Always he wears that leather breastplate, they say. I’ve heard he never ventures outside his own chambers without it, not even when the sun is merciless. And he never leaves the ludus without both the breastplate and his bodyguards.

Wise, I suppose. With or without his reputation, a lanista can’t be too careful. There are stories back in Rome about one who used to strut about with nothing on above his belt. No one likes to be anywhere close to a lanista, so he figured there was no need to protect himself. Didn’t even have guards with him because the gods and his reputation were all he needed.

The gods and his reputation didn’t stop the blade that pierced his ribs in the crowded market, though.

Drusus isn’t so careless, not even among his own men.

Still and silent, he watches me, his face devoid of expression. He’s strangely familiar, but not only have I never seen him before, I can’t even put my finger on his homeland. He doesn’t look quite like a Roman man—too fine, too slight—but he’s not black-eyed and brown from Egypt or pale and hairy from the north. He’s certainly not like the bronze Parthians or the massive Carthaginians training just outside.

But somehow, he’s familiar. A face I swear I’ve seen before.

And he’s still watching me.

His gaze slides from my face all the way down to my feet, then back up. Down once more. The corner of his mouth twitches just a little, so subtly I wouldn’t have noticed if I weren’t so aware of his lips and their half-smirk. Slower this time, his gaze rises, and I suddenly realize I can’t remember the last time I took a breath.

Then the lanista speaks. “I am Drusus, the master of this ludus.” What his voice lacks in deep resonance, it makes up for in sharpness. “What is your business here?”

“I’ve brought a gift from Cassius, the magistrate.” I hold out the coin purse in both hands. “Five hundred sestertii to show his gratitude for your fighters honoring his father’s death at the last Ludi.”

“Five hundred?” Drusus sniffs derisively. “I should have known the seven hundred he promised was a fantasy.”

Once again, spiders scramble along my spine.

Give me a single reason to believe you’re not doing precisely as I’ve ordered, Calvus had whispered, or that you’ve breathed my name within the walls of the ludus, and I will see to it the magistrate asks Drusus if he received the full seven hundred sestertii.

Drusus waves a hand at the scribe. “Account for this. And make sure it’s all there.” With a sneer, he adds, “Damn noblemen seem to think they’re the only men in this city who know how to count.”

“Yes, Dominus.” The scribe nods sharply, takes the coin purse from me, and returns to his seat in the corner.

Drusus watches me, eyebrows raised expectantly. “Is there something else?”

“Yes.” I silently curse the timidity of my voice. Speaking more like a man this time, I say, “Yes, Dominus. There is.”

Leather creaks as he folds his arms across the thick breastplate. “Go on.”

I take a deep breath. “I wish to join your familia gladiatori. As an auctoratus.”

Surprise sends his eyebrows up again. “Do you?” His gaze slides all the way down to my feet, back up, down once more. “Well, you certainly look like a gladiator. Tell me your name.”

“Saevius,” I reply. “My arena name is . . .” I hesitate, my gut twisting into knots. Close as I was to earning my rudis, my arena name is hardly unknown, and I’m not certain how much I want this lanista to know about my recent past. How much of that past might lead him to the reason I am here?

Drusus inclines his head. “Your arena name, gladiator?”

I take a breath and give him the arena name of a long-dead gladiator I once knew: “Nikephoros, sir.”

“And do you have any skills that will make it worth my while to feed and train you, Nikephoros?” Drusus taps his fingers on his arm. “Or am I wasting my money and my trainers’ time on a man whose guts will be soaking up the amphitheatre’s sand?”

“I have fought before,” I say. “As both a myrmillo and a thraex. And I’m left-handed.”

Drusus straightens. “Left-handed, you say?”

I nod slowly.

“And you’re skilled? Experienced in the arena?”

“I am.”

Eyes still locked on me, Drusus stands. He holds his hand out to the side. “Arabo, your weapon.”

One of the bodyguards hands Drusus a thick club. The lanista grasps the weapon but never takes his eyes off me.

My heart beats wildly. Fighting an armed man with no weapon of my own? Especially a lanista who could rightfully beat me to death if I bruise or bloody him in my own defense?

Assuming the bastard didn’t get bored one day and kill you for sport before you even had a chance to make a mistake.

Without warning, without breaking our locked gazes, Drusus tosses the club to me, straight at my chest. Instinctively, I catch it, and the lanista’s eyes flick toward my hand. My left hand.

“So you are indeed left-handed,” he says, more to himself. His bodyguard quickly takes the weapon back while Drusus eases himself back into his seat. The lanista watches me silently for a moment, and though he’s convinced now I’m a left-handed fighter, I’m certain he’ll see through all the lies I’ve fed him. He cradles one elbow in the opposite hand and strokes his chin with this thumb. “Do you have documents proving you’re a citizen and eligible to volunteer as auctoratus? And have you been to the magistrate? I won’t have my time wasted with chasing down documents if you don’t already have them.”

“Yes, Dominus.” I pull the sealed scrolls from my belt and hand them to him. “The documents from the magistrate and medicus.”

Drusus breaks the wax seals with his thumb and unrolls the first scroll. Then the second and third. Shallow creases form between his eyebrows while he looks over each scroll in turn as I gnaw the inside of my cheek.

With a quiet grunt of approval, Drusus hands the scrolls to his scribe. “You know what to do with this.”

Then he rises again and steps toward me as he extends his right hand. “Assuming you fight well enough to impress me, welcome to my ludus, Saevius.” He grins, sending a familiar shiver down my spine. “You and your left hand will be valuable assets to my familia.”

“Thank you, Dominus.” I clasp his forearm, but my heart pounds so hard I’m certain he’ll hear it.

“Come with me.” He releases my hand and gestures toward the door. “My medicus will look you over to make certain you’re fit for the arena, and then we’ll see how well you fight.”

I follow him out of the room and down the corridor.

All the while, as we walk in silence through the halls of the place that’s now my home, I’m certain I’d be safer in a lion-filled arena without a sword in sight.

I should have known my days of tasting this dusty, sweaty air weren’t over. Even from here inside the cool infirmary, over the medicus’s herbs and the masseur’s oils, the smell of men and sand reaches me from the training yard. All that’s missing are the fumes of blood, shit, and vomit; with the games of the Ludi Appollinares rapidly approaching, I’ll be breathing those again soon enough, unless Fortune or the Fates decide to intervene.

I’m as devoted to the gods as any man, but I can’t say I’m optimistic they’ll take me from here before I set foot in the arena once again.

For now, I’m confined to the infirmary until the ludus medicus concurs with the forged document that declares me fit enough to volunteer for two years as a gladiator. He inspects every inch of me, prodding muscles and frowning over scars. Occasionally he picks up the medical document and examines it, and every time he does, my heart beats faster as I wonder again just how convincing the forgery is.