Companions of Gor: Chapter Fourteen (Final Chapter)

 

 

It was late in the afternoon, only an ahn or two before the sun would set, as I walked through the streets of Vonda beside Mikos. I no longer wore the collar of House Andronicus.  Men had removed it from my throat, but had then quickly replaced it with another collar.

 

“What does it say?” I had asked. I could feel there was an inscription.

 

“Be quiet, kajira,” said the man. 

 

It was a light collar, pretty, with a coating of enamel. The sort of collar a privately owned girl might wear. 

 

We walked through the market area, and occasionally I pointed out a shop or vendor.

 

“That is the best pastry shop in the city,” I said.

 

“Oh?” Mikos turned to regard me. I wore pleasure silk again, which turned many heads as I walked through the market. Men stopped to stare in frank appraisal, whistling their approval, while free women hissed ‘slut’ at me with a bitter look in their eyes. Pleasure silk has that effect on people. My hair was unbound and flowed about my shoulders in the slave flame shape. 

 

“And over there,” I pointed to a store to the left, “that is where I have dresses made.”

 

“I think they would hardly recognise you now,” said Mikos.

 

“I would hope not,” I said with a smile. “That would be awkward.” It was a hot day and I felt the warmth of the sun’s rays on my bare skin. I walked barefoot, as slaves do, and I heard a little jingle from my left ankle with each step I took.

 

Mikos had bought a set of ankle bells and had locked them on my ankle, despite my protests. 

 

“Beast,” I had said, as I had sat on my bottom, left ankle raised to his cupped hands. 

 

“You object, Cassie?”

 

“Of course!”

 

I felt the snap lock close about my ankle. The bells jingled softly as I was permitted to move my foot back from his grasp.

 

“You are very beautiful. You are worth every single one of the seven copper tarsks I paid for you.”

 

I frowned bitterly, for that was all I had cost. Seven copper tarsks! A single gown in my wardrobe would have cost more than I had.

 

“Personally speaking, I think you were grossly under-priced. The slaver was a fool.”

 

“Oh?” I looked at him with sullen interest.

 

“I wouldn’t have sold you for less than eleven copper tarsks.”

 

“I hate you!” I folded my arms and walked beside him in a distinct huff. “And I hate these bells!” They jingled softly with each step I took. 

 

“Now I know where you are at all times, without looking round,” said Mikos. “How does it feel to be walking the streets of Vonda in pleasure silk?”

 

“Like I’m another person entirely,” I said. “No one knows me like this. People look at me differently.”

 

“I imagine they do. Do you feel a sense of freedom, not being encumbered by robes and veils?”

 

I thought about this for a moment. “I suppose I do.” I stretched my bare arms and gazed around. “It does feel very different.”

 

We wandered into one of the public gardens where mosaic pathways threaded through pleasant landscaped features. Men and women took time to appreciate the splendours of nature in these parks, and many of them feature fine sculpted drinking fountains and shaded areas where you might take some rest from the heat of the day. I sometimes came here as a free woman, when I was visiting the quarter. 

 

“My favourite bench is over there,” I said, indicating a bench that sat in the shade of overhanging cherry bushes. A water feature made soothing sounds nearby.

 

“That bench is reserved for free women,” he said. “You can’t sit there.”

 

We walked on.  

 

“Can I see my slave papers?” I asked. He had them in a pouch at his belt. The name on those papers had been changed, at his request, from Niamh to Cassie, The change had been legally witnessed and stamped by the House of Andronicus. My legal name it seems was now Cassie. 

 

“No,” said Mikos.

 

“Why not?”

 

“I suspect you would quickly shred them.”

 

“You are a very suspicious man,” I said. 

 

“Perhaps.” 

 

“Look! A sweet pastry seller!” I pointed to a stall that was selling an array of tasty treats.

 

“Are you begging for a sweet pastry treat?” asked Mikos.

 

“No, of course not. It was simply an observation.” I licked my lips. I enjoy sweet things. Most women do. 

