Gladiator by Kate Lynd

skin was enough to make her want to strip down and mount him.
    But these last few weeks had been hard. She could feel that Veronica’s Military Elite was closing in on them though they were constantly on the move. Being midway through a pregnancy did not make maneuvers easy. She feared not just for her fate, but for her unborn children as well. Veronica’s jealousy and rage knew no bounds when it came to pregnant women... And since she was Public Enemy Number One she shuddered to think what her sister might do to her.
    The fire burned into the night and Tristan held her close. He smoothed her hair back from her forehead and pressed his lips to her forehead. “I promise you, it won’t be like this forever,” he murmured against her skin as he gazed into the fire.
    She wondered if he truly understood the Prophecy….whether he knew that it meant she would have to sacrifice her own life for greater good of the planet. Could he comprehend that the only part of her left would their children?
    “You’re too quiet,” he whispered.
    The babies moved again. She looked up at him and smiled. “I’m just enjoying you. This is so rare, a quiet moment to be together without having to worry if my sister is right around the corner.”
    There was a weariness to him that came not with age, but with worry. When the shadows played on his face they deepened the lines of life and made his eyes glow. She could see how her life and those of their children’s were weighing on him. And deep within she knew he still mourned his wife and children. She could sense her protective spirit all around them. Hell, she’d brought her to Tristan. But his son and daughter were out there, somewhere. She could feel them, too. And if they were alive, she wanted to find out where they were for him. She just needed his help to find them and he was completely closed down to the idea.
    “What are you thinking about?” he asked.
    “Your children.”
    “Don’t you mean our children?”
    She gazed up at him and said, “No, I mean your son and daughter who were taken from you.”
    His whole body went ramrod straight. “They’re dead.”
    “No, they’re not. They’re out there, but I cannot find them without your help.”
    “Please stop. When I get angry it hurts you, and I don’t want to do that.”
    “You’re not abusing me when that happens. It’s the nature of who I am and what we are. And I can find them if you just allow me to heal that part of your heart.”
    “It can’t be healed. Some wounds are just too deep. Just ask these people. Ask Damien and Lucilla. They love one another, but after being treated the way they were, it’s like there’s a wedge between them. Losing my children and being made powerless to save my wife killed a part of me. You’ve given me my soul back, but a piece of my heart has been destroyed.”
    His words stung her and she pulled away. She stood up and said, “I was put on this planet to heal it and its people and I will do it. With or without your help.”
    She strode away, a deep pain in her heart opening up and threatening to engulf her. She could hear Tristan calling her, but she was too angry to turn around. She needed to be alone and to analyze her feelings. The nomadic life had freed her from her sister and father’s grasp but not from the constant, nagging fear of being caught.
    “Alex!”
    She needed to cool down and just realized pain as deep as what Tristan and the others had experienced was something that would require the ultimate sacrifice. That was hard to swallow. It would require walking back into that arena and facing her biggest foes, risking it all. It weighed heavy on her, and the very thought of not being able to share it with the one man who had ever risked everything for her, to try and save her, was excruciating on nights like this. When everything was so peaceful and she felt surrounded and buoyed up by his love, to know that she would have to give it up in the end was not something