The General's Virgin Slave (12 page)

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."

"
Prima mensa?"

"My main dish." He grinned. Her
language was something else he grew familiar with. Piece by piece.
Word by word. "My only dish," he added hastily.

"Hmm. I am glad you saw fit to correct
that, Marcus the Invincible."

What else could he do when he was sick
with lust for her?