 

Mikos led me to the stall and as I stood there quietly he purchased a pastry with a sweet filling. He broke off a little of it and stretched it towards my mouth. With a smile I took the treat and ate it, licking the sugar from my lips.

 

“Slut,” hissed a free woman as she passed quickly by. 

 

“Do you know her?” asked Mikos.

 

I shook my head. “I don’t think so, but veiled as she is, she could be anyone.”

 

“The chances are, you know some of the women here.”

 

“Perhaps.” I didn’t really care. They would never recognise me like this. Free women do not look at slaves in the street closely enough.

 

“I heard you broke the nose of a girl in the slave pens,” remarked Mikos. 

 

“I did, yes.” I smiled at the memory. “And a few of her teeth. And two of her fingers.”

 

“You really are an Assante. I should probably keep you away from Aimee.”

 

“That would be a good idea.”

 

“Come here, Cassie,” he said as he paused beside a secluded space in the garden. “There are no free women around, it seems.”

 

“Oh?” I moved towards him on raised tip toes. “And why should that matter?” I parted my lips ever so slightly.

 

“Well, I want to kiss my kajira.” He cupped my bottom with his hand again, touching me under the brief skirt of silk, and pushed me up towards his lips. I kissed him back, touching his chest with my hands, revelling in the sensation of the kiss. 

 

“You seem to have become very compliant in my kissing of you.”

 

“Perhaps,” I said softly. 

 

“Why is that?”

 

“Well,” I sniffed. “It seems I wear your collar. I suppose you would beat me if I didn’t.”

 

He kissed me again, and stroked the lips of my sex, making me squirm. “Take me into the bushes,” I whispered.

 

“Certainly not. This is a public park. Free women use it.”

 

I blushed, realising what I had said, and how that had come across. 

 

“I didn’t meant that. I don’t want to go into the bushes.”

Mikos laughed and turned me about. We continued walking. “I spoke to Simon,” said Mikos. “He is… recovering… I think his pride will take some time to heal. The Lady Sasapina can be, well, demanding… when she has sex with a man.”

 

“She really put him to use?” 

 

“I didn’t ask for details. But she seems to have been well satisfied, while your free companion asked me never to mention the subject to him again. I think we should respect his wishes to save him further embarrassment.”

 

“Oh! that woman is a monster. She whipped me!”

 

“Well, you had thrown a pot of vinegar in her face. You’re not the only one with a temper.”

 

“I still don’t understand any of this. Why did she abduct Simon? How did she even know Simon was in that room? And why did she let you buy me? I was sure I was going to be sold in another city so that I could never press charges against the House of Andronicus.”

 

“I know Sasapina through a mutual friend, the Lady Donna.”

 

“I know the Lady Donna!”

 

“I know you do.” Mikos smiled. “It’s funny how our lives are connected. Simon had a meeting with Sasapina. I was somewhat responsible for that. I feel bad about it now. They had some… business dealings. It’s probably best I don’t go into details. Sasapina knows Donna, and she happened to mention things to Donna and Donna, well, she has a habit of looking out for you. She asked Sasapina, as a personal favour, not to follow through with her dealings with Simon.” 

 

This was still about as clear as mud to me. 

 

Why was Mikos being so vague about all of this? “You’re holding things back. I know you are!”

 

“Curiosity is not becoming in a kajira. You could be beaten for it.”

 

“I’m not a kajira!”

 

“Actually, you are.” He patted the pouch at his side. “These are legal papers. I have actually bought you. You do legally belong to me. You’re my property. It’s all properly documented.”

 

“You know that would never stand up before a magistrate. I was never legally enslaved.”

 

“There is a guardsman over there,” said Mikos, pointing with his hand. “Why not complain to him that you are the Lady Cassandra Assante of Vonda, and you’re being treated in a beastly fashion?”

 

“I can’t do that.”

 

“No?”

 

“I would be ruined!”

“Well, then.”

“And anyway, there is no need. You are going to return me home.”

“Am I?”

 

“Of course you are. You can’t possibly keep me in a collar.”

 

“But you look lovely in a collar. Breathtakingly beautiful in fact. Why, in just a few more days, I suspect you will be worth at least thirteen copper tarsks.”

