Page 67 of Down to One
“They’re nice, Uncle Altair,” Sprout says eagerly as he grabs my hand, pulls me to a table piled with old dishes, and motions for Blaze and me to sit.
He stacks the dishes and sets them in the sink. “Uncle Altair’s a good cook. I’ll dish up.”
“We should leave,” I say, not moving until Altair slides his sword back into its scabbard.
“Slayer and Titan,” Altair says as he motors to the heating plate and dishes us some steaming stew. Since he didn’t know we were coming, I don’t worry he’s going to poison us—he didn’t have time. Blaze gives me a quick glance, cocks her eyebrow, shrugs, and digs in.
“Mmm,” she makes a sound very similar to one of the sexy sounds she makes in bed.
Sprout puts his open palm out and Red scampers onto it. They both wind up on the floor with the youngling hand-feeding the reptile tiny bites of meat.
“So, can you, Uncle?” He takes his eyes off his new friend for a moment to look at Altair. “Can you?”
Altair wheels to the table, acting as if he didn’t hear the youngling’s question.
“Right before I left the house, you said you could help them,” Sprout says as he pulls up a chair and sits so close to mine our thighs touch. I’ve seldom been around children. They house the older gladiators apart from the vulnerable young ones. At least in theludiI trained in. Sprout’s exuberance is hard to resist.
“Look,” Blaze says. “We mean you no harm. We don’t want to get anyone in trouble. It was kind of you to feed us. After one more bite, well, maybe two, we’ll get out of your hair.”
“Stay. You caught me off guard, is all. No one has come down those stairs but Sprout in a long time. I’ve been watchingThe Gameclosely. We’ve been rooting for you.”
Blaze
“Well, thanks?” I say. I’m not sure how to react to Altair. He’s not exactly warm and fuzzy.
“We just saw the rebel broadcast,” he says as he watches us closely to observe our reactions
“It didn’t take a genius to figure out the network was cheating you out of your credits. Every female in the sector had to be throwing them at you, Titan. And anyone with a heart and a few credits to spare would want to provide little Slayer some food and water. It seemed impossible that you two stayed at zero, especially after last night’s show.
“Then just now, the way they made it look like you perpetrated a sexual assault…” He shakes his head and glances at his nephew, obviously not wanting to discuss it in front of the boy. “I have to say, it surprised even a skeptical male like myself to see the lengths to which the Feds went to make certain you didn’t have enough power in those canisters to vanquish your attackers this morning. That was a low blow, even for them. And sending your opponents to take you out before you reached the city? It made me even more suspicious.”
“Feds? Suspicious of what?” Xzavic asks.
“It definitely aroused my interest. I wonder why the Feds are so determined to kill you.”
He just drops that there, his odd all-white gaze piercing me as he awaits an answer.
My body heats as if I’m standing next to red-hot magma. I suddenly find my lap very interesting. All three males in the room are staring at me. I just met Altair and Sprout. I have no compunctions about lying to them, but I don’t want to lie to Xzavic.
However, right now, I’m not ready to divulge how I managed to piss off the Supreme Leader of the Federation.
