The Valiant (The Valiant #1)(68)

I heard Elka chuckling.

“Little fox,” she said, “you escaped from a cage once already. And love, the old crones of my tribe would tell you, forges cage bars stronger than iron. Maybe don’t push your luck, ja?”

Love? No. Oh no.

I tried to tell her she was being ridiculous. But when I opened my mouth, nothing came out. Elka shook her head and clapped me on the shoulder before retiring to our tent for the night. I should have followed. I was tired, and most of the other girls were already chasing sleep. I watched Elka go and turned back to where Cai still stood staring at me.

We hadn’t spoken since the infirmary, since I’d cracked Cai’s rib and—perhaps even more painful to him, if Charon was to be believed—rejected his offer to buy my contract for a second time. I thought of Mael and how I’d pushed him away so that I could chase glory in my father’s war band. I didn’t want to repeat that terrible mistake, not with Caius Varro.

In the distance, I could hear the muted whine and ring of metal grinding on stone. Beyond the boundary of our camp, the ludus weapons masters had set up a tent and would be busy, deep into the night, cleaning and sharpening swords and spears in preparation for the next day. The sound was a lullaby for a gladiatrix, but I was wide awake. I stood and threaded my way between the glowing circles of the fire pits.

“Decurion,” I said quietly when I reached him. “May I ask you to accompany me outside the camp?”

Cai stepped away from his fellow soldiers, his gaze questioning. But he nodded. “Of course, gladiatrix.”

We walked silently, side by side, to the camp entrance, where a ludus guard straightened at our approach and nodded respectfully first to Cai, then to me.

“I need to pay a visit to the weapons tent,” I said to him. “I’ll be brief.”

He glanced at Cai and then moved aside. The dew-wet grass brushed my bare calves as I walked the short distance to the entrance of the tent. The canvas walls glowed golden from the fire within, and I could smell the tang of metal and wood wafting on the night breeze.

“Oro,” I greeted the master smith. “I beg a favor.”

He straightened up from the freshly sharpened spear blade he was attaching to a wooden shaft and grunted a query at me. A genius with metal, he hoarded his words like gold. I lifted a hand to the iron slave collar that circled my neck.

“Please,” I said, an unexpected knot in my throat. “Take this off.”

Oro’s eyes gleamed in the firelight, and he muttered something behind his singed beard that might have been “About bloody time.”

He went to fetch his tools, and Cai stepped up behind me, gently gathering my hair off my shoulders and lifting it out of the smith’s way as he worked. I held my breath, and it was over in an instant. The bolt holding the ring together fell away, and Oro pried the ends of the iron open, sliding it from around my neck.

I let my breath out in a gasp and took the collar when he offered it to me.

“Thank you,” I said.

He waved us away, turning back to the spear he’d been working on. I pushed the tent flap aside, and Cai and I stepped back out into the darkness. The stars overhead seemed brighter somehow.

“Take it,” I said, holding the collar out to Cai.

He wrapped his long fingers around the broken iron circle and looked at me, uncertainty in his eyes.

“Consider it a promise,” I said, wrapping my hand around his. “I understand now why you wanted to buy my contract.”

He shook his head. “I never wanted to own you, Fallon. Only free you—”

“I know,” I interrupted. I needed to explain how I felt in a way that I’d never truly been able to with Mael. “But don’t you see? That’s not real freedom—not for a Cantii warrior. There will come a day, Caius Varro—I promise you—when I will be able to buy my own contract. On that day, if you’ll wait for me, I’ll come to you, and we can be together as equals.”

I smiled up at him and saw in his eyes that he finally understood.

“I’ll wait for you, Fallon,” he said, slipping my iron ring into the leather scrip hanging from his belt. “Forever, if I have to. Although I’d rather not wait quite that long, if it’s all right with you.”

I laughed and was astonished at how good it felt to do that without iron around my throat. I lifted a hand to my neck and felt the circle of calluses left behind, like a phantom collar. Cai reached up and ran his fingertips along my skin, and I shivered at his touch.

“The marks will fade,” he whispered.

I nodded as his hand shifted to slide into my hair, and he brought his face down to mine and kissed me. The kiss thrilled through me all the way to my toes. I wanted to draw him down into the long grass and wrap his arms around me, but I didn’t dare. We were so close to the camp, and even kissing him in that moment was a risk I couldn’t afford to take.

With a reluctant sigh, I pulled away. At the same time, Cai seemed to remember himself and stepped back as well, but I could hear his breathing over the clang of Oro’s hammer, and his eyes were large and dark in his face.

As he walked me back to the camp, I saw a familiar figure standing at the entry. My sister, her arms crossed and her brow knitted in an angry frown.

“Decurion,” she said.

“Lady.” Cai lifted his chin, and for a moment I almost thought he was going to salute. “This gladiatrix needed her equipment tended.”