 

“Beast!” 

 

“I feel my investment growing by the minute.”

 

“Well, I’m glad I’m making money for you,” I said icily. I sniffed. “Can I see my slave papers? I would like to see what they say about me?”

 

“I am sure you would. They make for very interesting reading.”

 

“Beast!” We walked out of the garden and out onto another street. I knew this quarter. We were moving further away from the location of my town house. “Where are we going? I live in the other direction.”

 

“I am aware of that.”

 

“I would rather not tour the streets of Vonda, dressed like this. I am attracting too much attention.”

 

“Slut! Filthy slut!” said another free woman as she walked past us. “They shouldn’t be let out in public!”

 

“I beg your forgiveness, Lady,” said Mikos with a smile. He glanced at me. “Perhaps I should walk you away from the main streets.”

 

“Back home?”

 

Ten ehn later we stood outside a paga tavern called ‘The Slut and Shackle’.

 

“No!” I stepped back. “Ohhh!” I cried out as he marched me through the door with my head down at his hip, his hand in my hair.

 

“You can have alcove number four,” said the owner as he saw that Mikos had brought his own girl with him. 

 

“My thanks, Sir,” said Mikos as he handed the man a coin. 

 

I soon found myself on a wooden ledge inside the curtained alcove. I drew my legs back as Mikos closed the curtains on us both. 

 

“There are plenty of paga slaves available,” I said. 

 

“So there are.” He fixed an alcove chain to my collar. 

 

“They are more experienced than I am.”

 

“So they are.” He locked my wrists to an alcove ring above my head. I pulled at my wrists and felt that excitement I had felt before. Was it my imagination or did that feeling come more quickly now, more naturally?

 

“Why have a free woman when you can enjoy a slave?” I asked. It was a famous saying. 

 

“I don’t understand?” Mikos looked up as he pulled my legs forward by the ankles and spread them. There were shackle rings to either side of my ankles now and he began to tie my ankles in place.

 

“You will get more pleasure from a slave than a free woman.”

 

“That is true, but I do not see any free women, so the remark is of little consequence.”

 

“Me. I am a free woman.”

 

Mikos laughed. “No you are not. You are a slave, Cassie. I have papers of ownership that would stand up in any court outside of Vonda.”

 

“You want to continue this game, I see.” I shook my head angrily. “In case you haven’t noticed – this IS Vonda.”

 

I squirmed as I felt him lift the lightweight silk from my loins. I was helpless now. Very, very helpless. He began to caress me between my legs and, in the privacy of the alcove, I cried out with pleasure. The teasing arousal built up until I was writhing on the flat wooden surface, pulling at my wrist and ankle bonds. Once, I would have been quiet, but not this time. I let myself cry out, whimper, moan, howl even. It was like the floodgates were opening. I was an anonymous girl in a paga tavern alcove, and had nothing anymore to hide from Mikos. I allowed myself the luxury of responding fully to his touch, and it felt liberating as I did so.

 

He penetrated me then, pushing deep inside me. 

 

“Yes!” I cried. “Yes!”

 

“This is indeed Vonda,” said Mikos as he began to thrust rhythmically inside of me, “as you observed, but the fact is, Cassie, I will be leaving soon, and relocating to the city of Argentum.”

 

“What? Why?”

 

“Business opportunities there are enticing. The magistrates of Argentum of course will find your slave papers to be in perfect order, have no fear on that score.”

 

“No… you’re just taunting me…” my next words were lost as my body was overcome with a rising tide of responsiveness. I lost control of myself and what I wanted to say, and simply lay there in my tight, secure bonds, rocking back and forth to the rhythm of his hard, fast thrusts. 

 

“Such a slave,” he said when we were finished. I lay there on the flat, wooden shelf, breathing deeply, my skin flushed from the sensations I still felt. 

 

“You can’t take me to Argentum!”

 

Argentum was one thousand, two hundred pasangs away, as the tarn flies. It lay close to the great river Issus – a major tributary on Gor - more than four hundred pasangs east of the great Vosk delta. Argentum had no relationship with the city of Vonda, whatsoever. I turned in my chains and regarded him. “You must take me home!”

