Release Life's Rapture
Chapter 11: serva me, servabo te
"Save Me and I Will Save You"
The moments before dawn were quiet and barren, the newness of the abandoned city unnerving as Alexa and Gannicus stood waiting amid the hollow of two buildings. The man claimed the spot in front, between the open street and Alexa, as fingers twitched on the rough and worn hilt of his sword.
His other hand kept the girl close, his palm wrapped around her bound wrists, his thumb idling against the chafed skin that had been rubbed raw by bindings too many times in too few days. She had eased into him during the lingering minutes, her cheek pressed against a damp shoulder blade, eyes resting close until the inevitable presented itself.
"It's not too late," she whispered into his skin.
Gannicus peered over his shoulder, but didn't reply. His eyes were hard, and the look frightened Alexa, but she pushed forward. "You are a brave man, Gannicus, but destined to die well before your time if you proceed on this path."
The gladiator now turned around, the purple dawn light surrounding the two and holding them there, silent as they stared at one another. Alexa brought her hands up and placed them on his chest, aware of the fast pound of his heart beneath his otherwise inscrutable demeanor. "Gannicus -"
He released the hold on Alexa's wrists, and buried his hands in the nape of the girl's hair. He pulled, gently, making her bare her throat to him. He looked down at the soft column of flesh, stained lavender in the not quite risen sun. He knew well the feeling of her skin underneath the press of his lips, but not well enough. He wanted more time – time to explore and discover, to touch the girl in every place he could reach and then do it again. He wanted to hear her speak. To hear her laugh. Never has she done so in his presence.
But he would not run.
"I stay the course," he told her, words soft and without judgment. "You have yet to choose which road to take."
Alexa tried to look away, but the fingers in her hair were unyielding, and one hand drifted across her jaw, soft and slow and sweet, the gladiator's thumb caught at the corner of her mouth, daring her to move, daring her to stay, to speak, to do anything but stand there wide eyed and so beautiful, looking nothing like the girl he first met in the market, but everything like her just the same.
"I want you to choose this," Gannicus finally let himself admit. "Choose this and stay and do what the fuck you truly want."
Alexa shook her head and tried to push away, half-heartedly, but Gannicus wrapped an arm around her waist, pressing them even closer. His body was warm and hard and maybe it is what she wanted but - "Spartacus has already given me away."
The gladiator's other hand found her hip, and they were flush against each other from knee to thigh to stomach, only Alexa's bound hands between their chests parting them. Gannicus bent down, his lips hovering above the girl's, so close that when he spoke, the words fluttered across her own. "If you want this," he said, "I will see it done."
"Yes," she sighed, eyes heavy-lidded and half closed, fingertips sinking into Gannicus' smooth skin. "Yes, I want this."
Gannicus backed her into the wall, harder than intended, crushed her between his firm weight and the rough stone, and kissed her so fierce that her whole body felt aflame. She felt his cock beneath his clothes, already hard and thick and so tempting, so she moved her hips to press against it.
"You are no longer a slave," he growled, lips barely leaving hers. "Not to the Praetor, nor Rome, nor anything else that would bind you." He caught her arms, tugging at the restraints, and kissed each wrist in apology. "A necessity," he had to explain, "for now."
Her hands pulled above her head, both wrists firmly in Gannicus' grasp, his lips against her throat, and, oh gods, his other hand was spreading her thighs. His fingertips were coarse and scratched against her bare skin, but they felt far better than even the finest silk in all of Rome.
And so skilled, when they reached her cunt, sliding in so slow and slick, until Alexa could do nothing but throw her head back in a silent scream. Gannicus let go of the girl's wrists and pressed his fingers to her lips, pushing two into her mouth that she could suck on while he fucked her with his other hand.
Alexa's bound wrists caught behind his neck, pulling him down, pulling him closer. Doing anything to get flesh against more warm flesh, she arched and bowed, pressing her chest against his and lifting her leg to tighten around his thigh. A few strokes, that's all it took, and the heel of Gannicus' palm hard against her clit.
Spartacus!
Her brother's voice rang throughout the city, down the nearly abandoned streets, and found itself echoing through the hidden path where Alexa and Gannicus were locked in tight embrace.
"Come for me, Alexa," he commanded, one hand over her mouth, the other in her cunt, fingers buried deep inside of her. And she did, squeezing her eyes shut tight as Gannicus kissed her blushing cheek at the edge of his fingertips. She gasped and groaned, stilling the roll of her hips when the sensation became too much and pulled back, only to have Gannicus move with her.
He slid his fingers from her, circling her clit one more time just to watch her jump and gasp, all while kissing her so sweet that she could hardly stand on her own. "They are waiting," Gannicus whispered, smearing the words across her jaw. She nodded and inhaled, catching the breath that Gannicus had stolen from her and attempting to still herself on knees too weak to move with much purpose.
Gannicus gently brought the girl's arms up and over his head and held her wrists in his hand. He kissed her once more, almost chaste, and led her out into the open, revealing themselves to the men already gathered in tense congregation.
Alexa wondered how she must look, wearing slave garb that covered little, her jewels abandoned somewhere in the wood, and her hair in tangles. Her skin was hot, her body blushing rose and just coming down from the feeling of Gannicus' fingers inside of her. Alexa's eyes fluttered close at the thought.
Would her brother know her for what she truly was?
"Dear sister," Gaius said, casting his gaze over her once and then again, looking at her as though she was tarnished. "Have you come to any harm?"
"No, Gaius, I am well enough."
"And Ilithyia?" the praetor asked, turning his attention to Spartacus. "The old man claims you have her." Alexa began to speak, but Gannicus pulled her closer, letting the pad of his thumb linger against her wrist.
Spartacus removed a scrap of cloth from his belt. "Pulled from her dress, with her scent yet upon it."
Gaiu took the cloth and held it to his nose, inhaling the familiar scent. "A thing easily taken from a body robbed of life."
Alexa stood uneasy, shifting from one foot, then to another, her pulse hammering under Gannicus' thumb, so much that the man had to whisper words of comfort to her. "Patience, Alexa," he muttered under his breath. "I will see it done."
Her head jerked toward her brother when he called her name. "Come, you will return to Rome." But Gannicus held fast to her wrists, not letting her go even as his other hand came to rest on the hilt of his sword.
"Bring the wagon forward," Spartacus said, "then you may have the girl."
Gaius motioned to the man directing the cart. "I hold many regrets, since first we laid eyes on each other a lifetime ago. I pray that this decision does not stand amongst them."
Alexa looked up at her captor, but his eyes were on the praetor. "Gannicus?" she whispered, but the man said nothing, only pushed her back, toward the alley where the others stood in wait, and drew his sword as the cart door was opened.
Alexa spun unbalanced, breath knocked from lungs as she fell and landed on her knees without the use of her hands to catch her fall."Grab the girl!" she heard her brother yell. "Grab her!"
Her head was wrenched back by her hair and all she saw was the shadow of a man blocking the daybreaking sun before blood rained down upon her upturned face. A pair of hands grabbed Alexa's arms and hauled her up to her feet, pressing her into their side and almost dragging her away from the fight, away from Gannicus, away from Gaius, and away from Rome forever.