Hey :) I just want to say a quick thanks to everyone who's added this as one of their favourite story's and put it on story alert, it's good to know that you're still enjoying my story ^^ so here's the next chapter and I hope you enjoy ...
Chapter 21 – Tristan's POV
As I stood in the middle of the arena, methodically going through drills with my sword, drills that had been drummed into me as a child by Rome, my eyes kept drifting back to Alex, the same Alex who was currently standing smiling up at Marcus like some love sick fool. I felt sick to my stomach as I watched her act like a flirtatious little girl towards him. She was mine, not his! She should be at my side, nowhere near his! Nowhere near his reach!
"Stop staring," Lancelot hissed lowly as he stepped in front of me. "You are being rather obvious brother."
"Like I give a shit," I barked back at him, releasing some of my pent up anger on him.
"You really should," He started with a shrug, "Because if they catch you, they might end up punishing her for it, and we don't want that now, would we?" Lancelot spoke in an offhand manner but even in my rage, I could see his point. He didn't want to see Alex hurt anymore than I did, but his reasons for Alex's safety were far from similar to my own.
"Just because you see her as your only means of escape from this place," I snapped at him, advancing upon him my sword drawn.
"It's one of many reasons and you know it," Lancelot said frankly as he drew his twin blades. "You just want someone to attach, and you're biting at this opportunity to take your anger issues out on me! You do know that I can see straight through the cool facade you have in place Tristan. The colour green never did suit you well." Something in me snapped. Lancelot had never been one to read people well, me especially. I dived at him, anger and pain fuelling every one of my blows. Lancelot gave back as good as he got, relishing in the chance to fight properly, a privilege we had been deprived of for far too long.
"Enough!" Marcus. "Seeing as the two off you seem to be in the fighting mood, I'm giving you the pleasure of escorting Lady Clodia around the village." Now that had my attention, my fight with Lancelot all but forgotten as I turned to regard Marcus. "Be ready and waiting outside my villa in an hour." After his short order, Marcus spun on his heels, grabbing Alex by the elbow as he began leading her away from the stands of the arena, waddling as quickly as his Roman physique allowed him.
"Talk about putting on a show boy," Bors deep voice spoke with a chuckle. "Was there a reason for your sudden need to entertain that lot?"
"Yes," Arthur agreed, nodding his head softly, "Do the pair of you have something to tell us?"
"Nope," Lancelot said, flashing a boyish grin at them.
"Tristan," Arthur asked with a raised eyebrow a knowing look settling across his features.
"Nothing," I answered simply as I let my fringe fall in front of my eyes.
"You know lying never did suit you," Arthur said calmly, "You were always best suited for blunt truths. That way more people seemed to survive."
"Everyone's allowed a secret Arthur," I growled lowly, "Maybe you should remember that." At My words Arthur's emotionless mask fell into place, I had to snort at his predictability.
"Quite, but you still have to deal with the consequences of your outburst." Silence followed Arthur's cryptic words, forcing him to explain. "You put yourself in the path of pain. You have to escort Lady Clodia around a Roman infested village when I know all you want to do is grab her and run." I once again felt rage sweeping through my body, Arthur had struck to low for what he was supposed to represent.
"You know all about not being able to reach what you want, to save what you want, don't you my Lord." I said with a dark look in his direction as I sheathed my sword. I watched as blank expression settled over his face and I continued. "Dying in flames is a painful way to die I imagine."
"Tristan!" I turned at the shocked gasp of my name, leaving all my brothers standing in the centre of the arena and making my way to where the guards stood.
"Take me to my cell; I don't want to wait here until I have to meet Marcus." I growled at one of them, not caring who lead me from this place.
"Me too," Looking over my shoulder I saw Lancelot walking towards me. We were silent until we reached the cell, only when we were alone did Lancelot speak. "Arthur might have been wrong to bring Alex into things but you were way out of place to bring up his mother Tris'."
"He's knows the pain of not being able to save a person he loves, yet he takes it upon himself to rub that feeling in my face!" I yelled at Lancelot, losing the last hold on my self-restraint.
"He watched his mother die!" Lancelot cried.
"You think I don't realise that? Fuck you Lancelot! He has lost his mother; he doesn't have to sit in a cell wondering what Marcus is doing to person he cares about! I do!" I screamed at him, my breath coming out in short pants.
"You keep acting like this, and you're going to destroy yourself before you even get the chance to try and save Alex, let alone find out the reason she's here." I snorted at his words, but before I had the chance to speak again a guard appeared outside our cell door.
"It's time to go," He was young I noticed, he also never met mine or Lancelot's gaze as we left our cell.
"Are you going to calm down, or are you just going to continue to smoulder?" At Lancelot's question, I growled in response, deciding to ignore him and focus on leaning against the wall of the villa.
