Could Gannicus feel it?

Four words had never struck her so hard. She recoiled from the man, fearing he may deal her yet another blow. She made to disentangle herself from him entirely, but found her movements restricted when his hands grasped at her, his fingers digging into her hips as he held her in her place, her thighs still wrapped around him. "I'll not be a Roman plaything," he told her.

Octavia struggled to remain impassive; his fingers would leave bruises, she was certain, and it was no easy task to keep the pain from her face. "You label me Roman and yet mistake me for frightened rabbit," she said. "The next hand you place upon me will be struck from body, Thracian. I wonder how long it will take a one handed gladiator to earn his wife's freedom."

His vision blurred red. He blinked and found his hand at her throat, fingers tight. He yanked her down into the bath and forced her into the wall when her legs began to kick at him, pressing his body against hers to keep it still, "What do you know of my wife?" he demanded. Her eyes were wide as her lips parted either to draw breath or give answer, but his fingers were tight around her fragile neck; if he but squeezed a bit harder … instead his fingers loosened, only enough for her to gasp and glare at him furiously.

"Wit leaves you with threat of a hand, and instead you bargain your life?" she wheezed, his hand still pressed firmly against her chest. "A dead husband would be a blessing to your wife," she spat and he moved his hand towards her throat again before feeling something sharp press threateningly against his side. "Go ahead," she encouraged. "Nothing would please me more than to watch you bleed out like one of the pigs you fucked back in Thrace."

He had felt the cut of a blade before, ones much larger than the one she wielded. "Guards!" she barely had to raise her voice before they entered the room and he quickly released her and made to step away before he flinched upon feeling the burn at his side and barely had time to glance down at the water turning red around her, the blade in her hand piercing the surface as she brought it up, "I am not in the business of empty threats," she informed him, her voice cold as the guards reached into the bath and yanked him, from it, dragging him from the room.

Spartacus thought himself freed from her presence as he was carried back to the bowels of the ludus, the gash at his side seeping, but not fatal in the least, hardly enough to afford him time with the medicus. "To the sands," he heard her command from behind, proving him half right on his thoughts; he wouldn't see the medicus, but it seemed he'd never be freed of the girl.

The clashing of practice swords on wooden shields and the grunts and shouts of the gladiators was his first greeting, the second being the sand in his mouth as he was tossed into it. He scrambled to get bearing on his position and the guards around him. They were retreating, however, and he instead sought the girl; she stood before him, her dress soaked and clinging to her, pink with his blood, and the dagger still in her hand. "Crixus," was all she said. It was all that needed to be said.

Spartacus had never known the ludus to fall so silent, though the gaze of all the men upon him was more than familiar. Even the fury that passed over Crixus's features was familiar, though he had never seen the man look quite as enraged as when his eyes fell upon Octavia in her current state. "Domina," he replied, stepping forward without hesitation. He was a bundle of energy, on the tips of his toes as if barely able to hold himself back from lunging for the man before him.

"Spartacus has forgotten his place and begs demonstration as reminder," Octavia said. "Oblige him."

Spartacus's eyes found her for just a moment, surprised to hear her speak the command, but he focused on Crixus again upon hearing the man move, leaping to his feet as quickly as he could, which wasn't quite fast enough. Crixus's shield hit harder than anything he'd felt before and his body soared into the air before slamming back down to the sand.

Crixus was on top of him in an instant, landing one punch against his jaw, and then another, before Spartacus grabbed his arm, grappling with him until the pair rolled onto their sides. But then Crixus's head flew forward, and Spartacus's vision went blurry as blood poured from his nose. Crixus's fingers found the hole Octavia had left in his side, digging and tearing inside of it until he screamed.

"I don't think that's quite low enough," he heard the girl say, before he was forced to roll over, his face pressed down into the sand as she placed a dainty, sandaled foot against his cheek to keep him there. "Remember this, Thracian, the next time you think yourself a man instead of a slave."


Lucretia and tried, and failed, to tempt the wife of Gaius Claudius Glaber with food and wine, only to have the woman request water, while their husbands stood overlooking the sands as the gladiators below trained. Ilithyia let out an anguished sigh as Lucretia handed off the full wine goblets to a slave, waiting for water to take their place. "The heat and the dust ... will it ever rain again?" she practically whined, sounding more a petulant child than Lucretia could recall her daughter ever had.

"We can only pray," she replied as Ilithyia wandered around the table filled with the fine delicacies Lucretia had prepared for their company. She left them untouched, barely glancing at them, before approaching the balcony, continuing her complaints of Capua and its drought. Lucretia thought the girl would never cease her tongue and approached her with water, hoping to occupy it.

"Perhaps we've done something to offend them," she supplied offhandedly. It was all she could do to pacify her; if food and wine did not work … a wicked smile crept across Ilithyia's face, impish really.

