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Veacon Narr and Lady DeAlbero. When was the last time anyone saw her with him? We need any rumor.” The harsh reality of his whispered words stripped the sexual haze from her mind but did nothing to quiet the clamor of her body.
    “What?” She tried to sit up. His strong hand wrapped her neck and he shoved her back down and then covered her wi th his body. His hard cock slid into the warm crevice of her slick folds and teased her with the promise of its thickness.
    “ Vidcorders, remember,” he whispered against her lips. “Submit, woman.” Then his mouth closed on hers, biting and sucking at her lips, claiming her air, stealing the thoughts from her mind. She rose up, welcoming his kiss, wrapping her arms around him, pressing him to her with hands that clawed at the muscles of his back. Fuck duty. I want this man. She didn’t resurface from submersion in his kiss until cold air washed her front. Her eyes blinked open. Kneeling between her legs, Ramsey grinned down at her, rubbing a hand up and down his fierce arousal.
    “Up with you, wench. We have a busy day ahead.”
    “But, but,” she stammered. “Aren’t you going to – aren’t we going to –” Steffania didn’t care how needy she sounded. Damn it all, man. You can’t leave me like this!
    “I fight better when I’m a little ‘on edge’, sweetheart. Frustration makes me mean.”
    Well, it sure as hell doesn’t improve my disposition. Steffania tried to wipe her angry dissatisfaction from her face but she was sure her attitude slipped out.
    Ramsey lifted a lip in a humorless smile. “Get dressed and find me something to eat. Oh, and Steffania, don’t forget to wear all your jewels.” He leaned forward as i f to kiss her jaw and whispered, “I’d hate to miss anything going on in that lovely mind of yours.”
     

Chapter Four
     
     
    A chauffeured air-car took them the short, ten-minute trip to the training center. The gladiatorial training grounds adjoined the Dominion Games’ coliseum and consisted of multiple, sand-floored, rings. Hallways of raw stone columns still carrying the mark of the stonecutter circled the entire complex. The halls’ deep shadows and ornate wall fountains offered the gladiators and the visitors the only respite from the glare of light and oppressive heat on the ground level. Steffania’s eyes wandered, absorbing another expensive, expansive version of ancient, old-Earth Rome. Someone is caught up in their fantasy .
    Shaded by a gaudy red canopy, s he sat apart from the other slaaf in the second-level visitors’ gallery and looked down on the entire scene. A steady breeze billowed the canopy’s stiff, opaque material, making a soft whoomp, whoomp , but otherwise the only sounds were the clashing ring of steel and the animal grunts of effort from fighters below. In spite of the breeze, Steffania could feel perspiration pool between her breasts. Why doesn’t this place have environmental control? But she supposed the lack of modern amenities was all part of the attempted ‘realism’. Figures. My first time off Verdantia in years and I’m stuck in a flawlessly accurate rendition of ancient Earth.  
    Steffania effortlessly picked out Ram as he engaged in mock battles with a diverse variety of contestants – some more humanoid than others. The archaic weapons seemed an extension of his body, his strikes and feints assured and practiced. During the Haarb wars, Steffania had fought beside Ramsey and knew him to be a supreme killer, but she’d never had the leisure to observe him until now. She’d been engaged in a similar life-or-death battle herself. When you fight for your life, it tends to give you tunnel vision. Time passed unnoticed as she became lost in fascinated scrutiny of an apex predator. Like the great silver megaton sharks in the seething oceans of Aquarion, everyone was Ramsey’s victim but Ramsey was no one’s prey. The sun had shifted the shadows considerably when a woman’s voice broke her