"Ah," I heard Marcus shout as he spotted us, "Good, you're here. I would have hated if you made Lady Clodia wait."
"Knights," Alex said shyly, I refused to look at her as she spoke. The pain that flared in my chest at only the sound of her voice had me gritting my teeth as I tried to regain control over myself.
"My Lady," Lancelot said his flirtatious facade fully in place.
"Let's go," I growled, turning away from the three of them.
"Knight," Marcus said lowly, "Remember your place, and remember what's at stake."
"I'm sorry my Lord," I countered sarcastically, "How could I ever forget my place? The place of a dog at his master's feet!" The look in I saw flash through Marcus's eyes was murderous and I knew with certainty I had a whipping awaiting me on my return.
"Please my Lord," Alex said softly, effectively distracting Marcus from whatever he was planning to do with me, yet I still avoided looking directly at her. "I am sure your knight is just worried about if he will be good enough to protect me. I am sure he is just worried what the outcome would be it he was to fail in his duties." I watched in disgust as Alex wrapped her arm around Marcus's, bile rising in my throat as I heard Alex whisper in his ear, a smirk formed across Marcus's features as she spoke.
"Don't make a wrong move Sarmatian" Marcus barked at me, "This little jewel is very precious to me." Marcus leered at Alex openly before he dropped her arm and walked away from us.
"What did you say to him?" I spat as Alex stepped forward, finally looking her in the eye. Her eyes narrowed at me before she answered.
"Why must you know everything knight? From what just happened, I saved you from a great deal of pain, can't we just walk in silence for a while." The emphasis on the word 'silence' wasn't missed so with a tight nod to Lancelot I turned and began to walk away from the pair of them.
"What's wrong with him?" I heard Alex asked quietly to Lancelot, the concern in her voice causing my chest to tighten.
"You princess," Lancelot answered with a chuckle, their whispering continued and I tuned most of it out until I heard Alex call my name.
"Take the next left knight, there's something I want to look at." I followed Alex's order, turning down a narrow alley way that lead to a dead end. "The door on your right, go in through it." I turned my head to look over my shoulder to see that Alex stood a few steps behind me.
"Don't mess with me Alex," I growled, taking her elbow and leading her so that she stood in front of me, her body flush against my own. "This is your plan, you go in first. In front of me," I spoke huskily into her ear, her body shuddering slightly as I did so.
"And after all this, I thought you would have some faith in me," Alex said calmly as she walked through the door and into a plainly furnished room. As the door closed behind me I noticed that it was only Alex and I that had entered, "I asked him to stay outside," Alex answered my questioning scowl, shrugging her shoulders as I continued to stare at her.
"What's this all about?" I finally asked with a sigh as I watched Alex walk over to stand in front of the fire.
"I needed, wanted, to talk to you without a Roman overhearing us." She answered me without looking away from the flames, her head bowed low.
"Why'd you come here?" I snapped angrily, my suddenness causing Alex's head to shoot up.
"I couldn't stay away knowing that there was a chance that I could help Tristan," She said in a pained voice.
"Well maybe I'd believe that more if you weren't flirting with Marcus and being offered to him as his mistress." Hurt flashed in Alex's eyes before her mask fell solidly into place.
"You dog! You heartless bastard," Alex cried as she stepped towards me, "You think I enjoy fawning over Marcus? You think I enjoy the way he leers at me, touches me? You are a fool if you believe that, an arrogant fool."
"And what is it you expect me to believe?" I asked, shocked by my own words and grimacing as Alex's hands came up quickly, slapping me hard on the chest forcing me to grab her wrists to stop her from doing it again.
"Do you believe me to be that shallow? That I would reduce myself to the level of a common whore just to save my own skin? No wonder they call you heartless." She said with a snort.
"Do you really want to go there Alex?" I snapped, spinning us and pushing her up against the wall that was behind me still keeping me tight hold on her wrists.
"Elhanan told me where to find you, I came to help." Alex whimpered as I pushed closer to her, something in her answer left me unconvinced.
"Try again," I growled lowly, "You seem to know more about this than Elhanan, who are you working with." It pained me, the mere thought that Alex could have turned on us, on me, but I had to ask.
"No," She groaned shaking her head. "It's not like that Tristan, I swear to you it isn't." Alex's grey eyes held such chaos within them that I felt like a fool for hurting her, but every instinct within me screamed at me that she was hiding something.
"I know your hiding something." I said simply.
"I don't care..." Alex moaned, trying to shove past me and away from the wall, but I held firm. "Believe what you want ..." What I wanted to believe was that everything was fine, that Alex was here, that Alex wasn't hiding something from me and that by the end of the day we would all be away from this god awful pace, but I knew that I couldn't.