"I try to do a little something everyday," she practically squealed, taking the slightest sip of her water. Lucretia pacified the girl as long as she could while their husbands continued their conversation before an unexpected voice carried up from the sands below. Had the voice not stolen her ear, the name it called would have. Curious and a bit concerned, the women joined their husbands to look below. Lucretia's jaw nearly cracked when she saw her daughter, soaked and carrying a bloody dagger, every eye in the ludus upon her … until they weren't.

Lucretia was certain Ilithyia would ask a dozen questions but the moment Crixus took to Spartacus, they evaporated from her tongue like a drop of water on the streets of Capua. "What is a child doing in a ludus?" Glaber finally asked, sounding less appalled than one might expect at the sight of Octavia pressing her foot into Spartacus's face.

"Octavia," Batiatus clarified. "The Thracian's fate is sealed, only its mean of delivery remains in question. He may find it a blessing to fall in the arena and escape wrath of loving daughter."

"Daughter?" asked Ilithyia, finally finding her voice. "How curious," she muttered as Octavia finally turned her back to the sands and reentered the villa. Crixus spat down at Spartacus, who appeared to be struggling to catch his breath, before returning back to his sparring partner. "A wild thing, is she not?"

Lucretia's tongue struggled to find the words to answer. Octavia had been a frequent visitor of the sands when Gannicus had yet graced them. She had not seen the girl return to them in many years, and certainly not in such a fashion. "She was raised in the ludus," she finally answered. "One learns to contend with the beasts below."

"She seems half beast herself," said Ilithyia, the amusement evident in her tone. The girl had looked positively deranged in her torn and drenched gown, her hair little more than a nest of curls clinging to her forehead and cheeks. It was no easy feat to to reconcile that this was the same girl rumored to have earned Julius Caesar's favor. "I shall have to assist you in making a proper Roman of her."


Octavia stormed back into the ludus, past the iron gate that kept the gladiators trapped below. She only made it so far as the stairs before she succumbed to it, the name threatening to envelop her like a silent tsunami. It was right before her, and her arms and legs felt paralyzed as the flow of time stopped. The air grew thin and she had trouble breathing as the tsunami's liquid wall swallowed her whole. Sounds grew distant as the familiar image was projected onto the screen of her consciousness again and again as his laughter and his warm, familiar scent, sweat and sand and blood mixed into one, hovered faintly in the air.

How long had it been since that name had been spoken anywhere but in the deep recesses of her mind? How, after so long, did it still have such a powerful hold over her? She was not the little girl she had been but his memory still proved more effective than Spartacus in choking the life from her. He had been the sun, never to rise again, and she had long resigned herself to the darkness until Spartacus threatened her with flicker of light long forgotten.

"Domina," a voice called, warm, strong hands embracing her and pulling her back out of the depths. Melitta's eyes fell upon the skin at her throat, already shaded a painful lilac hue that likely matched the flesh of her hips. "Oenomaus will throw him from the cliffs."

"The man will seal his own fate, Melitta," she assured the woman. "I need no hand in it."


Author's Note: Listen, I know y'all thought I was dead. Or, worse, alive and never planning to update this story. Fortunately for you, the friend I originally wrote this story with had revamped her interest in Spartacus. As such, expect many updates coming very soon. :)

Special thanks to:

Arianna Le Fay: Caesar went through a lot of development before saving the Roman woman. Don't worry - he is not eternally the villain of the story. Melitta is definitely still here. Her and Gaia were two of my favorite characters and I wanted to give them both different endings. As for Spartacus and Octavia … you'll have to wait and see. :P

Leah Tatyana Nicole: Caesar will be seen very soon. He won't be in Blood and Sand, but we will have a flashback chapter to the three years the story skipped. :)

swingrim: I wish I could tell you for certain about Crixus and Octavia's relationship in this story. As we write it, we keep flipping back and forth on whether or not to include him as a love interest for her. We both love Crixus dearly, but we will have to see how he fits into the story with her as we wouldn't want to force a romance that doesn't quite fit.

Eitan: I also agree that there was a lot of potential during those three years. Don't worry, there will be a flashback chapter for the three years we skipped. :)

KEJunge: I'm always happy to hear that including Crassus and Caesar worked out well as it was a bit of a stretch for the imagination. I'm also thrilled to hear how fast you read all the chapters! :) Thank you for the review, and I promise not to hold back on any cruelty for the characters.

VikiHungerrgame1: You are so right, Octavia was very naive. It's a flaw for her in the earlier chapters, and Gaia definitely had the right of the situation. As for Grandpa - he dead. Melitta and Gaia, however … :P

Octavia is sixteen in the beginning of the story and therefore 19 at the start of Blood and Sand. As for Caesar, you'll be seeing him soon. :D

And everyone else! Thank you so much for all of the reviews and private messages you've all sent over the past six months or so that you've been waiting for an update. I know it's been a terribly long time without any new content, but I think it's important not to rush a story when you're not feeling inspiration for it. Hopefully you're all still with me and you'll enjoy the new chapters, coming soon! :)