Princess Anja stretched her curvy, comfortable body, pressing parts of her more firmly against TiMor, the gladiator. Her lithe, five foot tall frame, with curves and softness to spare, along with her pale skin, and platinum blonde hair was a stark contrast against his body, which was mostly muscle with a lair of subcutaneous fat to help protect him from the deadly slashes of a blade. She settled onto his back, her breasts pressed against his broad shoulder blades. He lay on the backless couch, his legs draped over the sides, his arms crossed on top of a pillow. The large dark man was shaved bald, his body covered in ritual scarring, rested his head on his arms. Anja ran a finger across his jawline mindlessly, and kissed the back of his head and neck, planting her full lips against his skin.
Anja kissed and traced the various scars covering his body, but she was lying on the most intriguing scars: the ones that formed no pattern, but instead resembled terrible violence done to him. There was a variety of scarring - there were a few long rips from his flesh, and lots of small ones. Anja had grown up watching the gladiators fight in her father's arena, but had never seen scarring like his.
She shifted a bit and traced a scar with her finger tip. "What happened here?"
TiMor lifted his head and looked back at her, over his shoulder. "That's thanks to a certain commander in the Royal Navy."
"You were flogged?"
"Yup. T' death. Or so they thought..."
"So they thought?"
"Yeah. I'm Tidarian. We have thicker skin than you. It makes us better warriors. Most blades can't cut us. I spoke out against an invasion on a small island kingdom. I was already angry at the Empire's constant wars. The commander didn't ... appreciate my candidness about the invasion. I was declared a traitor, and received a hundred lashes on the mast, and then thrown overboard. But they had not hurt me as much as they thought. I floated in the water, waiting for the ship to move on. I couldn't do with them knowing I was alive, y'know? When they were finally gone, I swam to a nearby island, and found a small tribe living there, hidden in the jungle. They treated what wounds I had, and nursed me back to health. Now, I'm here."
"Who allowed that? There's not s'pposed to be corporal punishment on board imperial ships. If a sailor violates the law, there's s'pposed to be a hearing here, in court, in front of the Emperor. If found guilty..."
He chuckled softly, and laid his head back on his arms.
"What?"
"You're naive, is all. You dunno what happens out on the sea. There's two sets of rules: the ones in the Royal records, and ship board rules. I guarantee you, you would be shocked at the ship board rules."
"You could..."