 

“I have always wanted to see Argentum,” said Mikos as he lay beside me, caressing my thighs. “They say the tharlarion racing there is very good.”

 

“Mikos, listen to me. You have to take me home! This game is over!”

 

“Game?” He touched my collar and smiled as I drew back from his touch. “Do you know what your collar says, Cassie?”

 

“No.”

 

“It reads, ‘my name is Cassie, I belong to Mikos of Argentum’.”

 

A cold shock washed through me. “Ar… Argentum…”

 

“Well, the slaver house would have been reluctant to sell you to me if I was of Vonda. They would want you out of the city.”

 

“You have a slave. You have Aimee.”

 

“That is true. You will consider her to be the first girl in the coffle. It’s only fair. She cost me fifty copper tarsks, after all.”

 

I began pulling frantically at my ankle and wrist bonds. Mikos simply watched me until I gave up. I then started crying. He waited, silently, until I finally stopped and I gazed at him with a sideways glance. 

 

“I don’t believe those were genuine tears, Cassie. I think you turned them on to make me feel bad. You’re a very manipulative kajira.”

 

“How much money do you want? Name your price.”

 

Mikos laughed. “There is no price, Cassie. Not when I look at you in your soft pleasure silk.”

 

I began struggling wildly again. I didn’t subside for at least six ehn, this time. 

 

The hour grew late. The sun set outside, though it was not obvious within the darkened interior of the paga tavern, and especially not in pleasure alcove number four. 

 

“What do you want, Mikos? There must be something you want? I can give it to you. Anything that is within my power. Just take me home.” I lay close to him, feeling the warmth of his hands on my bottom. I felt his kisses on my lips and neck. 

“All slaves go through this to begin with, Cassie. It’s natural. But in time they grow to accept their slavery. It’ll be the same for you.”

 

“I don’t want to be a slave,” I sobbed. “The thought scares me.”

 

“That’s because you fear your true feelings, the feelings that have risen to the surface these last few days. You’ve been at war with your sexuality,  Cassie. You’ve fought hard, and successfully, for a time, but all wars come to an end eventually. You’ll make a superb slave.”

 

“Don’t take me to Argentum!” 

 

“You would prefer Corcyrus?”

 

“This can’t be happening. What about Simon?”

 

“I really don’t want Simon as a slave, Cassie.”

 

“No, I’m serious. He’s your friend. I’m his woman. Have you no honour?”

 

“Rather more than Simon has, I feel. I’m sure he’ll move on with his life. Free companionships are only for a year, after all.”

 

It was the evening when we left the paga tavern, and by then it was beginning to fill up. He tipped the owner a couple of additional coins and thanked him for the service. 

 

“I only provided an alcove,” said the man.

 

“Yes, but within the alcove, the service was very good.” He slapped my bottom playfully and heard me squeal. 

 

“The Slut and Shackle will welcome you back, any time, Sir,” said the owner.

 

Mikos adjusted my pleasure silk as we stood outside on the side street. Men passed by on their way to ether the Slut and Shackle or some other tavern, for it was that time in the evening. I felt a leash snap lock close on my collar ring. The bells on my left ankle jingled as I shifted my weight from one foot to another. 

 

We walked back through the park space which looked subtly different now the sun had gone down. From secret spaces in the park we heard whispered lovemaking between a man and his slave. 

 

“An encouraging sound, Cassie,” said Mikos with a smile. “The people of Vonda enjoying themselves.”

 

I had no idea where we were going now. My mind was in turmoil and I was barely capable of concentrating. Would Mikos take me out of Vonda this very evening? Had he already prepared a riding tharlarion and packed his bags? I imagined being led through the gates of Argentum, a foreign city I had never seen before, led along the main road at the end of a leash tied to a slave ring on his tharlarion saddle, my ankles dusty, my head lowered as citizens who did not share my home stone viewed us pass. There, I would truly be a slave, for Argentum owed no pact of loyalty or friendship to my city. 

