Mastered By Love (13 page)

She opened it. Inside were stacks of
towels, an extra tunic the small wooden box that contained his
soap, combs, brushes, the riding crop ...

Tariza ignored the last item. She took
a cloth and closed the trunk and turned around. At the last minute,
she remembered not to look at him unless given
permission.

“
What about
water?”

“
Proper form of address,
slave,” he said in a deceptively quiet voice that promised
retribution if she failed to obey.

She swallowed. “What about
water, Master?”

“
Get some out of my flask.”
He slid the container of water off his belt and held it out to
her.

“
Thank you.
Master.”

Tariza opened the bottle and dribbled
some of the frigid water onto the cloth. Dario stretched out on his
back, trousers still unfastened. She bent to clean him with the icy
cloth. Served him right if it was too cold.

He didn’t seem to mind the
temperature at all, damn him. Silently she swabbed him.

“
Will that be all,
Master?”

“
Now do yourself.” He
folded his arms and stared at her as if waiting for the show to
begin. A frown crossed his face. “You’re looking at me without
permission.”

Tariza ducked her head.
“I’m sorry, Master.”

“
Better.” He sounded like
he was smiling. Saturnios reached out and stroked her hand. “Wash
yourself, slave.”

Better to get it over with.
She set her foot on the edge of the bed and hiked up her skirt all
the way to her waist. The cloth was so cold she sucked in a shocked
breath when it touched her flesh. Saturnios’s body seemingly hadn’t
warmed it at all.

“
Take more water if you
need it,” he said.

“
It’s fine, Master.” That
hated word was becoming easier to say. Was that a good thing or
bad? “What should I do with the dirty cloth, Master? Do you have a
bag for soiled clothing?”

“
Paolo will take care of
it. You can set it on top of the chest.”

She obeyed without speaking. Her skirt
fell back to her ankles, giving her a semblance of warmth again.
Tariza turned back toward the bed and Saturnios held out his arms
to her.

“
Come here. Lay with
me.”

Her heart pinched. She
didn’t want to lay with him. It was too painful, too confusing, too
much pleasure mixed with humiliation; yet she couldn’t refuse
without punishment.

“
Yes, Master,” she
muttered, and arranged her body next to him without grace or good
humor.

He wrapped his arms around
her, tucking her head against his shoulder and pulling his scratchy
field blanket over both of them. “We’ll keep each other warm at
night.”

Since he didn’t seem to
need or expect a reply, she said nothing.

“
They’ll bring us dinner
soon,” he said.

“
I thought I was supposed
to help cook, Master.”

“
You were. But for now
you’ll stay with me.”

“
I know nothing about
cooking.”

“
I’m not
surprised.”

“
You know, it is possible
to be womanly without being a cook or an embroiderer, Master,” she
said hotly.

“
I never said
otherwise.”

“
You implied
it.”

“
Did I?” He was laughing at
her ... without actually laughing. She could hear it in his
voice.

“
Yes. You did.”

“
There’s no need to be
defensive, Tariza. I know you grew up in an unnatural culture. It’s
not your fault you failed to learn basic feminine
skills.”

She tried to pull away from
him, but his grip was too firm. “Unnatural?”

“
You’re leaving out the
proper address again.”

“
And you’re deliberately
needling me. Master.”

“
Maybe you’re simply easy
to annoy, slave. Are you hungry?”

His rapid change of subject
made her blink. “Um ... no, Master.” Now that he’d drawn her
attention to her stomach, however, she noticed how empty she was.
“Wait, yes. I suppose I am.”

“
I thought so. That partly
accounts for your crankiness this afternoon.”

“
We didn’t stop for
lunch.”

“
No, we didn’t.”

She took a peek at his face. He had a secret
smile, as if something amused him but he didn’t want to tell her
about it. Laughing at her again?

Saturnios peeled back the
covers and sat up on the bed just as the tent flap pulled back and
Paolo’s head appeared in the gap. His breath frosted in thick white
clouds.

“
Dinner,
milord.”

“
Excellent. Bring it
in.”

The squire set up the meal
on top of the largest trunk, in lieu of a table. There wasn’t much
scent from the food, which was probably cold in spite of Lola’s
efforts to cook a hot meal. Lola was a fool.

Paolo departed with a curious and
lustful glance at Tariza.

“
Take off your clothes,”
Dario said.

“
It’s cold in
here.”

He regarded her with a
mixture of amusement and disappointment evident on his face.
“You’re right. It is cold. Very well, you can keep your
clothing.”

“
Thank you, Master.” She
couldn’t keep the sarcasm out of her voice.

“
Kneel next to the trunk,
at the foot of the bed.”

Tariza worked her jaw. She
didn’t want to follow that order. But he was her master, in truth.
In Saturnios, he could do anything to her and his actions would be
upheld by every other man in the country and probably most of the
women as well. She could continue to fight him or she could give in
and maybe survive.

I’d rather
fight.

Despite that thought, she turned and
went to the foot of the bed, where she knelt.

Saturnios took a seat on
the foot of the camp bed. He surveyed the food while Tariza’s
stomach growled painfully.

“
You’ll have to earn every
bite, remember?” he said.

How could I forget
something like that?
She merely
nodded.

Saturnios rucked up his tunic to
expose his still unfastened trousers. He then speared a bite of the
meat on his plate and chewed thoughtfully.

“
If you would like some
meat, you will lick me.”

Her eyes widened.
“What?”

