by Georgia Fox
She reached the top step and looked over her shoulder. "You're busy, master. And I have other work to do."
"Your work is here," he barked from the water.
She feigned innocence, brows arched high. "Where? What can I possibly do for you? There is no room for me."
"Come back here, Axa. Last warning."
"But you said you have too many females in your life already, master. Now I see it is true." She paused. "And I don't do second best. I come first or I don't come at all."
The water churned as he started toward the steps in a hurry, pushing his slaves aside. She laughed.
And then she ran.
* * * *
Stark naked he chased after her. The damn woman would not escape him. How could she? She didn't even know the way out through his maze of rooms and every door was well guarded. She must be mad to try running away.
Only when he caught her and she was still laughing did it occur to Marcus that she made him chase her deliberately.
He had never played games with a woman. Never.
Her hair was falling loose, trickling in waves down the side of her neck and over her shoulder. Grabbing her by it, he pulled her down in the grass behind a marble statue of the god Bacchus and covered her with his body.
"Now I must punish you, for the other slaves have seen your defiance," he muttered, his pulse galloping, his body raging with desire. She would be a bad, rebellious influence on the others, if he wasn't careful.
"What else could I do?" she replied, her eyes filled with warm gold sparkles. Looking into her eyes was like looking up at the trees in summer, with sunlight flickering through leaves. "I needed your sole attention."
If he were not already breathless from chasing her, he would be now. "Why?"
"Because I have missed it these past few nights."
How sweet that sounded in his ears! But should he trust her to speak honestly? She could be up to something.
"As you knew I would," she added.
Oh, he had missed her too, but he was not about to say those words aloud. None of it made sense. He had felt an instant connection to this strange woman and even her defiant behavior could not break the hold she had upon him. "What is that mark, like a scratch on your bottom? I saw it earlier. I left instructions that you were not to be marked."
She looked at him, her face guarded.
"Axa! You will tell me."
"I don't like to tell tales on the others. We're all in the same boat, aren't we? Poor slaves, surviving the best way we know how." She blinked and looked away. "In any case, I took the weapon away from her."
"Her? There is a woman in my house who carries a weapon?" This was unthinkable, a brazen breach of his rules.
Axa flushed. "She did. Not now. I burned it. And I can handle her."
Somehow he didn't doubt she could handle anything. He slyly studied her face. "I heard you were fighting with the female overseer in the passage the other day."
"It was hardly a fight." She groaned. "Look, I don't want to talk of that. I didn't want your sole attention to talk of another woman."
Marcus slid her toga down over her shoulder, freeing her breasts for his enjoyment. "You will be my obedient bed slave from now on?" he demanded. "No more questions. No more defiance? Submission to me in all matters."
"I will be yours, Marcus, on one condition."
He sat up, but she remained on her back in the grass. "A good slave does not give her master conditions, Axa."
She sighed heavily and her eyelashes lowered so that most of the golden green was hidden.
"But just this once," he grumbled, "tell me what you want and I will consider it." He'd chase her again if he had to, damn her. Having her within the walls of his villa, knowing she was there and yet not able to summon her to his bed just because of his own decree, had been excruciating.
She looked up at Marcus with hope, bright and lusty, shining in her eyes. "I must be your only woman. And I want my freedom."
His heart drummed unsteadily. "No! I will not set you free." Sometimes he had walked through the atrium and thought he could smell her scent. The possibility of that fragrance fading one day was unimaginable.
How had she done this to him?
"I do not mean to leave, Marcus. I will stay, but as a free woman. Not as a slave."
Now his mind scrambled to keep peace with that frantic heartbeat. "You ask to be my concubine? And yet not my slave."
"If that is what you call it." She licked her lips and his cock swelled again.
"I have never taken a favorite."
"So I heard." She glanced down at his rising organ. "There's a first time for everything."
As he would be her first. Yes, he heard that reminder in her tone. The promise.
"If you are not a spy— as you claim—why do you want this position?"
She pushed herself up onto her elbows. More hair trickled loose in soft waves of rich red, startling against her pale skin, coils of it tumbling down to lay among the grass. "Is it impossible for you to comprehend the idea of a woman who might want your company and will stay with you, not because she has an evil motive, or because she is forced by slavery? Not every woman has to be your slave or your enemy. There are other choices, Marcus."
"Again, woman, you call me by my name when I told you—"
"If we are to be lovers, I must call you Marcus."
Lovers. The word rolled from her tongue with a sensuous curl. It felt as if she'd licked his shaft from root to head. His mind sought back over what she'd just admitted. "You want my company?"
She smiled. "Is it so hard for you to believe?"
Of course it was not impossible...but he had never expected...
"I watched you riding yesterday," she said softly.
He stared at her. "You did?"
"Flavian sent me to carry water out to the training field." Although she said no more, he got the sense she wished to, and could not.
"Ah." Marcus looked at the grass by her thigh and scratched the back of his neck. "I hope you were not distracted from your duties by watching me, woman."