 

And yet… I felt a closeness of sorts to Mikos now. I matched his pace as he led me through more side streets and I began to wonder what it might be like to be HIS slave. Not anyone else’s slave, but HIS. I imagined how it might be to maintain his house during the day, anxiously awaiting his return from whatever business he might have. Ensuring that his house looked warm and inviting, and that by the time he returned, I looked fresh and sensual – my hair brushed, perfume on my wrists and throat, my lips adorned with slave rouge, so that he would take me and put me to use. Would it be so bad? I moved closer to him, and he felt my presence. He stroked my arm and whispered how beautiful I was.

 

“Beautiful enough to be kissed?” I whispered back in the twilight between street lamps.

 

“Beautiful enough to be kissed,” he agreed. I stood on tip toe as he did so, and I cried softly when he had finished. 

 

“I wear your collar,” I said.

 

“You do, Cassie.”

 

“I feel… I don’t know what I feel now…”

 

“You feel an awakening of your senses, and a growing acceptance of your genetic heritage. Your submissive genes are beginning to bloom, encouraged by the pleasure you feel when I put you to use.”

 

I breathed softly as I pressed my body against his. “Please don’t take me to Argentum.” He kissed me again and I moaned softly, touching his chest with the palms of my hands. “I don’t know how to be a slave.”

 

“Yes, you do. All women do. It is your birth right. Your heritage. Do not frustrate yourself.” 

 

We walked some more and I saw a man pass by with his slave girl. The girl was happy, laughing, as she heeled her master.

 

“Tal, chain-sister,” she said, laughing as she passed me by. She gazed quickly at Mikos and then gave me a knowing smile and a wink. “Have a good evening, slave!”

 

“And you, slave,” I said with a soft smile back at her. I watched her run, scampering on quick feet, not to lose her master. 

 

“I will! I will, chain-sister!” she called back as she rounded the corner. 

 

“She seems happy,” said Mikos.

 

“Yes, she does.”

 

“Once she was probably a very unhappy free woman.”

 

“Possibly.” I felt his hand touch my bottom, under the silk again, and I squirmed with pleasure. 

 

“Whose collar do you wear, Cassie?”

“Yours… I wear the collar of Mikos of Argentum. He is…” I paused, and then gazed up at him. “A great man…”

 

“Is he?”

 

“I think so.”

 

We stopped beside a narrow canal and sat awhile, watching a cargo boat with lanterns lit at the bow and stern drift by. I rested my head against Mikos’s shoulder as he held me in the crook of his arm. 

 

“What cargo do you suppose it carries?” I asked.

 

“Coal, perhaps, or timber. See how heavy she is in the water?”

 

I nodded. “This feels good,” I said. “Your arm around me, now. Us just sitting here together, beside the water.”

 

“Such a slave,” he said, laughing. 

 

“I can’t help how I feel.” I blushed, but pressed closer into his embrace.  

 

It was dark when we reached the Vertex plaza, accessible by 73 steps, where tables are set out with a moonlit view of the Gardens of Sefarim, below. Here, it is possible in the evenings to buy food from nearby stalls and sit out with friends or loved ones, dining with a view of the city.  

 

“I’ve never been here,” I said. Free women avoid the place because men typically bring their slaves here, and under the cover of darkness, well…

 

Mikos kissed me deeply before we entered the lamp lit area. He ran his hands over my body and I sighed with pleasure, gazing out over the lamp lit gardens below. Softly, enthusiastically, I kissed him back with excited, eager kisses. 

 

“Such a slave,” he said. 

 

“I wear your collar…”

 

“So you do.”

 

Mikos bought me some hot spiced strips of meat in a pitta bread of sorts and gave it to me. “You’re not going to feed me yourself?” I asked, gazing at the food in my hand.

 

“Not while we walk, no.” He stroked my bottom again and I laughed, softly, licking sauce from my fingers. 

 

“Can I feed you?” I held the pitta bread towards him and laughed again as he took a big bite from it. “Greedy, so very greedy. I only take small bites.”