“
You heard me.” He gestured
toward his unfastened trousers. “Well, go ahead and get started.
Unless you’d like to go hungry tonight.”

Her stomach growled again,
even more loudly and painfully than before. She was beginning to
feel lightheaded. Swallowing hard, Tariza leaned over him and
reached into his clothing to draw out his cock. It was thick and
long again. The conversation – or maybe anticipation of her touch –
had already excited him.

She bent her head and gave his cock a
swipe of her tongue.

“
Again,” he
said.

With a deep breath for patience, she
repeated the action.

“
Very good.” He forked up
another bite of meat and extended the utensil to her mouth. Tariza
reached for the fork.

“
No. Take it directly from
my hand. You remember how.”

She just managed to avoid rolling her
eyes at him. Opening her mouth, she accepted the meat.

“
Good girl.”

For the second bite, she had to lick
him again. He tasted musky, a bit salty, and very male, his flesh
smooth and hot beneath her lips.

Dario rewarded her with a
choice bite of meat, some hot and juicy fat still clinging to it.
“Here you are.”

The lightheadedness she’d
experienced began to recede.

Saturnios smiled at her.
“Feeling better?”

Tariza nodded.

“
Good. Let’s
continue.”

He fed her in that manner for the
entire meal, punctuating bites of food with attention to his cock,
remaining hard and ready the whole time. She grew full, her
satisfied stomach making the rest of her warm and logy. Relaxed,
when she ought never to relax in the company of this
man.

“
Now for dessert,” he
said.

“
Dessert,
Master?”

“
Yes. You’re dessert. Suck
me until I come in your mouth. I want you to drink down every drop,
do you understand?”

She looked at him, knowing
it was forbidden. “I-I don’t think I can. Please don’t make me do
that. I’m afraid I’ll vomit.”

“
You won’t vomit, Tariza.”
He stroked her head. “It’ll be all right. Try it and find
out.”

Goddess, he almost sounded
kind.

“
Go ahead, now. Suck me
off.”

She closed her eyes. She
could do this, had to do it. Didn’t she?

It’s better than another
spanking.

With her hand, she lifted his cock to
her mouth and licked the throbbing head.

He sucked in a breath.
“That’s it. Take it all the way in your mouth.”

Women didn’t do this in
Concordia. A woman only sucked a man to tease him, never allowing
him to ejaculate down her throat. She wasn’t sure how it was done,
but to please him she opened her mouth wide and took him in as far
as she could.

The head of his cock hit the back of
her mouth and she gagged a little.

“
Mmm,” he moaned. “That’s
good. Deep like that.”

It was too uncomfortable. She adjusted
the angle of her head and neck, giving herself a straighter path to
accommodate his cock. This time it went deep without choking
her.

Tariza wrapped her lips over her teeth
and pulled back, sucking. A deep groan issued from his throat. She
could taste his musk, feel it all the way in the back of her
mouth.

As she worked him in and
out of her mouth, the friction against her lips and tongue became
strangely pleasurable. She hadn’t expected that – for this act to
feel good to her, too. Shouldn’t she feel used, put upon, degraded?
Yet the sound of his moans and harsh pants, the way he trembled
beneath her, gave her an odd sense of power.

When he arched his back with a jerk
and shouted hoarsely, when jets of hot salty come filled her mouth,
she almost smiled in triumph. Except she was too busy
swallowing.

The texture was not to her
taste. But the experience as a whole was surprisingly ... good.
She’d done that to him, made him come. And she could do it
again.

His hand stroked her hair.
“Incredible. You have a natural talent.”

She glanced up at him.
Again, without permission. He didn’t seem to mind, though. He
smiled at her, his eyes soft.

“
Now for your dessert.” He
reached down and lifted her onto the bed with him.

“
Dessert?”

Lie down and spread your
legs for me.”

But he’d already
–

Tariza stretched out on the bed,
unresisting as he spread her legs and pulled her skirt up to reveal
her pussy. Saturnios bent his head to her sex and took a deep
breath. Her face burned. How could he?

“
You smell delectable,” he
growled.

His thumbs spread her open. He gave
her a delicate stroke, wet and warm and perfect. She
whimpered.

Saturnios teased her
gently, mercilessly with lips and tongue, opening up layers upon
layers of delight she’d never really known existed. Why couldn’t
the slaves in Concordia affect her this way? It wasn’t right, but
at the moment she didn’t care. She was lost in him.

Something – his finger? –
probed at her anus. Tariza clenched in fear.

“
Shh,” he murmured against
her pussy. “Just relax for me. Just relax.”

He resumed licking her, his
finger burrowing into her ass, opening her where she’d never been
open before. This, too, was something never done in Concordia. No
woman would allow a man to invade her in this way.

Pleasure and shame mingled
in her heart. Yet she didn’t want him to stop. The forbidden touch,
the weird mix of discomfort and ecstasy made her squirm and moan
with excitement. Then he stopped, leaving her gasping and
frustrated.

“
Would my slave like to
come?”

What? Yes, of course she
wanted to come. “I – yes. I want –”

“
Yes, what,
slave?”

What did he want? What ...
oh, that. “Yes, Master.”

He gave her a luxurious
swipe of his tongue. “Beg me for it.”

There was some reason she
shouldn’t beg, but she couldn’t remember it. “Please.”

“
More.” He teased her clit,
making her gasp again.

“
Oh! Please let me come,
Master. Please.”

Dario gave a low, dark
laugh. “What lovely begging, slave. I’ve decided to grant your
request.”