"You don't know me!" I growled, "You don't get to tell me what to believe."
"And I think your just jealous," Alex spat, her eyes narrowing at me, firing burning in them now.
"What? I'm not jealous!" My voice suddenly losing some of its strength.
"Liar," She growled at me, "You think I can't see right through you? I was taught the same things you were in order to read people! I can read you just as well as you can read everyone else, and if you were any greener you'd glow!"
"Why did you come here?" I asked in a pained voice, "Why did you have to try a play the hero? You drive me crazy Alex, why can't you think of your own safety for once?"
"I didn't do this out of malice Tristan," She said gently, sliding her hands out of my now slackened hold and placing her hands against me chest, but I still didn't budge from in front of her. "I can't help it if the way he looks at me is the way I'm trying to get him to. There's a plan in place Tristan, I need to do what I have to do in order to save all of them, to save you."
"And that means you have to act as his mistress?" I sighed in defeat.
"Act? I will do whatever he wants me to do in order to get them back..."
"Shut up," I baked, closing me eyes and shaking my head, trying in vain to get the image of her and Marcus out of my head. "You don't understand how I feel when I see him touch you, speak to you, fuck, even breath near you."
"Then make me Tristan or do I have to go through this alone..." She challenged me and I broke. Alex was standing there, pinned to the wall by my body, standing there flushed and panting due to our fight and I couldn't hold myself back any longer. My mouth dove for hers, it was angry and possessive. The thoughts and feelings of how I'd believed I had lost her forever came flooding back to me, but the taste of her on my tongue had my pulling her closer. The hands she had placed on my chest slipped up to my neck to grip my hair hard, and I couldn't help the moan the escaped from deep within my body. My hands were completely out of my control now, one shot to Alex's waist, gripping her tight as I pulled her lower half flush with mine, the other tangled itself in her short hair, twisting it so she tilted her head to the side so I could deepen our kiss. A whimper escaped Alex's swollen lips as I made my way down her throat, altering between open mouthed kisses and nipping the gentle skin. I found myself drowning in her, leaning further into her, pressing her into the wall behind her, completely ignorant of the fact that Lancelot was outside the door mere inches from us. I massaged her tongue with my own, knowing that this would be the last time for a while that I would be able to kiss Alex the way I truly wanted. She frustrated me beyond belief but she was so beautiful and so wild, the urge to try and tame her was unstoppable but I wanted her, the real her more than I wanted anything else. She fit perfectly pressed against me; the feel of her alone nearly made me lose my mind. The sound of a deep cough had us both jumping. I took two quick steps away from her, my eyes wide under my fringe as I saw Lancelot standing at the door, a smirk firmly in place.
"Feel any better," Alex asked coyly as she bit down on her swollen lip.
"Shut up!" I snapped back at her but there was no anger in my words, and a genuine smile tugged at my lips.
"Well seeing as you two seemed to have sorted things out," Lancelot said with a chuckle, "You want to tell me about that plan you were talking about earlier."
"Um..." The hesitance in Alex's voice was something I had never heard from her before.
"Alex," The growl was back in my voice now, the dread in my stomach rising with it.
"I can't tell you," Alex said quietly, her eyes never meeting mine.
"If you tell us Alex, we can help," Lancelot said just as quietly.
"That's the point, you can't help!" The sudden shout from Alex had Lancelot jumping in shock and my eyes narrowing. Seeing the dark look on my face, Alex hurried to continue, "See if I tell you what I've got planned then Marcus will know something's happening because all of you will be acting differently."
"He barely visits our prison cell Alex, I don't think he'd know what our behaviour is like." I growled, cutting Alex off without care.
"Are you always in your prison cell? No, you aren't! You stay out in the open as long has Marcus has a show to put on for Aquila. If you know nothing, then you don't add to the risk I'm putting myself in and you don't add to the risk of my sisters getting hurt!" Alex was breathing deeply as she finished her rant, yet her words rang true.
"I don't' like this, I don't like you putting yourself in danger when there's no-one around to help you." I said softly, stepping forward to cup Alex's cheek in my hand so that I could make her look up at me instead of everything else in the room.
"Who said was alone," Alex said with a gentle smile. "I promise you Tristan, I will be safe, and I will have the girls safely away by tomorrow."
"How can you promise that?" I asked in slight confusion.
"You still have a lot to learn about me love, have faith in me." At the sound of Alex's pet name my heart swelled.
"We need to get back," I said with a quick look in Lancelot's direction as I leant down to kiss Alex gently on the forehead, a gentle sigh leaving her as I did so.
"We have faith in you Alex," I whispered low enough that only she would hear me, "But we are just as afraid of the unknown as every other soul is."
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P.s I hope to get the next chapter up soon ^_^