 

“So I’ve seen.” He rubbed a little of the sauce on my nose and then kissed it off me. I felt giddy, enjoying the sensations of being touched and played with, while gazing out at a breath-taking night view, illuminated by soft lamps glowing in the darkness. 

 

“Mikos?” A man saw us and approached. With him was a slave girl with dark hair, cut in a slave flame style, like my own.

 

“Pelius, you old Devil,” said Mikos with a  laugh. The men greeted each other by slapping their left shoulders with the fists of their right hands. “And the lovely Julie, too. Looking lovelier than ever, I see.”

 

“Master!” said the girl ,with genuine warmth and excitement, to Mikos. She leaned in to her own master, Pelius as she spoke, and touched his chest, possessively. Then she darted her eyes at me and added, “Tal, chain-sister.” There was genuine warmth in her voice towards me that surprised me. 

 

“I hear you will be leaving for Argentum soon,” said Pelius.

 

“It is true.” They clenched in a rough embrace of sorts and then Pelius looked at Julie and myself and voiced a single question. “The slaves?”

 

“Yes,” nodded Mikos. He turned to me and said, “Cassie, you may talk with Julie if you wish.” And then they sat down at a table to talk of the things that men talk about when free women aren’t present. I knelt beside Julie and regarded her with my natural suspicion. I assumed she was going to resent my presence.

 

“Your pleasure silk is so pretty,” she said as he reached out and touched my hand. “I’m jealous.” But she said it in a non-threatening manner. “He must think very highly of you to walk you in the city wearing pleasure silk, showing you off to other men.”

 

I hadn’t thought of it like that. “You think?”

 

“Oh yes,” Julie moved in a little closer to speak softly. Around us was the ambient chatter of other groups at other tables. “He’s displaying you like a trophy. He really cares for you. How long have you been in his collar?”

 

“Not long.” I paused. “A few days.”

 

“It’s beautiful up here, isn’t it? The way the lamps sparkle in the gardens below. I love it when Pelius takes me here. And there are never any free women!” She smiled. “We don’t have to keep looking over our shoulders. You know we both live in the same quarter, don’t you?”

 

“Do we?” I supposed she was referring to the homes of her master, and Mikos. 

 

Julie nodded. “You’re probably not familiar with the area yet. If you like, we could probably ask our masters to let us do errands together. I’m usually out from the ninth ahn to the thirteenth ahn. The errands don’t take too long, and then we could just spend some time together. I know a lot of really good places to visit. It would be fun.”

 

“You… want to be my friend?” I must have seemed very surprised.

 

“Our masters are. Why not us? I know a pastry shop where we can always be sure of a hand out if we beg nicely. We can have the freedom of the city for four ahn. We can go anywhere we like! Have you got anything better to do?”

 

“No… I don’t suppose I have.”

 

We talked for perhaps ten ehn, and from time to time Mikos glanced down and saw us in animated discussion. He heard me laugh as Julie made some jokes about free women that were, I suppose, fair game. And then we talked about the men we were with, and I listened as Julie spoke highly of Pelius. I felt obliged to then say a few things about Mikos too. 

 

“He has this habit of touching me under my skirt,” I said quietly. “Under the silk, just brushing it lightly out of the way with his fingertips. He does it sometimes as we walk, or when I stand next to him, and it thrills me every time. And then his hand on my bottom turns me round and I raise myself on tip toes because I know he is going to kiss me, and he always does.”

 

Julie laughed and brushed her nose against mine in the friendly gesture slaves sometimes make between themselves. “Masters are wonderful. If they didn’t exist we’d have to wish them into being.” We ate some tasty bits of food that Mikos and Pelius had scattered on the grass around us. I felt hungrier than I usually did, and I noticed that I appreciated the flavours more. My sense of taste, like everything else, seemed sharper and more responsive. 

 

“We are going now, Cassie,” said Mikos eventually. He clipped the leash back onto my collar and motioned for me to get up. 

 

“Tomorrow?” said Julie as she too was led to her feet. “Please say yes, Cassie?”

 

“What’s happening tomorrow?” asked Mikos. 

