Free Mastered By Love by Tori Minard

I
am.”
     
    ***
     
    Saturnios didn’t seem to know what to do with her. He obviously
didn’t want her out of his sight. He attached a lead to her
harness, clipping it to the D-ring at her throat. She glowered at
him, but the swine looked right into her eyes and smiled that
infuriating sexy smile of his. He didn’t care that she hated him,
didn’t care that he was humiliating her. Goddess, he probably
reveled in the fact.
    Behind them, Paolo and
another young man were busily packing Saturnios’s belongings in
trunks and boxes. There wasn’t much to pack but she supposed they’d
get started on their journey well before dawn. It wouldn’t have
mattered to her except the two youths kept ogling her and there was
nothing she could do to stop them.
    Paolo crossed in front of her, his
arms full of bits and pieces of armor and male garments. As he
passed her, he gave her a long look that dallied at her breasts and
the apex of her thighs. Tariza burned all over. She crossed her
arms and glared at him, but he seemed oblivious as he licked his
lips and smiled. His gaze met hers and his smile
broadened.
    Even Saturnios’s squire
felt free to drool all over her.
    “ Get used to it, Tariza,”
Saturnios said. “Every man in the country will be hot for
you.”
    She gave him an imperious
look – at least she hoped it was imperious. “I thought I belonged
to you and only you.”
    “ You do. And it’s my
prerogative to share you with whomever I choose. I have no
objection to Paolo looking.”
    “ I do.”
    He chucked her under the
chin. “Your objection, little slave, is immaterial.”
    A sudden, stupid urge to
cry took hold of her. She looked down, breathing through her nose
and pressing her lips together hard. She’d been doing a lot of that
lately. But she wouldn’t cry again. She must not cry in front of these
barbarian pigs. It would only encourage them.
    I am unworthy of the name
of Concordia. He hasn’t struck me, hasn’t beaten or starved me,
hasn’t even questioned me. Yet I stand here sniveling like a little
boy.
    Saturnios gave her an odd look but
said nothing. As he turned from her, two more men in Saturnian
uniforms entered the tent and saluted him.
    Saturnios returned the
gesture. “I’ll just get my slave settled and then we’ll
talk.”
    The two newcomers openly looked her
over as if she were a horse at market. One of them, a middle-aged
man with close-cropped silver hair, lifted a hand as if to fondle
her. He glanced at Dario and dropped his hand.
    “ You have a jewel here,
milord,” he said in a jovial tone. “I only wish I’d seen her
first.”
    Saturnios tugged on her
lead. “Yes, I do.”
    He led her to the far side
of the tent, where he clipped the end of the lead to a stake
pounded into the ground. “Sit here.”
    Tariza just gazed at him.
    His nostrils flared. “Sit
down now. Don’t make me spank you.”
    “ I’m cold. If I sit on the
ground, I’ll get even colder.”
    He glanced down at her
breasts and smiled. “I guess you are cold.”
    Saturnios strode to his bed and pulled
the coverlet off. She looked down at herself and discovered her
nipples were tightly puckered against the chill in the air. Tariza
clasped them in her hands, ignoring the grins of the
men.
    Saturnios returned to her
and wrapped the blanket around her before pressing down on her
shoulders with both hands. “Now sit.”
    “ What about food? I’m
hungry.”
    “ Paolo, get Tariza some
food,” he called as he turned from her.
    “ You let a slave dictate to
you in that manner?” said the silver-haired man.
    “ She has the right to eat,”
Saturnios said without looking at him.
    “ She’s Tariza Concordia.
She should have no rights.”
    Saturnios turned his head
slowly and gave the man a cold and level stare. “I
disagree.”
    Silver-hair dropped his gaze after an
instant. He shifted his weight from one foot to the other, shooting
a glance at his companion. The other man said nothing, kept his
face