The steel bench screeches slightly as Rosie takes a seat next to me. I am watching Leslie spar with a fighter whom I am unfamiliar with and I see him glance my way every few seconds with a smirk on his face as he out does his opponent on every move.

Leslie is skilled. I'll give him that. 

"Memorizing his moves? Mugging up before an exam doesn't always help, you know?" Rosie wipes her hands over her pants and watches him as well. 

I simply nod my head, my eyes focused completely on his foot work. He loves to bring his left foot out as a ruse only to use his right leg for attack instead. It's really quite devious since most people would be focused on the first move to defend themselves and lose time to deflect his actual attack. 

What Rosie doesn't know is that I have been mugging up on his moves for the past few days. I've memorized his fights, his stances, his trajectories, practiced them with Cyscus repeatedly. My eyes fall to the beige floor that sinks in where they step as I try to ignore the gnawing feeling in my chest that just won't go away. 

"You haven't eaten yet," Rosie states and I close my eyes. I just don't have the appetite. "You need energy for tomorrow's match."

I finally look up at her face. Her brown eyes are focused on mine and the worry in them almost warms my heart. We've become so close ever since the party and it feels so good to have her by my side here. 

"I guess I am worried," I answer and look away. I'm worried about Lucian, more specifically what he has been up to. 

He has been missing ever since the night I saw him in the garden. It's all a blur of images and slurred speeches but I briefly remember him coming home later than usual and expressing my worry for him. I woke up the next morning only to find him gone again and haven't seen him since. 

Cyscus didn't seem to know much either, only that there were a lot of adjustments being done somewhere near the north gate which only made me think of one thing-the slave quarters. 

There was something going on and I just know it's not good. The feeling of uncertainty wafted in the air around me like a murky miasma, seeping into my pores and settling in my veins like lead. I hated not knowing and with Lucian missing I had no answers. 

"Do you know if anything's happening at the north gate?" I surprise myself by asking Rosie this  question and she looks just as startled. 

"I wouldn't know," She answers cautiously. "Why do you ask?"

"Heard there was something going on. Thought you would know," I say, studying her odd reaction. Her expression is guarded and her shoulders are squared, almost defensively. It makes me wonder if she knows more than she is letting on. 

She leans in until the sides of our faces almost touch. "Did your commander tell you something?" 

My mouth opens but immediately clams shut, the situation eerily familiar to when I confided in Stela that I wanted to escape. Right before she ratted me out. 

"No," I say, my face flushing red. 

"It's fine, I know something's going on as well. Just be careful who you talk to about it," She whispers and her voice is so soft I almost miss her words. 

"I'd like to practice with Aria the Bone Breaker next," Leslie suddenly announces from the ring. He speaks loud and clear, pronouncing each word slowly in staccato making it impossible to ignore. 

If his intention was to draw everyone's attention to him, it definitely worked. Almost everyone who wasn't practicing turned his way and then mine. I didn't plan on fighting him one day before our match but the situation seemed impossible to escape without me looking like a coward. 

I stand up slowly and walk down the rows of steel benches. Leslie's eyes never leave my face as I grab onto a rope that lines the ring and climb through them. Aries gestures for me to join the two of them in center and I walk up to them. From the corner of my eye I can see the benches have started to fill up with fighters.

I catch Rosie's eye and she nods at me in reassurance. Adrenaline courses through my veins as I stare at Leslie's gaunt face. His pale green eyes twinkle in delight, no doubt eager to beat me up today and I was going to give him the satisfaction. I had no intention of winning against him and showing him what I knew before our match tomorrow.

Let him think he had the upper hand and then I would knock the arrogance off him when the time came. 

I grit my teeth together and stand in front of him. He is slightly taller than I am but he is much skinnier than most of the fighters here. The only thing he has going for him are his tricks and agility. 

"Play nice, both of you. No cheating, no biting, no stabbing. Save that for the matches tomorrow," Aries warns us both and then he puts his hand between us, parallel to our chests. After a few tense seconds he lifts his hand and backs away, signalling for us to start. 

Leslie bounces on the tips of his feet, inching closer to me and I keep my arms up in defense. He throws a left hook when he's near enough and I block it but that was just his diversion. In a blink of an eye his right arm smacks me in the face and I force myself to brace it without moving away too much.

The pain feels like a thousand needles digging into my skin from the bridge of my nose to the rest of my face which I'd already injured in my previous fight with Christina. It has barely recovered since and blood spills out of my nostril immediately. 

My hands grip my nose and I quickly wipe it with the back of my hand. I fumble backwards till my back hits the four tick ropes that line the ring.

Leslie's laughter is loud and piercing as he looks at me, his teeth gleaming white under the lights focused on us. 

"Aria the bone breaker? More like Aria the broken," Somebody somewhere scoffs loudly and I hear a few people laugh in response. My eyes find the source and I'm not surprised to see Leslie's blonde friend, Eldra.