"How could I not be distracted?" She rolled onto her side, resting on one elbow.
He knew what she meant, for she was a powerful lure for him too, taking his mind and his heartbeat away from its usual routine and rhythm.
But still...could he trust her?
"I am willing to give you my virginity, Marcus," she said softly, "but I cannot share you with others." Although she smiled her next words were firm— even bossy. "I want you for myself."
He was amused. Excited. Pleased. So many things all at once.
"Well?" she demanded impatiently, biting her lip.
"I suppose you say all this to get out of your chores, Axa."
"Yes, of course. Why else would I want to get into your bed again except to escape hard work?"
Head tilted, he observed her face thoughtfully. "This is sarcasm, eh?"
"Very good." Her eyes widened and she grinned. "You're learning." She was eyeing his rampant cock in a hungry fashion. "I've reached the conclusion that since I may be stuck here forever, I might as well make my existence...comfortable."
Marcus lay on his right side so his head was level with her loins, his prick within reach of her mouth. "I will consider your request, slave. If I find your obedience improved..." She slid forward and kissed the head of his organ and he promptly forgot the end of his sentence. Instead he ripped the short skirt of her wet toga aside and buried his face between her soft, fragrant thighs.
* * * *
She kissed his cock fervently, her arms wrapped around his hips. And then she gently licked his balls, nuzzling them, making love to them with her mouth. Down below she felt his mouth eating her pussy with the same greed as she'd seen him devour a platter of food. But just when she was at her peak, he changed his pace and fell to licking her juice, not letting her come yet.
Eagerly she swallowed his shaft and used her throat muscles to massage it. She needed
him to want her as he'd never wanted any other woman. This was not just for her survival, but it was now a matter of pride. Axa couldn't bear to see him with the other slaves. Envy spat and curled inside her like a poisonous snake and she'd never felt the like of it.
At first she hadn't wanted to admit the cause of her anger in the pool. Now there was no denying it. This was the competitive nature her friend had teased her about. She'd seen him surrounded by his pretty slaves and lost her temper. When he took another woman's nipple between his firm lips that was the last straw.
He wanted her to be his alone. Then he had better be hers alone too.
His tongue stabbed between her pussy lips and worked deeper, lapping at the tight walls of her sex and around her clit, making her squirm, her hips rising up off the grass. Even with a mouthful of hot, slick cock she groaned and the vibration must have sent him over the edge for he bucked and worked his battering ram rapidly, smoothly in and out. She tasted his cum as it began to trickle down her throat. But he held himself at the brink with supreme control, drawing out his own pleasure and hers. He fed her, a little at a time.
Axa sucked eagerly, joyfully, milking his cock while he plundered her quaking cunt with his long, skillful tongue.
They pleasured each other fiercely, roughly, limbs wrapped around one another. Two sexual creatures turning into one bucking, flexing wild beast.
Chapter Seven
"I see you have allowed the slave girl, Axa, out of her collar, general," Flavian remarked. He knew better than to question Marcus outright, but clearly he was anxious about this development and felt it necessary to make a comment.
"I have."
Marcus couldn't blame the slave master for being curious. What had he done?
He'd let her talk her way back into his bed and he was trusting her without the collar and chain. It was almost unthinkable. Yet it was done.
"I am testing her," he told Flavian. "She claims to be ready to accept her place. So...we'll see."
How will you ever be able to trust me, Marcus, she'd said to him, if you think a collar is needed to keep me at your side?
He had also promised to consider her request to be his only bed mate, his mistress. But he wasn't about to tell Flavian about that. The old man would probably have a heart attack on the spot if Marcus suggested he was ready to give up his stable of pussy in favor of just one prime thoroughbred pony.
"Is she to continue scrubbing floors, general?"
"No. Her only tasks are in my bed from now on. She is to be kept happy and content during the day, so she is ready to please me upon my return to the villa."
"I see," the old man replied wearily.
Marcus shot him a frown. "Why the tone, Flavian?"
"I have served many masters in my life, general. If I might make an observation— the keeping of one woman at the exclusion of all others is often the undoing of a good, happy man."
"I never said I was making her a favorite, did I?" he snapped, shoulders back, chin up.
"No, general. You never said." The old man's heavily lidded eyes turned mournfully toward him. "But it is well known about the domus that she remains virgin. That you have not yet dared breach the boundary. This sets her above the others and they wonder why you permit her to hold you at bay."
Marcus ran a hand across his chest and considered this problem. It was true he had not yet broken her maidenhead. Still he savored her. She had said she was willing to let him take it— ha, as if he needed her permission!
So what was he waiting for?
"Tomorrow at the Spring fertility feast," he said, making his mind up in that moment, "I will deflower the slave girl. Her maidenhead shall be a sacrifice to the gods."
It would be done with ceremony, he decided. It would be done to show his household that he was still in charge and that this woman, although different in looks and manners, would not change his life in any way but one. People did not like change. It scared them. So he would prove they had nothing to fear. Marcus Cassius, whether he kept only one bed slave, or half a dozen, remained invincible.
