Mastered By Love (26 page)

Was she really? Summer
would come again and he’d most likely be ordered back to the field,
where he might be wounded. Especially now, with Tariza as his
captive, the Concordians would do everything in their power to hurt
him. Her mother would gladly mount his head on a spike and display
it at her palace gates. Leaving Tariza completely
undefended.

She plucked irritably at
her guitar strings. The situation was untenable. She couldn’t live
with the uncertainty.

What choice do you
have?

The sound of a door opening
interrupted her thoughts. She looked up as a middle-aged woman with
iron-gray hair wheeled in a rolling cart filled with cleaning
supplies.

“
I’m here to clean the
prince’s chambers,” the woman said.

“
I see that.”

The woman made a soft sound of assent
or acknowledgment. She pushed the cart into the center of the room
and chose a duster from one of the containers riding on its top.
She wore a plain wool dress in a dull brown over an unbleached
linen undergown that showed at her neckline and her rolled-up
sleeves. It was the least revealing slave costume Tariza had
seen.

“
What’s your
name?”

The other woman looked up
from her dusting. “Nali. What’s yours?”

“
Tariza.”

Nali paused, staring. “You
wouldn’t happen to be
that
Tariza?
The
Concordian?”

“
Yes, I am.”

The older woman’s eyes
widened. “You’re not what I expected.”

“
What did you expect?” she
said with a twist of her lips.

“
I thought – you know –”
Nali gestured vaguely. “You’d have a shaved head and scars all over
your face. I never imagined you’d be beautiful.”

“
Um ... thanks. I
think.”

Nali laughed uncertainly.
“I hope I didn’t hurt your feelings. I wasn’t trying to be
rude.”

Why not? All the other
Saturnian women did. Tariza gave a negligent wave of her hand. “It
doesn’t matter. I’m not offended.”

“
The girls all said you
were a warrior.”

“
I am. Was.” She cocked her
head. “I’ve never seen a woman here dressed like you before. Is it
a uniform?”

“
Not really.” Nali laughed.
“We housemaids dress like this because it’s practical.”

“
But I thought all women in
Saturnios were slaves.”

“
Oh, we are. But those of
us who are past the sweet, fuckable stage of life don’t wear the
fancy harnesses anymore. No man wants to look at our saggy bodies.”
Smiling, she began to dust the mantel.

“
So none of you stay with a
... a particular master?” She kept her tone light and
unconcerned.

“
Oh, no. Even the old men
want to fuck pretty young girls like you. At my age, we cover up
and stay out of the way.” She winked.

Tariza shifted uneasily in
her chair. “Prince Dario’s parents stayed together.”

“
Well, now, that’s true,
but they were a rarity. Dario has always used a great variety of
women. From what I hear, he never keeps one longer than two or
three months.”

By that reckoning, they’d
already hit their limit. Could he be tiring of her? He didn’t seem
to be.

“
Prince Dario loves women,”
Nali continued. “He’s the kindest master. Always lets his girls
down gently. You’ll see.”

I don’t want to
see.

“
A girl as pretty as you
will be quite popular when the prince is done with you.”

“
I have his name on my
arm,” Tariza said, struggling to mask her resentment of the other
slave’s words.

Nali’s eyes widened ever
further than they had before. “Do you? How unusual. In that case,
only the highest ranking men will be able to use you.”

“
I thought it meant I would
be his exclusively.”

“
Well, yes, but not
forever. You didn’t think the prince would keep you with him
forever, did you?” Nali pressed her fingers to her mouth. “Oh,
dear, I can see that you did. I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have said
anything.”

It was a little late for
her to offer her regrets, now that she’d shattered Tariza’s peace.
Tariza set the guitar next to her chair and rose, smoothing her
robe.

“
I – I must take a bath.
Will I be in your way?”

“
Not at all.” Nali laid a
gentle hand on her arm, her hazel eyes tense with concern. “I hope
you’ll forgive me for speaking so bluntly, my dear. I meant nothing
by it.”

“
It’s quite all right,”
Tariza said through a painfully tight throat.

“
There’s nothing to worry
about, you know. Plenty of men will want you, and you’ll always be
well cared for here in the palace, even when you’re old like
me.”

But she wasn’t old. In
Concordia, women Nali’s age were known to be at the peak of their
sexual powers.

“
Thank you,” Tariza rasped.
“I’ll just go and fill the bathtub.”

She fled Nali’s company,
shutting the bathroom door with relief. Then she locked it, just in
case the older slave should have the urge for more conversation.
She turned the hot water spigot. The roar of water through the
pipes made a wonderful loud noise, enough to drown out the voice of
anyone trying to speak to her through the door.

There’s no reason to
believe that Dario is thinking of putting me aside. No reason at
all. Nali doesn’t know what she’s talking about.

But doubt had already slunk
into her mind. Nali was Saturnian. She knew a lot more about local
customs – and Dario’s personal history – than Tariza did. Maybe she
was right.

Even if Nali was mistaken
about the length of her and Dario’s relationship, it was naive of
Tariza to think he’d stay with her forever. Why should he, when the
royal palace had a never-ending supply of lovely young nymphs to
steal his attention?

She’d turned off a slave
once. His name was Gabriel. He’d been devoted to her, so devoted;
he would have done anything she’d asked of him. And the sex had
been good ... although not as good as with Dario. But Gabriel had
begun to bore her, and another slave had caught her eye, and she’d
sent Gabriel back to slave quarters where he’d be available once
again to any woman who wanted him.