 

“Julie wanted to show me around the quarter,” I said. “But I suppose that’s out of the question.” Mikos knew of course I would try to escape.

 

“I think not. It’s a little soon, Cassie.” 

 

Yes, he knew I would try to escape. 

 

We walked on through side streets, Mikos growing silent now. I looked at him, not understanding the reason for his silence. Had I done something to anger him? Was he angry that I had spoken with the slave girl? He had given me permission, after all. I didn’t understand this sudden change of mood. It was as if a dark cloud had fallen over him.

 

“Something is wrong?” I said.

 

“Be quiet, Cassie.” We walked on in silence and I tried to think what had happened. I touched the fingers of his left hand with my right, but he drew the hand away. I felt his mood darken the further we walked. 

 

And then I saw where we now were.

 

Straight ahead of us was my town house. I stared at it in disbelief.

 

“You’re home, Cassie. Turn around.” I felt his fingers suddenly produce a key and unlock the collar from around my throat.

 

“I… I don’t understand. What is this?”

 

“I’ve taken you home.” His hands lingered on my shoulders for a moment before he then drew them away. He handed me a small key to the slave bells on my ankle. “Simon is waiting for you inside. He has sent your men away for the night, so there will be no embarrassment in your being seen like this. Go. Go home.”

 

“Why? What is this?” I took two steps towards him. 

 

“It’s exactly what it seems to be. As I said before, I have more honour than Simon does.” He gazed at me with a look I hadn’t seen before. A look of longing for something he couldn’t have. “Go inside before I change my mind.”

 

“I thought I was…”

 

“No. You are not. Go live your life, Cassie. I made a promise to Sasapina. I have taken you home.”

 

“But…” I gestured wildly. “What was all of this?! Tonight! The paga tavern, the talk of Argentum! The collar!”

 

“I wanted one last night with you, Cassie, and I wanted you to know what it is like to truly wear a collar, and to have a master. Now you know.” His mood was pensive, brooding. 

 

“I thought you wanted me?” I moved towards him, standing very close. 

 

“Don’t flatter yourself. I have Aimee. She is a trained slave.” But he could not meet my eyes as he said that. “Go, free woman. The streets are dangerous after dark. Men are lustful creatures and you are just too tempting in that pleasure silk.”

 

“And that’s it? After all we’ve been through? You walk me home?!”

 

“Yes. That’s it.”

 

“So all that talk of Argentum…”

 

“I am going to Argentum, very soon in fact. You are not. That should be a relief to you,” he said with a trace of bitterness in his voice.

 

“Yes! Yes, it is!” I paced around him. “By the Gods, I hate you, Mikos! “I thumped him in the chest with the balls of my fists and he staggered back, not trying to deflect the blows. 

 

“You don’t want to be a slave, Cassie.”

 

“That’s right! I don’t! Especially not your slave!” I reached to hit him again, but this time he reluctantly caught hold of my wrists and held them there. We just looked at one another for a time before Mikos slowly released me.

 

“When do you go to Argentum,” I said quietly.

 

“Soon. Very soon. Within the week.”

“Are you coming back?”

 

“No.” he seemed very certain of his answer. “There is nothing for me in Vonda.”

 

I shook my head. “Obviously not!” I snapped. “Why would there be?”

 

“There are two things you should know, Cassie. Firstly, there was a reason why Sasapina abducted Simon. Your friend, the Lady Donna, does not have a high regard for Simon. She was not impressed with some of the things Sasapina told her, after Simon had discussed business with her. Sasapina didn’t just put Simon to use. She had two slave girls instruct him as to how he should relate to a free woman on the couch; how to treat her gently, with respect, with dignity, with care, to ensure she doesn’t suffer inappropriate feelings going forwards. You’ll find him a changed man after a day and a night in the care of Sasapina. He will be far more gentle and considerate with you from now on, asking your permission before he touches you in any way, and then paying close attention to when you tell him to stop or slow down. You will have no trouble in maintaining the gentle and controlled love making that a free woman expects, in your bed chamber. Simon has even promised Sasapina he will dispose of his slave girl. Apparently it was a long day and a long night in Sasapina’s training cell. I wish you well, free woman Goodbye.”