"Are you up for more, sweet heart? That nose of yours looks pretty nasty. Don't think your Plutonian boyfriend would like coming home to a sight like that." His words are nastier than ever and they make me charge at him without thinking.

He deflects my punches and skips around me laughing like a child. I try to collect myself despite the throbbing pain in my nose. I am about to jab my arm out when he kicks my leg making me fall over. 

I fall to my knees and pretend to be defeated while some of the fighters clap cheers for Leslie's quick defeat. Although it is burning me up inside, I know I have to fool him into thinking he has the upper hand.

He bends down and leans in to speak but his words are quickly cut off as the doors to our training center are flung open in a loud and uncharacteristic way. 

I hear the steady foot steps of a dozen or more feet and quickly look up to see Plutonian soldier's marching in with their signature large dark grey laser guns flanked by their sides. Everyone in the training center falls silent, even Aries looks on in shock as the soldiers arrange themselves in two rows flanking both sides of the stairs.

They wait silently and then my heart nearly jumps out of my chest in surprise when I see Lucian walk in.

I hear gasps of shock, some whispering but mostly stunned silence as he walks up to the combat ring with the soldiers marching by his sides - as if any of us would be able to harm him.

He climbs up and into the ring and his eyes immediately fall on my bloody nose. 

"My darling, Aria," He says and his voice echoes throughout the dead silent room, making it sound more like an announcement. 

My body is frozen as I look up at him, wondering why he is here of all places. He has been missing for the past few days and now he barges in completely exposing our relationship like this without any heads up.

The moment Lucian addresses me, Leslie's body stiffens and he jumps away from me like I am poisonous. He backs away and stands next to Aries, who looks just as frightened to see Lucian here.

Lucian bends down and places his hands around my arms to pull me up making me stiffen. 

I want to ask him why he is here and I open my mouth to speak but nothing comes out. My face flushes and my skin burns as I realize all the fighters now know I am supposedly his lover. Will this serve as an advantage or become a burden to me?

"My, my. You really hurt yourself and right before game day. How could you be so careless, my dear?" He puts out his hand and a soldier standing next to him passes him a handkerchief quickly. He wipes my face gently and the look on his face is so loving, it makes me so suspicious. 

Lucian has never acted this way and I suddenly remember the day he got offended when I tried to hide our relationship from Rosie. I wonder if he is doing this to prove some perverse point which makes my blood boil but it doesn't make any sense. 

Once he is done he walks up to Aries and looks down at him menacingly. 

"You allow the fighter's to get injured like this one day before their matches? Doesn't seem very fair, does it?"

Lucian towers over the stubby Aries who has hunched over in fear.

"No of course not, Master Lu- Your highness? Your greatness?" Aries stumbles clumsily making it evident that this is the first time Lucian has addressed him. If Lucian didn't look so frightening I might have laughed but the room remained silent despite Aries fumbling.

Lucian doesn't give him the time of day, instead he focuses on Leslie who is standing next to Aries, looking more worried than I've ever seen him.

He doesn't say anything but Leslie looks so pale like he is about to pass out. Lucian then looks up and stares at no where in particular as he speaks. 

"I've never been here before. It is quite large, the facility we have provided you people."

He walks around the ring, his light blue eyes scanning his surroundings. 

"I must say, we have been very generous with you fighters. The equipment here is almost state of the art. Everything here provided by our great and benevolent army. Don't you think?" He looks at Aries and Aries crumbles to the floor shaking.

"You have been too kind. Please forgive us for our mistakes," He throws a wary look my way and I have a sinking feeling that Lucian came here to prove a point.

Lucian smiles at him but his smile seems to frighten Aries even more. The man looks like he is about to have a heart attack.

"Good. I expect all of you to know what serves you and what doesn't around here." This time Lucian looks at Leslie. "One wrong step can prove your disloyalty and ungratefulness to the Plutonian empire, something we absolutely do not tolerate."

His words are vague but his message is so clear it feels like a slap to my face. I am so angry I want to throttle him with my bare hands. Why did he come here and threaten Leslie not to harm me? Did he think I couldn't win by myself?

"I will take my leave now," He says and then he walks up to me and plants a soft kiss on my forehead. I close my eyes and will myself not to knock his teeth in with my head. Surely that will not end well for me. 

"My driver will be waiting for you IN FRONT of the building." He stares down at me and his eyes glance briefly at my hands that have bunched into fists. 

He then walks away with his soldiers trailing by his sides and leaves the training room. Nobody moves and I can feel everyone's burning gaze on me like fire, making me want to disappear.

I finally gather the courage to look up and my insides squirm as I catch Rosie's wide eyes on me, the shock on her face blatantly obvious. There is no mistaking the expression of betrayal and then anger that seeps into her features. She is one of the first to look away. She gets up, marches down the stands and heads out of the hall.

And for some reason I feel tears blur my vision as a feeling of emptiness settles in my gut.

Heyy hope you enjoyed the chapter! Did you expect Lucian to turn up like that?