered, running his fingers through her hair, which rippled over her shoulders.

  “And you are handsome.”

  Eratos grinned as she ran her fingers over each scar, tracing over the puckered flesh.

  “Do my battle scars disgust you?”

  “Nay, they do not. I am sorry they mar your flesh.”

  He cocked an eyebrow as he fingered locks of her hair, twirling the ends around. “Nay, they do not mar. They serve as a reminder to be more careful.”

  “Aye.” She leaned down and captured his lips, before nibbling down his body as he had done to her. “Then it is a good thing you have that reminder. I would hate for anything to happen to you.”

  Her heart raced, her blood thundering through her as she traced her hands down over his hard abdomen—her fingers brushing his hard shaft. Eratos sucked in a deep breath.

  “Did I hurt you?” she teased. Helena knew she did not hurt him, instead she repeated the movement and Eratos groaned again.

  “Anam cara, you torture me so.”

  Helena sighed softly as she straddled his hips. His hard cock pressed against her core. He ran his hands up to her breasts, cupping them, teasing the nipples, sending a jolt of liquid heat through her body.

  Eratos was called a heathen by her people, yet he showed her kindness, he was gentle. She kissed him again, letting his tongue plunder her mouth. Her body came alive, as if it had been in a deep sleep. Bliss coursed through her at his touch.

  She broke the kiss, pushing him against the sheets. Reaching between them, she encircled her palm around his cock and slowly lowered her sex onto his shaft. Helena bit her lip to prevent herself from crying out as she mounted him.

  Eratos let out a throaty moan when he was fully seated inside her. His hands slid from her breasts to her hips.

  “And how do you like this position, little one?” He chuckled softly.

  “I like it very much indeed.” She moved her hips, slowly moving up and down his cock. “And how do you like it?”

  “Mmm, I enjoy having you riding me.” His fingers slipped through the curls at the apex of her thighs to rub her clitoris.

  “By the gods,” she whispered, quickening her pace.

  She let out a small cry of delight, surprised at what he was doing. Was this part of lovemaking? Was this what was going on during all those feasts? Helena had been pleasantly surprised when he took her maidenhead. She had no idea mating could be so pleasurable.

  Warmth spread through her body like an inextinguishable fire, her body going taut as ecstasy enveloped her in a warm cocoon. She loved mating with Eratos and she knew a fortnight would never be enough.

  She wanted to be his and his alone.

  He thrust upward quickly, meeting her rhythm. He held on tight to her hips, his fingers digging into her flesh as she rode him like a wild stallion.

  Eratos began to thrust harder, faster. Helena reached forward, clutching at the bedding as she felt a coil of heat begin to unfurl deep in her belly. She was going to come again. She arched her back, crying out as the pleasure overtook her. Eratos let out a loud shout and stiffened, spilling his seed into her. She could feel his cock pulsating deep inside her.

  Helena collapsed against his chest that was moist with sweat. His heart was racing, pounding against her ear. It slowed down as they both caught their breath. Eratos caressed her back, his hands running over her skin.

  They had been so lost in the moment—they had forgotten they were not alone in the house. Helena listened for any sounds that they had been heard, but the house was still silent. She rolled off Eratos, nestling beside him once more, and promptly f
alling fast asleep.

  Chapter Three

  Eratos left her with the coming dawn with a brush of his lips against hers and a promise he would return when it was safe. Though she knew he wouldn’t be far off, she would still miss his presence. As much as she wanted Thelonius to die, she worried about Thelonius’ power and the threat he had given to Helena five years ago. She did not want to see Eratos die in the gladiatorial arena should he fail in his quest. Eratos did not deserve to die, she did not want him to die—the way her father had died because of Thelonius.

  Helena had dressed in a simple linen shift and then returned to bed, waiting for Thelonius to discover Eratos’ message.

  She did not have long to wait before his cry rent through the still morning, causing a large flock of cormorants to squawk and depart her garden. Helena grinned, but it didn’t take long before she heard the uneven sounds of Thelonius lumbering down the stairs of the main hall. He burst into her room, his face sweaty and red. His eyes wide with fear.

  “You, come with me.”

  “Why?”

  Thelonius’ body shook with rage, his face red. “Now.” Reaching out, he grabbed her, dragging him from her bedchamber before she had time to affix her stola. He dragged her up the main stairwell to his room.

  He pushed her into the room and she came face-to-face with Eratos’ bloody handprint and the message of revenge he had carved into the plaster of the wall.

  “Well?” Thelonius demanded breathlessly. “What do you see?”

  “I see someone does not like you very much.”

  “Do not be flippant with me.”

  Helena turned around and stared at Thelonius. “I am not being flippant, nor contrite.”

  “I think you know more than you are letting on.”

  “Why would you say that?”

  Thelonius’ eyes narrowed. “Because the guards remained outside my door all night, and the only other way in is the passageway from your chamber.”