 

Mikos turned to go, but paused when I said, “two things. You said two things.”

 

He spoke without turning to look at me. “In just over ten months your free companionship comes to an end, Lady. I have no idea what your plans will be, thereafter, but be aware that, if by chance your business takes you then to Argentum, I will claim you as my slave. I have legal slave papers in your name, and they are valid in Argentum and any city other than Vonda. You will be collared and you will be branded, and you will be mine. But I am sure you will not enter the gates of Argentum in a year’s time. Why would you? You are a free woman. You have an internal struggle to fight, after all.”

 

And then he was gone.

 

THREE WEEKS LATER

 

Simon shared my couch last night, for the first time since his ordeal. He still does not talk of it, of the things the Lady Sasapina put him through, but he seems to have recovered his previous zest for life. His love making was gentle, considerate, and he insisted I wore my long night gown throughout. I lay there on my back with my arms at my side as he dimmed the lamps so that my dignity might not be offended.

 

When he joined me on the couch bed, he only touched the fabric of my gown, never my bare skin, and he told me how much he respected me as a free companion. He looked away as he lifted the hem of my night gown and slipped inside of me without stimulating me first. His motions inside of me were gentle and he repeatedly asked me whether I needed him to pause at all. 

  

He had a climax. I did not. 

 

Tonight he is talking with some friends at the garden party we have attended. It is to honour some guests from a foreign city – just one of many parties we have been to these last few weeks to alleviate our boredom. Every party is the same, filled with men and women whose faces are all too familiar to me. The social scene of Vonda rarely changes. 

 

I think of Mikos some nights. I thought of him last night, as I lay on my side, on my couch, wide awake as Simon slept beside me. I remember his collar around my neck, the way his fingers would touch me under the light hem of my skirt. I remember laughing as I walked beside him along the canals, and the view from the plaza overlooking the city that warm night. I remember the time we spent together in that stable, opposite the café, when time seemed to stand still. 

 

I remember everything, all too clearly now. 

 

It is one thousand, two hundred pasangs to Argentum, as the tarn flies, but much further by land. Mikos left two weeks ago. He will not have reached the gates yet.

 

I sometimes have this fantasy that he has returned, that his caravan was ambushed, or that he decided he could not after all begin a new life away from me, but I know that isn’t true. He has Aimee - a girl I have never met. He cares for the girl, so Simon tells me. Simon looks at me with a suspicious expression sometimes when Mikos is mentioned, but he says nothing. I do love Simon. I do. 

 

I tracked down the address of Pelius and sent a package of expensive candy to his slave, Julie. There was a card in it that simply read, ‘from a friend you will never know’. 

 

I grow soft as the years pass me by.  

 

Three nights ago a high ranking slaver of the House of Andronicus was found murdered on the street at dawn. His body had been flayed of its skin, and the guardsmen who found him were of the opinion that the slaver had been alive when it had happened. The streets of Vonda can be dangerous at night. There are terrible people out there in the darkness. Tread carefully, if you will. 

 

My thoughts were interrupted as I stood beside a balcony rail overlooking a bed of rose bushes. 

 

“The flower of the Assante blooms brighter than all the roses in the garden,” said the man who stood there.

 

I gazed at him without interest.

 

“That is you, Lady, yes? The Assante flower?”

 

“I have been called that. What do you want?” I was in no mood for conversation. He was obviously one of the foreign guests, by his accent.

 

“Forgive me, Lady, that was forward of me. But I confess I am in awe of your brother.”

 

“Then go speak to him,” I said. “You will find him in the Sardar.”

 

“I see.” He could sense I had no wish for a conversation. “I have obviously intruded. Forgive me.”

“You are forgiven. Just go away. We have nothing in common.” 

 

“Of course. That is probably true. My friends are often quick to suggest I am single minded in my studies. I will not bother you again, gentle flower of the Assante. Tacitus of Ar bids you farewell.”

 

“WAIT!” I quickly turned round with a wild flurry of skirts.