Here’s the first time the MMC and the FMC in my new release meet! (She was in the audience the day before when he had to fight 20 men and he definitely noticed her but they didn’t actually meet.) He’s now staying with Dmitri, another Badari he’s met.
He heard the front door open behind him but didn’t think anything of it, assuming Dmitri had been out for an early morning run. “I’ll cook us breakfast,” he said, turning with his hands full of the supplies he’d found, only to do a doubletake and stop in his tracks.
Marushka the daughter of the house stood there, dressed in a simple sundress and sandals, hair loose and flowing, clearly admiring his abs. Benet wished he’d taken the time to put on a shirt, not that he minded her frank appreciation of what he had to offer, but she was a lady and much higher in the social order here than he’d ever be.
A pair of large, purebred dogs gamboled at her side, clearly interested in the enticing aroma of the bacon. They were fluffy and white, with faces set in a permanent grin. Impossible to resist. The pair came forward to sniff at him.
“My lady, what a surprise,” he said in Basic, hoping she’d understand. He added a bow and moved to the counter to set down the foodstuffs.
“I’ll take you up on breakfast,” she said cheerily, seating herself at the table and smoothing the tablecloth. “I’ve only had morning tea so far and Dmitri makes the best pancakes.”
“I’m doing eggs and bacon today,” Benet said. “He cooked dinner so it’s my turn.”
“So domesticated,” she teased.
“I appreciate what he did for me yesterday and I’m grateful to be a guest in his home instead of cooling my heels in the dungeon. Unless you have a squad of guards waiting outside to take me there.” He chuckled to show he wasn’t serious.
“No guards. Dmitri’s my bodyguard,” she said. “And once my tiresome father departs for the capital, which he did before dawn, things go back to normal.” Gesturing at her dress and casual hairstyle, she added, “Like this. I’m left to my own devices which means I come to see Dmitri. And I bring my dogs. Father doesn’t like them so they’re glad of freedom today. Meet Oksana and Boris, shameless beggars who have been fed today, allow me to assure you.”
Benet wasn’t sure he understood the way things worked at this estate but he dug through a cabinet and found suitable frying pans. Cracking eggs after laying out the strips of bacon in another pan, he went to work cooking.
“You seem much better today,” she said. “I was so sorry for you yesterday. My apologies on behalf of no one but myself for the way you were kidnapped and brought here. I had nothing to do with it and nothing in my power to undo it either but for what it’s worth, my sympathies.”
“Kind of you. Dmitri said your father wants me to win some games for him?” Benet figured he might as well gather what intel he could, although her beauty and her proximity were severely distracting. He needed to redirect his focus. She called the dogs to heel and both settled at her feet, avidly watching Benet. Should he offer them a few morsels? Who could be immune to the mute appeal in their eyes?
“Not just any games but the Imperial Quadrennial,” Marushka said. “He invariably loses in the overall medal count and the big featured events and last time he was ridiculed for the team he fielded, which incensed him. The head trainer was executed and the surviving fighters sent to the mines. My father is big on obtaining revenge for failure by anyone to make him look good. Be warned.”
“So I’m part of a team? Who are my teammates?”
“Don’t worry about them,” Dmitri said, descending the stairs. “You’re a team of one for the main event.”
BENET: BADARI GLADIATORS SERIES BOOK FOUR
Benet Arencollo was a top ranked gladiator in the Five Systems, second in command at the House of Badari and acclaimed celebrity. He had the world at his fingertips…until he was kidnapped and taken to the Outlier Empire to compete in the sinister Empress’s Games. The shady noble who ordered him taken believes he’s an actual genetically engineered Badari Warrior. As Benet participates in training for the deadly events to come, he looks for ways to escape but Outlier is like a black hole – no way out. The only redeeming aspects of his captivity are working with a mysterious Badari who serves the Empress and finding the one woman who could capture his heart.
Marushka Nichevsky is a child of privilege and the daughter of the man who kidnapped Benet. She wants to be a veterinarian but she’s engaged to a man she barely knows and thoroughly despises and will be his trophy wife. Benet is everything she ever dreamed of in a romantic partner but their love is doomed given her position in Outlier society and Benet’s place as a prisoner.
Can Benet keep up the pretense of being a true Badari? Will his friends at home be able to locate and rescue him? And will he and Marushka find a way to be together?
Author’s Note: This is the fourth book in the Badari Gladiators series and can be read as a standalone (mild spoilers for earlier books). There are two instances of domestic violence off the page, not involving Benet, although the aftermath is shown and he is present for that. A couple other incidents of violence.
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