Mastered By Love (38 page)

“
You kept it secret from
me,” Tariza said coldly.

“
Because you were so
distraught.”

I was distraught because I
thought he was dead.

Tariza shifted away from
Dario. He watched her, wary again, maybe expecting treachery. She
wished she could reassure him, but that would give her away to the
Queen and she didn’t want her mother knowing the real state of her
relationship with him.

She rose to her feet and
advanced on the older woman. “Don’t you think I had the right to
know what became of him?”

“
I –”

“
Don’t you think I’d want
to see him meet his punishment? Why would you deny me
that?”

Merita looked strangely
unsure of herself. “I wanted to spare you pain.”

“
You cheated
me.”

The queen made a helpless
gesture. “I’m sorry. I did what I thought best.”

“
I want him for my personal
slave.”

Dario made a low sound in
his throat. She didn’t look at him.

“
No.” Merita shook her
head. “That’s highly inappropriate.”

“
It’s perfectly
appropriate. Turnabout is fair play, right? He enslaved me. Now I
enslave him.”

“
He’s
dangerous.”

“
Really?” She put her hands
on her hips. “Is that why every woman in your court has fucked him
at least once in the past few weeks?”

Merita colored again.
“Tariza, really –”

“
I know all about it. I’m
not sure how so many women managed to keep it a secret from me,
though.”

“
You weren’t interested.
You wouldn’t come out of your rooms.”

Dario openly stared at Tariza, as if
amazed at the revelation. Had he thought she was glad to have him
gone?

“
Well, I’m coming out now,”
Tariza said.

“
Not with him.”

“
Oh, yes. I plan to take
him with me everywhere.”

“
He’s not one of our
regular boys. He’s a warrior. I know you can fight, but you’re no
match for someone his size if he gets out of hand.”

Tariza smiled bitterly.
“Don’t you think I know that?”

The queen’s face went stiff
with embarrassment. “I didn’t mean – that is, I know –”

“
I can handle him, Mother.
I know a lot more about him than you do.”

“
Yes, I
saw how you were
handling
him when I came in.”

Tariza tossed her head. “He
has very kissable lips. I’d suggest you try them for yourself, but
I have no intention of sharing him.”

The queen’s mouth opened
and shut, yet no sound emerged from her throat. Tariza had never
seen her mother at such a loss for words. Merita had never seen
this side of her eldest daughter and it must be coming as a shock.
There was going to be a lot more of it, of course, because Tariza
was done playing the role of dutiful heir.

She clasped Dario’s
shoulder. “I claim this man as mine. He has my name carved into his
arm. I need him, Mother. I need him to service me as payment for
what he stole from me.”

Merita’s nostrils flared.
“I still think it’s extremely unwise. Wait a moment – he has your
name on his arm?”

“
Yes. Carved by a knife
blade. His arm now matches the marks on mine.”

“
I want to see
this.”

“
Dario, show Her Majesty
the mark.”

His gaze met hers for an instant
before he seemed to remember where he was. Looking quickly down, he
unwrapped the bandaging on his left arm. Tariza lifted the arm,
holding it out for her mother to see.

The queen took a few cautious steps
forward and bent down to get a better look. She kept a discreet
distance, though, as if she thought Dario might bite
her.

“
By the Goddess, it really
is your name.” The queen’s startled gaze met Tariza’s. “Is this
your doing?”

She would have liked to say
yes, but her mother would doubtless have the story from Holla, and
soon. “No. He did it himself.”

“
Why?” Now Merita sounded
angry. “What is it supposed to mean? Does he mock you with this
absurdity?”

“
I honor her,” Dario said,
a hint of his old arrogance in his voice.

“
You dare speak without
permission?” Merita said, glaring ferociously at him. “Keep silent
or I’ll have you muzzled.”

Dario’s jaw clenched, but
he didn’t speak.

Tariza squeezed his
shoulder. “He’s still learning our ways, Mother.” Goddess, he’d
said the same thing about her when she was new to
Saturnios.

“
He’s not trainable. He’s
been like a crazed animal ever since we captured him. Why do you
think we’ve had him in such heavy shackles?”

Because you wanted to have
him raped in view of the whole court.

“
I can train
him.”

Merita laughed. “Will you
listen to yourself? Even Rosaria can’t control him without the
heaviest chains and a whip and pole. How do you think you’re going
to do it?”

“
Rosaria isn’t
me.”

“
That carving on his arm is
just a way to get close to you so he can finish what he
started.”

“
I disagree.”

“
If you do this,” the queen
said, “he’ll destroy you. I can feel it.”

Did Merita suspect
something of the passion between them? Her suspicions could make it
impossible for Tariza to get Dario out of Concordia. If the queen
thought her daughter loved the former prince of Saturnios, she’d
put both of them in locked cells.

“
He doesn’t have the power
to destroy me,” she said, with as much contempt as she could
manufacture. “He’s only powerful back in Saturnios, where everyone
bows down to him and flatters his sense of self-importance. Here,
he’s just another boy, although more rebellious than
most.”

Merita’s slender brows
rose. “Is that so? I think you’re over-confident.”

“
What about a trial
period?” Tariza said. “If I haven’t brought him to heel within a
month, I’ll send him back to prison.”

“
Two weeks and not a day
more,” Merita countered.

Two weeks. Could she find a way in
such a short time to get them to Margelia without being
intercepted? Tariza sighed. It would have to do.

“
All right. Two
weeks.”

Merita turned her icy stare
on Dario. “If you harm my daughter in any way, I’ll have you
skinned alive. Is that clear?”

