Mastered By Love (41 page)

The door opened again. “Her
Majesty the queen,” the guards said.

Tariza sighed. “Hello,
Mother.”

“
I see you had to beat some
sense into him.” Merita’s skirts rustled as she
approached.

“
Yes, I did.”

“
I didn’t think you had the
capacity for it,” the queen said waspishly. She didn’t seem to
think highly of Tariza at all.

“
He provoked me. I taught
him who is really in charge here.”

The queen stopped an arm’s
length away from him, the hem of her blue and gold skirt just
visible through his slitted eyes. “Do you think he’s actually
learned?”

“
We’ll see. If he doesn’t
behave, he’ll only receive more punishment. Eventually, I’ll get
through to him.”

Dario groaned softly, more for effect
than anything.

“
You’re going to mar his
pretty skin if you continue to beat him like that.”

Tariza snorted. “Why would
you care about that? Besides, there are many punishments that don’t
cause permanent injury, but are very painful.” She stroked his
hair. “I’ll introduce him to all of them, if necessary.”

Dario shuddered. Good thing he knew
she was only putting on a show to impress her mother.

“
I’ll send for Holla to
take care of his back,” the queen said.

“
Don’t bother. I’ll do it.
Holla would probably be too easy on him. I hear she favored
him.”

“
Yes.” The queen sounded
amused. “She was rather taken with him.”

That was the first he’d
heard of it. She’d seemed more intent on humiliating him than
anything else.

“
I don’t want her near
him,” Tariza said. “He’s mine now.”

“
All right. Tend him
yourself, if it pleases you. I have business to attend to. I’ll see
you at breakfast?”

“
Maybe,” Tariza
said.

“
He won’t be in any
condition to service you, if that’s what you’re
planning.”

The queen’s callous remark
– so like the way Saturnian men spoke about females – brought home
to him all over again the utter disrespect he and every other male
in Saturnios had always shown the women of their land. It made him
ashamed to call himself Saturnian.

“
I simply don’t know when
I’ll be awake,” Tariza said carelessly.

“
Very well. Until tomorrow,
then.” The queen’s footsteps retreated across the chamber and out
the door.

When Merita was gone, Dario
reached for Tariza’s hand. “What did you mean when you mentioned
leaving?”

She lay down beside him,
her face turned toward his, and whispered. “I can get one of the
float cars they used to grab us.”

He frowned. “Do you know
how to fly it?”

“
Yes.” She smiled wryly. “A
little. Do you?”

“
No. I’d never been in one
until that night, and I don’t remember any of it. They knocked me
out.”

She squeezed his hand. “I’m
sorry.”

“
It’s nothing. Done.” Dario
frowned again. “If you can fly it, do you know how to get to
Margelia?”

“
I’m not sure. I’m taking
lessons. There is navigation equipment on board.” Somehow she
managed to shrug, although she was flat on her belly. “Anyway, all
we have to do is get out of Concordia. After that, they can’t stop
us.”

“
Yes, but we need to avoid
Saturnios too. I don’t want you back there.”

She smiled at him. “So
protective.”

“
You’re my woman.” He
thought for a moment about the route they’d need to take. “If we
have an ordinary map and compass, I can guide us to
Margelia.”

“
And I can do the same,”
she said with a touch of asperity.

“
Good. We’re equally
competent, then.”

Tariza bit her lip and
grinned. “Sorry.”

She pulled a key from a pocket in her
skirt and came up on her knees. When she leaned over him to unlock
the shackles, he caught a whiff of the herbal scent of her soap.
The shackles fell away.

“
Thank you,” he
said.

“
You’re welcome. We need to
treat those wounds.”

“
In a moment.” He rolled to
his side, ignoring the fire in his back. “Have you thought about
what it’ll be like? How we’ll live?”

“
I’m not sure what you
mean.”

Dario lifted her hand to
his lips. “What if I can’t stop dominating you? What if I can’t
learn to live with a woman as an equal?”

“
I suspect we’ll be working
on that for a long time. On both sides, mine as well as
yours.”

“
You’re not afraid of
me?”

“
Goddess, no. I love you.
I’d rather be dominated by you than live without you.” She leaned
in until their noses touched. “Just don’t think I’m going to let
you get away with anything.”

Dario laughed. “Fair
enough.”

The Breaking
of Winter’s Back happened every year at this time,
while the days grew longer but snow still lay on the ground.
Downstairs in the great hall, pots of flowering bulbs forced in the
royal greenhouses would brighten the tables with their delicate
white and yellow blossoms, along with vases of bare branches dotted
with tender green buds. Women dressed in green would crowd the
hall, drinking strong wine, laughing, dancing, fondling their
slaves.

She’d like to make a gift
to Dario tonight, to let him know she was pregnant. Symbolically it
was the perfect time to make such an announcement, but she didn’t
want to disappoint him in case she was wrong. Better to wait until
she was sure.

The slaves all wore
headdresses of more spring flowers as well as brightly colored
harnesses. Tariza accepted the delicate wreath made of masses of
tiny white and gold narcissus from the young slave who’d delivered
it and turned to Dario.

He gave her a wary look.
“What is that?”

She held it out. “It’s for
your head.”

Dario scowled ferociously.
“Absolutely not.”

“
All the other men will
have one.”

“
No.” He folded his arms
across his bare chest, his black brows savage slashes over narrowed
eyes. “There is nothing you can say that will induce me to put that
bit of fluff on my head.”

She bit her lip to hold in
the smile that threatened to escape. “Come, my love, it’s only for
a few hours.”

