Free Gladiator by Kate Lynd Page B

name.”
    “Tristan.”
    “Say it again.”
    “Lover.”
    “Say it,” he said, grunting hard.
    “Husband!” she shouted.
    He thrust hard and released again, all the built up tension draining from his body. She was beautiful. She was wonderful. She was sensational. “Do you really have to go to work today?” she asked with a playful smile.
    “Little devil. It’s a good thing I know what an angel you really are.” He kissed her tenderly. “I love you Alex. Do you believe in me?”
    She gazed up at him and said, “I’ve always believed in you. Now let’s go find your children.”
    He touched her and knew she already knew what he did. Their twins would have to be entrusted to the care of someone else for this to happen.
    “I can’t ask you to do this. Our children are just babies.”
    “You will have them again. Trust me on this.”
    “We will have them again.”
    She smiled sadly at him. “You are not going to die. If I can protect you and heal you, I can save you.”
    “Do you believe that in your heart of hearts?” she asked.
    “Yes,” he whispered desperately.
    “Then I believe you.”
    He kissed her as if he would never know thirst or hunger again and then said, “I have to make arrangements. Prepare our things and the children.”
    “Of course.”
    As he turned off the water and walked away he couldn’t help but feel a nagging pain that he might, despite his best efforts, lose her. Saviors were all too often sacrificial offerings to a greater cause. And if he believed in the truth of the Prophecy at all, he had to accept she might die. He shook his head to clear it.
    He couldn’t give into that doubt. The thought of raising their twins by himself was crippling. It was something he had to push out of his mind.
    At the moment, duty called. He had to speak to his fellow rebels, and gather munitions for the long road ahead.
    * * * *
    “Isaiah!” Tristan called.
    The young warrior, hearing the note of fear and anxiety in Tristan’s voice, turned around, his blood running cold. “Is everything okay?”
    “I’m afraid not. Alex is determined to help me find my son, and my daughter, and I don’t think I can stop her.”
    “Why would you want to?”
    “Because, you idiot, it puts our twins at risk. We can’t very well pack up and take them with us. It would be like painting a bull’s-eye on them and Alex. If something happened to them it… Let’s just say the ones responsible for it would have to stay clear of me.”
    “What do you need from me?”
    “You’re close to Lucilla, correct?”
    “As close as she’ll let anyone get, nowadays, I guess. The only one she really trusts is Alexandra.”
    “Do you trust her?”
    “I would die for her. Not that she’d notice.”
    “Would you die for my children?”
    “Yes.”
    “Then I need your help. Alexandra is not going to like it, but I need for you and Lucilla to take care of Hope and Daniel for us, while we search for Kevin and Elizabeth.”
    “No.”
    “What do you mean, ‘no’?”
    “I will not be a party to separating another mother from her children. I watched it happen too many times to ever do it again.”
    “We need you to do it for us.”
    “Then you underestimate what you and the children mean to her. If she’s the Healer sent to save us all, and I believe in my heart that she is, she hasn’t much time left on this earth. She’ll want to spend it with you and your children.”
    “She is not going to die. Do you hear me?” Tristan said from between his teeth.
    When Isaiah turned away he wanted to throttle him.
    “Don’t, Tristan.”
    He whipped his head around and saw Alexandra standing with Lucilla, each of them carrying a baby.
    “We can’t make the journey like this,” he said, walking up to her.
    “I can’t leave them behind. But if Lucilla and Isaiah come with us, then it will be easier.”
    “How? Instead of four mouths to feed there will be six.”
    “And when we find your children there will be