Free Mastered By Love by Tori Minard Page B

person,
please.”
    “ Huh?” She gaped at
him.
    “ Do
as I’m told. Go ahead and say it, with the numbers.”
    Her lips tightened as a frown
threatened to form.
    He smacked her again,
making her jump. “No frowning, scowling, or other unpleasant faces.
Now tell me the rules.”
    “ Do as I’m told
–”
    “ Numbers!” He smacked her a
third time.
    She bit back a sob of
self-pity. “Number one, do as I’m told. Number two, no talking
without permission.”
    Saturnios smiled warmly.
“Very good.” He clasped her buttocks in both hands, massaging,
removing the sting. “Now for Rule number three: gaze must be on the
floor at all times unless instructed otherwise. Repeat.” He
released her ass and stood ready with the crop.
    “ Number three: m-my gaze
must be on the floor at all times unless instructed
otherwise.”
    “ Excellent.” With a gentle
hand, he tipped up her chin, bending his head to brush her lips
with his.
    Her idiot body responded
instantly with a rush of warmth and pleasure.
    “ You see?” he murmured.
“You’re learning. Rule number four is the manner in which you
address me. You are to call me Master, Master Dario, Your Highness
or milord. Is that clear?”
    Tariza nodded.
    “ Show me.”
    “ M-master, Master Dario,
Your Highness or milord.”
    “ Now repeat all four, with
numbers.”
    Maybe if she showed obedience, this
particular humiliation would end more quickly. She rattled off the
four rules, keeping her gaze down as instructed.
    “ Good. Now for your
name.”
    Her name? She lifted her
chin and her gaze for an instant, before remembering rule number
three. Tariza ducked her head, twisting her hands together. Hoping
he didn’t mean to impose a new name on her.
    “ If someone requests your
name,” he said, “this is how you answer. I am Tariza, slave of
Prince Dario Saturnios. Now you say it.”
    Goddess. He was really going to make
her say that? She flicked a glance toward his riding crop,
tap-tapping against the side of his booted calf, and
winced.
    “ I am Tariza, s-slave of
Prince Dario Saturnios,” she repeated thickly.
    “ What is your name,
slave?”
    “ I am T-tariza, s-slave of
Prince Dario Saturnios.”
    “ Are you a princess of
Concordia?”
    She closed her eyes and
swallowed. “No.”
    Saturnios smacked her left
hip with the crop. “No, what?”
    “ N-no, Master.” Goddess,
that word was hard to force from her lips.
    “ Very good, Tariza.” This
time, he not only kissed her but cupped her breast, shaping the
sensitive curves and pinching her nipple until she gave a little
moan of response. “You see, when you obey, you receive pleasure.
When you disobey, you receive pain. Wouldn’t you rather have
pleasure?”
    “ Yes,” she said
unsteadily.
    “ And I would rather give
you pleasure than pain. Remember that. I enjoy rewarding
you.”
    Of course he did. His
rewards involved mauling her flesh, something that never failed to
sexually excite him. She’d used similar rewards for her own slaves
– all male, of course. Did he think she knew nothing of slave
training?
    “ It’s different when you’re
on the slave side of things, isn’t it?” he said softly, as if he’d
read her mind.
    “ Yes.” She had the strange
feeling she was falling, falling into a bottomless ravine from
which she would never escape.
    “ Now we
practice.”
    He made her drill,
repeating the four rules endlessly, giving her name at random
prompts, fetching things for him. Every time he gave an order, he
required her to respond with yes,
Master. They drilled for what seemed like
forever, until her responses felt automatic and she no longer
hesitated.
    “ You’re doing well,” he
said finally. “The other two rules I want you to learn today are
how to sit and how to stand.”
    I already know those
things. She kept her thoughts to herself.
Saturnios wanted her to present herself the same way that blonde
did. What was her name? Lola.
    “ You will stand with your
feet hip-width