He’d cried when she’d sent
him away. At the time, she’d been impatient with his display of
emotion. She’d thought him silly for expecting to be with her
indefinitely. No-one did that.

Now her heart ached for
him. She’d been cruel to send him back. He’d loved her and she’d
thrown him away. Now she was going to get the same treatment from
Dario.

I guess I deserve
it.

This was her life now, and
she could either accept it or do something about it. But what?
She’d lost the taste for suicide.

The truth was, she’d never
had it in the first place. Some Concordian warrior she was. She’d
been fooling herself, lying to herself, for years.

Always hoping Mother would
look at me with pride someday, instead of as her Great
Disappointment. She must be dying of disappointment now.

Merita probably hoped Tariza was
dead.

She’d already discovered
she didn’t have the nerve to end her own life, so she’d have to
find another way. There would be opportunities to escape,
eventually. She could cut her hair, bind her breasts and masquerade
as a boy.

Tendrils of steam came off
the surface of the bath water and condensed on the cold window. In
the heat of the bath she couldn’t feel the chill in the air. But
the ice had returned to her heart.

Opportunities to escape would arise.
But could she really leave Dario? Could she walk away from him? The
thought of never seeing him again made her sick to her
stomach.

Had she fallen in love with
him?

I don’t believe in
romantic love.

She’d read about the
phenomenon, but had always thought of it as sentimental nonsense.
Yet her feelings seemed to match the classic description of that
emotional state. Sexual longing, tenderness, and a sense of
friendship, of camaraderie, she’d never expected to have with any
man.

Romantic love. Goddess, she was
doomed.

I may be doomed, but at
least I’ll smell good.

She picked up the scented soap and
began to wash.

***

Two hours later, she’d
rubbed scented oil into her skin, applied make-up, and dressed in a
clinging gown of finely knit blue wool that displayed every curve
yet kept her warmer than a typical slave dress. The fabric,
ironically, was Concordian. She was combing out her hair in front
of the fire Nali had laid, when someone knocked on the
door.

Sighing, Tariza put down the comb to
answer. It was one of the male servants.

“
Prince Dario commands your
presence,” he said, giving her a lascivious glance.

Wordlessly, she stepped out of the
room and shut the door. He could ogle her all he liked, but if he
touched her Dario would remove his hand. He knew it and she knew
it.

Tariza ignored the man as he led her
through the palace. She followed him, yet otherwise refused to
acknowledge him.

If Dario died, this
asshole could do whatever he wanted to me.

But Dario wouldn’t die. And
she would escape, even if it tore the heart from her body. She
would escape.

The servant conducted her to the
library. Within, masculine voices mingled with high-pitched
feminine giggles. Goddess, these Saturnian women were always
giggling like little girls. It made her want to slap
them.

Tariza hesitated in the
doorway to the library. Dario sprawled in an overstuffed armchair,
his face turned away from her, two slave girls in nothing but
harnesses draped all over him. One, a brunette, seemed to be
nibbling on his ear. The other, a redhead, was pulling his erect
cock out of his trousers while Mateo stood over him, laughing. The
redhead bent down and took Dario’s cock in her mouth.

Tariza began to tremble.
She shoved past the servant, strode into the room and grabbed the
redhead by her curly copper hair. Dario’s head whipped
around.

“
Get off him,” Tariza said
in a deadly voice.

The girl removed her mouth
from Dario’s body. “Let go of me!”

“
Here, now. You can’t do
that,” Mateo said.

Dario stuffed his cock back
in his trousers. “Tariza –”

She yanked on the girl’s
hair, provoking a squeal of pain. “Get out. Now.”

“
You can’t tell me what to
do. Prince Mateo, help me!”

The crown prince lunged for
Tariza. He grabbed her wrist in a bruising grip. “Let go of her,
Concordian.”

“
She has no right
–”

“
Let. Go.” His icy eyes
seemed to bore right through her. “She was acting on my
orders.”

“
Let go of her, Tariza,”
Dario said.

She released the girl’s
hair. The redhead promptly began to cry.

Tariza rolled her eyes. “If
you’re old enough to suck a man’s cock,” she said with contempt,
“you’re too old to act like such a baby.”

That made the redhead cry even more
loudly. Her brunette companion put her arms around the girl and
made shushing noises. Mateo glowered at her.

She gave him a hard stare.
“She’s lucky I didn’t do more than pull her hair.”

“
I’m going to flay the hide
off your nasty Concordian back,” Mateo said.

“
No, you’re not.” Dario
slung an arm around her shoulders. “I’ll take care of her
punishment.”

“
I take leave to doubt
that, brother mine.” Mateo let go of her wrist with a grimace. “You
spoil your Concordian worse than any of your other
girls.”

“
You
helped provoke this,
brother.
I told you I didn’t want any
girls, and you practically threw them on me. What were you trying
to prove?”

“
I was checking to see
whether this bitch of yours had completely emasculated you. And it
seems she has.”

“
I can’t carry on a
rational conversation with a braying jackass,” Dario said. “Come,
Tariza, we’ll return to my quarters.”

She followed his direction
without a glance at Mateo or the girls. Her body still trembled.
Her hands still ached to pummel those two interlopers until they
were covered in bruises. Even if it wasn’t their fault. Even if
Mateo had ordered them to do it.

What was the matter with
her?

Dario hustled her up the stairs and
down the grand corridor to his quarters without speaking a word.
His arm felt like a steel clamp around her shoulders, his body hard
and angry against her side. He locked his door behind them before
releasing her.

“
What in hell is wrong with
you?” he said in a deadly voice. “When I left here, you were
fine.”