Carla Capshaw - The Gladiator

Caros pulled Pelonia into his arms. “Are you all right?” She buried her cheek against his chest.

He held her while she shivered and trembled. For timeless moments, he rubbed her back until the tremors subsided.

Caros cupped her face and tipped her head back to search for injuries. He ran the pad of his thumb over the shallow cut on her throat. Thankfully, the wound no longer bled. The image of a blade held so close to her jugular would never leave him.

He angled the torch for a better view of her ashen face. “It’s over now. They won’t find us. Can you walk or shall I carry you home?”

“Home?” Her eyes filled with fat tears. “I have no home.”

Caros tugged her against him again, holding her close while she sobbed. A promise to free her and help find her family sprang to the tip of his tongue.

No. His arms tightened around her. She was his. He couldn’t let her go….

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Florida native Carla Capshaw is a preacher’s kid who grew up grateful for her Christian home and loving family. Always dreaming of being a writer and world traveler, she followed her wanderlust around the globe, including a year spent in the People’s Republic of China, before beginning work on her first novel.

A two-time RWA Golden Heart Award winner, Carla loves passionate stories with compelling, nearly impossible conflicts. She’s found Inspirational Historical Romance is the perfect vehicle to combine lush settings, vivid characters and a Christian worldview. Currently at work on her next manuscript for Steeple Hill Love Inspired Historical, she still lives in Florida, but is always planning her next trip…and plotting her next story.

Carla loves to hear from readers. To contact her, visit www.carlacapshaw.com, or write to Carla@carlacapshaw.com.

www.millsandboon.co.uk

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called

according to His purpose.

—Romans 8:28

Dedicated to:

My son, Deverell—my best blessing.

My parents, for their constant love and

encouragement.

My sister, Nikki. A talented, savvy woman-of-all-

trades. You’re the best friend a girl could have.

My critique partners, Sheila Raye,

Paisley Kirkpatrick, Stacey Kayne and Jean Mason.

What would I do without you? Thank you for

not only reading my stuff, but for being amazing

friends who also happen to be awesome writers.

My agent, Michelle Grajkowski of Three Seas

Literary, for believing in me even when I insisted

on writing “unpopular” time periods.

My editor, Melissa Endlich, for taking a chance on

a new author. Your patience with this newbie won’t

be forgotten.

And last, but most, thank you, Lord. You never fail

me. Your inspiration is endless.

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Three

Chapter Twenty-Four

Chapter Twenty-Five

Questions for Discussion

Less than a day’s journey from Rome, 81 AD

“Look around you, Niece. The gods are punishing you.”

Pelonia raised tear-swollen eyes from her beloved father’s lifeless face. From where she sat on the ground, her uncle Marcus towered over her, his mouth twisted in a snarl of contempt. Blood oozed from a gash at his temple.

Dazed by his cruel words, she watched him limp toward the torched wagons and pillaged tents of their once wealthy camp. Black smoke stretched toward the heavens. Its sharp stench singed her nostrils, burning her lungs until the fetid air promised to choke her.

Her father’s head in her lap, Pelonia stroked his weathered cheek with trembling fingers. Was Uncle Marcus right? Was she being punished? Had her father been wrong to reject the old ways and teach his household to embrace the Christ?

Everywhere she looked, destruction sweltered in the morning’s rising heat. All of her family’s accompanying servants lay massacred along both sides of the stone-paved road. Only she and Marcus survived.

Pelonia looked toward the cloudless sky. Birds of prey circled overhead. Their hungry cries echoed in the stillness, mocking her as though they sensed she would join the corpses before she had time to bury them.

On the horizon, a cloud of dust marked the direction of their attackers’ retreat. The marauders had struck before first light. She’d heard their battle cry from downstream where she’d sneaked away to bathe in private. By the time she ran back to camp, they’d taken flight. The demon’s spawn had stolen everything of value—animals, spices meant as a gift for her cousin’s wedding in Rome, and chests packed with rare purple cloth.

Worst of all, they’d murdered her father.

A wail of anguish rose in her throat, but she bit her lip to keep from surrendering to her grief. Her father would want her to be strong. She couldn’t bear to disappoint him. Instead, she bent over his precious body and buried her face in his tunic, begging her Lord to restore his life, just as He had once done for Lazarus.

Long moments passed. No miracle came from heaven, only silence.

She sat up and brushed the graying hair from his brow. Bowing her head, she rocked gently, clinging to her composure when pain threatened her sanity.

God, oh God, her heart cried out. How could You allow this? Why have You forsaken me when I have served You from my earliest days?

Her uncle’s hulking shadow loomed above her. “Hurry up, girl. There’s nothing more we can do here.”

Pelonia’s head snapped up. “We can’t leave our dead exposed! Already the vultures circle above us. Soon the wolves will come. Will you have our loved ones ravaged by both fowl and beast?”

Marcus kicked a rock with his sandaled foot. “I care not. I didn’t pretend death and elude our attackers to die of thirst in this glaring heat.”

“You pretended death? How could you not aid my father or defend—”

“Cease,” he growled so close to her nose his stale breath made her shudder. “Someone knocked me unconscious. When I awoke…Why should I have sacrificed my life for nothing?”

“Because it is your duty to defend your family. And to see the dead properly cared for.”

“Don’t lecture me, girl!” Color ran high across his cheekbones. “I won’t suffer your guilt when all but your father have traveled to Paradise. They won’t know if their flesh is left to rot, nor will they care.”

Pelonia adjusted her father’s tunic, wishing she had clean linen to shroud him and the others before placing them in the ground. “Father’s spirit is in heaven, Uncle, as are the rest of those who’ve died here.”