"Oh, and Flavian. Julia is dismissed. I don't want her in this villa another hour."
The creases of the old man's face began to unfold with relief. "Praise be," he muttered.
* * * *
He told her that night as they lay in his bed, looking out through the arch to the starry sky above.
"If you behave well at the feast tomorrow, Axa, I will grant your wish. I will make you my mistress."
She turned her head and stared, hardly believing he relented. "No other women?"
"Just you, woman. Just you."
Her heart leapt with this victory. She sat up and hugged her knees. "What must I do at the feast then?" There had to be a catch, she thought dourly.
"You must show yourself to be the perfect slave. Obedient, unquestioning, mindful of my pleasure. You must show all this to my guests and my household, to prove you are loyal to the house of Cassius."
"No collar?"
"No collar."
Well, she could do that surely.
"Now kiss me, woman."
She went into his arms and kissed him, delighting in the warm strength that closed around her.
"Look at the stars tonight, Marcus," she whispered. "They are so bright. I don't know if I've ever seen them sparkle like that."
"If we were in Sicily, there you would see them shine even more brightly."
"I would like to go there one day." She felt his eyes studying her, so she looked at him again and smiled. "Maybe. One day."
"It is a long way."
"I know."
"It is where I was born."
"I know that too. Your family is there, you said."
He nodded. "Three brothers, my mother and father. Many cousins."
She gently passed a fingertip over his tattoo. "Bis Vivit Qui Bene Vivit."
"Do you remember what it means?"
"He who lives well lives twice."
"Very good, Axa." He planted a kiss on her cheek. "Now I know you don't ignore everything I say," he added slyly.
"Hey! I listen to you all the time."
"Oh, of course you do." He waited and then shot her a grin. "That's sarcasm."
She laughed.
"Now sing that song again," he said, holding her even tighter.
"What song?"
"The one with which you entertained my soldier as you scrubbed the tiles, Axa."
So she sang and he was quiet and still for once, listening.
My baby don't care for shows
And he don't even care for clothes
He cares for me.
My baby don't care for...chariots and races.
My baby don't care for
...other girls and lusty ladies.
She changed some of the words for him, so the lyrics would have some meaning and not be full of words and references he couldn't fathom. It saddened her. Reminded her that their worlds were so far apart. She ran one fingertip across his lips.
I wonder what's wrong with baby
My master just cares for...
Marcus just cares for...
My baby just cares for me.
How far she had come over these past few days. Yet how much time had truly elapsed? It could have been months, or only minutes. Where was she in her real world?
Her memories of life without Marcus were already becoming distant, darker. Her desire for him absorbed her more and more each day, each hour, each minute. She was falling. Pretty soon she wouldn't even want to go back.
Gently he kissed her fingertips and she was amazed again at how he could be so tender.
"Axa," he said.
"Yes, Marcus?" He was going to ask her something terribly important, obviously. His eyes were half closed, looking down at her as he took her hand and held it away from his mouth.
"Tomorrow, at the spring feast, before my guests, I will sacrifice your maidenhead to the gods."
Well, there went that perfect moment.
"Before your guests?" She'd known it was coming, but not like that.
"You will not fight this, or it proves to me that you are not ready to be my mistress. To accept all that I am and all I can give to you. Only you."
She felt hot. His fingers tightened around her hand, almost crushing her bones. "Does it...does it have to be in front of everyone?"
There was no hesitation. "Yes." Her hand throbbed. "I need them to see they have nothing to fear from you. That you submit totally to me, your master."
It was a test, of course. If she did not let him do this, as he wanted to do it, he could still sell her off to someone else. Someone like Gaius Damianus.
But he was granting her a concession in return by committing himself to her only, to one woman after enjoying a previous sex life without restrictions.
"Okay," she whispered.
He frowned. "What does this mean?"
Axa licked the tip of his nose and then kissed him on the lips. "That's what it means, Marcus."
He kissed her back and rolled over, pulling her body under his. "One more day to wait then," he groaned.
She sincerely hoped, after all this, it wouldn't be a disappointment. For either of them.
Marcus took her hands and used them to push her breasts together, then he slid his shaft into the valley between and slowly began to fuck. Her lover was certainly inventive, she mused.
* * * *
On the evening of the feast, the villa was crowded with citizens from Aquae Sulis and surrounding towns. Marcus always paid for a good number of whores so that the men who attended the feast did not slake their lusts on his household slaves. Axa thought he ordered the prostitutes for himself too, but he had never used them. He had women enough in his villa and never required the services of a whore.
"I don't see the difference," she exclaimed. "Are bed slaves not the same as whores?"
"No, Axa," he replied patiently, getting accustomed to her questioning nature. "My bed slaves are part of my familia. I take care of them." He saw her frown and corrected, "Were. Until I became struck with madness and agreed to make you as my prima mensa."