“
It would look better on
you.”

“
I disagree. I think these
white flowers will be very striking against your black
hair.”

The look of horror on his face was too
much. Tariza giggled.

“
You’re enjoying this,
aren’t you?”

She tried to hold in the
laughter, but it was too strong for her. “Yes,” she chortled. “I’m
sorry.”

His lips twitched as
crinkles formed at the corners of his eyes. “I’ll look like a girl
in that.”

“
No, you won’t. You’ll be
naked except for a harness. No-one will mistake you for a
girl.”

“
God help me,” he said with
a mock groan and a roll of the eyes. “Fine. Hand it
over.”

Smiling broadly, she walked
to him with the floral crown held high. “I want to be the one to
crown you.”

“
Rubbing it in?”

“
It’s traditional. On your
knees, slave.”

He complied with a heavy
sigh. “I don’t like this tradition.”

Tariza settled the crown on
his head. The narcissus did indeed make a bold contrast with his
hair. “It may be the only time I’m able to participate in the
Breaking festival with you.”

“
I hope so.” His eyes were
abruptly somber.

“
So do I.” She leaned down
and kissed him softly. “I’ll get the harness and then we can
go.”

The harness she’d selected
was a bright golden yellow. It was the color of Concordia and
brought out the gold in the flowers he wore. Seeing him dressed
thusly brought back her old fantasies of dominating him, along with
a rush of shame. It was good they were leaving. To remain in
Concordia would destroy the Dario she loved.

He rose to his feet, lifted
his hand to caress her face. “What is it?”

“
I’ll be glad to get
out.”

“
Do you remember our
plan?”

“
Yes.” They’d verbally
rehearsed it all afternoon. “Do you?”

“
I have it
memorized.”

She clipped a matching lead
to the front of his harness. “Then let’s go down.”

The hall was just as
crowded as she’d expected. Slaves crowned with flowers knelt at the
feet of mistresses in low-cut gowns. A quartet played lively spring
tunes and a circle of slaves chained hand and foot with decorative
but restrictive chains performed a circle dance in a clear space in
the center of the room, their oiled skin gleaming over bulging
muscles.

“
Please tell me you don’t
expect me to dance,” Dario muttered.

“
Would I be that
cruel?”

“
I’m wearing the damned
flowers, aren’t I?”

She glanced back at him
with a smile. “Don’t worry. No dancing.”

“
Good. That way I won’t
have to punish you later.”

Tariza’s smile became a
grin. “Maybe I’ll have to add shackles to your outfit for my own
protection.”

“
Don’t you
dare.”

She laughed.

At the bottom of the stairs, Anata
lifted her head and stared at the two of them. When Tariza drew
close, the brunette looked Dario up and down with a disdainful air,
her lips turned down at the corners.

“
I don’t know why you
brought that creature to the festival,” Anata said.

“
He’s my personal slave and
I wanted him here,” Tariza replied, her voice betraying none of the
irritation she felt.

“
A Saturnian?”

“
He’s Concordian
now.”

Anata sniffed. “He’ll never
be Concordian.”

Goddess, I hope she’s
right.
She angled her body to move past
Anata, yet the brunette refused to get out of the way.

“
I would have thought he’d
be in disgrace,” Anata continued, “after the way he behaved the
other day. If he were my slave, he’d still be on bread and water
rations.”

“
How do you know he isn’t?”
Tariza said with a lift of her brow.

“
I – well, I just assumed
–”

“
Never assume,
Anata.”

“
Still, he shouldn’t be
here tonight. It doesn’t look right.”

“
Oh? How does it
look?”

Anata shot another glance
at Dario before leaning in to mutter in Tariza’s ear. “As if you
cared for him. He looks like a favorite.”

“
Don’t you think if I cared
for him I’d keep him away from all this?” She waved a hand at the
room full of flower-bedecked slaves and Mistresses. “I want him to
know what he’s become. I want all of Concordia to see what’s become
of Dario Saturnios.”

She glanced at him. With
his head high, his jaw tightly clenched, he looked wonderfully
sullen and defiant. Tariza unhooked the crop she’d attached to her
belt and used it to smack him smartly on his bare ass.

“
Amend that expression,
slave.” The command was copied, word for word and tone for tone,
from him.

He blinked. Rearranged his features to
seem blandly pleasant.

“
Much better. You’re
learning, Dario.” Tariza rose on her tiptoes and kissed him on the
lips.

Anata observed this last
with an expression of distaste. “I couldn’t bear to soil myself by
touching him.”

“
I didn’t have the luxury
of that attitude in Saturnios,” Tariza said coldly.

“
Oh, I’m certain you
didn’t.” Anata grimaced unattractively. “But I do believe I’d have
taken my own life before I submitted to that beast.”

“
She tried,” Dario
growled.

The brunette gasped. “Did
he speak to me without permission?”

“
Be silent,” Tariza
snapped, giving him another strike of the crop.

He subsided into glowering
silence.

She turned to Anata with a
wide, patently false smile. “It’s been so lovely talking to you,
but I must greet my mother before the ceremonies begin.”

“
Oh, yes. Of course. Do
excuse me.” Anata moved out of the way.

“
Come along, Dario.” She
led him into the hall without looking at him.

Until now, she’d never
really noticed what a bitch Anata was. Before her capture, she’d
considered the other woman a friend. How many other women in this
room harbored thoughts identical to Anata’s?

Goddess, was that me? Was
I the same way before?

She feared she’d been
exactly the same.