Dario nodded.

“
Say it aloud.”

“
Yes, it’s clear, Your
Majesty.”

“
Skinned alive, slave. I’ll
have your hide tanned and hung in my great hall for everyone to
see.”

Tariza stared at her mother. Skinned?
Tanned? Had the woman lost her mind?

“
I understand, Your
Majesty,” Dario said grimly. “I would never harm the
princess.”

“
Good. See that you
remember what I’ve said today.” The queen turned on her heel and
swept from the room without a farewell.

***

Dario’s shoulders
fell the instant the queen was gone. The truth
was, he slumped with relief. She might be small in stature, but the
woman had a formidable will and she hated him more than anyone else
he’d ever met. If she said she would skin him alive, he believed
it.

At one time, it wouldn’t
have mattered to him. Now, standing in Tariza’s room with the woman
he loved beside him, he wanted to live.

He ran his fingers through
his oily hair. He could feel the grease and dirt coating the
strands. He must smell terrible. How could Tariza bring herself to
touch him? “God, I’m filthy.”

“
We’ll have a bath after
dinner. Or would you rather do it before?”

He looked at her warily.
“Isn’t that your decision, Mistress?”

Tariza took his hands.
“We’re alone now. We don’t have to pretend.”

“
I wasn’t aware we were
pretending.”

“
I had to
put on a show for Rosaria and my mother.” Her eyes looked sincere,
even if her words were difficult to believe. “I’m not sure if
Rosaria can be trusted, and if the queen discovered how I really
feel about you, she’d probably throw
me
into prison.

“
She’d punish you for
despising me?”

“
Dario ...” Her voice
faded.

Maybe she thought he didn’t
know.

“
They said you left me
there to rot. You didn’t want me,” he said tonelessly. “I don’t
blame you for hating me after what I did.”

She pressed her fingers to
his lips. “Stop. I didn’t leave you there. They let me think you
were dead. I didn’t know you were ever in the palace at
all.”

Hope lifted a cautious
head. “You didn’t know?”

“
I told my sister how much
I missed you and she still said nothing.”

Dario studied her beloved
face, the amber-brown eyes he’d longed to see again, and saw not
hatred but longing there. “I thought – God knows I deserve your
hatred.”

“
I could never hate
you.”

“
Why not?” he said bleakly.
Even he despised himself. “I ruined your life.”

“
You changed my
life.”

“
You told me you hated
me.”

She sighed. “I know. I was
angry and afraid.”

“
What I did was
unforgivable. I know that now. My only excuse is I didn’t
understand at the time.” He forced himself to hold her gaze,
although he wanted to crawl away with his shame and guilt and hide.
But she deserved to hear this and to have him look at her while he
said it, no matter how much it pained him.

“
I realized, when they ...
punished me ... what it must have been like for you. I’m sorry,
Tariza, so sorry. I don’t have the words to express how much I
regret what I did to you. I only hope you can forgive me
someday.”

“
Oh, Dario.” She spread her
palm against his cheek again. “Kidnapping me was wrong. But somehow
... I don’t know ... it doesn’t seem to matter anymore. You showed
me things I never would have seen if you hadn’t taken
me.”

His brows pulled together
in disbelief. “Such as?”

“
I didn’t know men and
women could be friends.”

“
Neither did I.” But that
hardly seemed enough to balance the harm he’d done to
her.

Tariza smiled. “And I
didn’t know how wonderful sex could be. Here in Concordia, we work
so hard to control the men that we don’t really experience
them.”

He snorted. “You certainly
experienced me.”

“
Yes, I did.” Her hand
slipped around and into his dirty hair. “Until you, I’d never had
sex that completely took me outside myself. I’d never really known
ecstasy.”

Dario tried to pull away.
“That doesn’t make it all right.”

“
I’ve already forgiven
you.”

He shook his head. “Don’t
do that. You can’t –”

“
Stop that. It’s not your
place to tell me what I can and can’t forgive.”

He flushed. “You’re right.
I’m sorry.”

Her eyes crinkled at the
corners and her lips twitched. “Submissiveness sits poorly on
you.”

Dario laughed shortly. “I’m
learning.”

She looked up at him with
an expression he couldn’t read. Couldn’t make sense of it. She
looked almost affectionate. “I don’t want that for you.”

He frowned with narrowed
eyes. “What do you want, then?”

She leaned in close. “I’m
going to get you back to Saturnios,” she whispered in his
ear.

“
What? No.” His hand
tightened on hers. “I don’t want to leave you.”

“
I’m going too.”

Dario jerked in shock. “No.
I don’t ever want you back in Saturnios. You’d be – what the hell
are you thinking, Tariza? You’d be enslaved all over
again.”

She just looked at him, her
eyes shining with an intensity of emotion he dared not name. “I
know. I want you to be happy.”

“
Not like that.”

“
I know what I’m doing,
Dario.”

“
No.” He shook his head,
the horror of seeing her once again enslaved nearly robbing him of
speech. “It’s too much. You can’t – I’d rather stay here than risk
you going back.”

“
Dario.” She rose up and
kissed him briefly on his mouth. “I want to do this because I love
you.”

He stilled, his gaze fixed
on her face, his mind struggling to make sense of her words. “You
–”

Love me?

It couldn’t be true. It was
too much, so much more than he deserved.

“
I love you,” she said
softly. “I would do anything for you.”

Dario grabbed her, hauled
her tight against his body, buried his face in her hair. His heart
thundered in his ears. “Sweet girl. My sweet girl. I love you, too.
So much. God, I love you.”