Her hair gleamed in the evening sunset that slipped through the wide portal to the courtyard of his villa. Her beauty struck him again, this time not with a flash of lightning, but with a mellowed, golden warmth that flooded his body, heated his blood, and lingered. Marcus had never seen a woman like her, or heard one talk the way she did, as if they were equals. Despite being enslaved, she was not humbled by him, and that should make him angry.

It did not. He felt something, but it was not anger.

"This food tastes better than anything I've ever had," she told him, her voice soft, surprised. "So full of flavor."

Again he felt a jolt of gratification. "As am I, woman, so you will find."

"If you beat your chest any harder you might bruise."

"I have only the best. Of everything." He let the fingers of his hand caress her shining hair, as gently as he could.

She swallowed, her long, coppery lashes lowered, her cheeks flushing deeper. "All those women that live here in the villa...they are your bed slaves?"

"Yes."

"But there are so many. Don't you think it's kind of greedy?" There was an arch tone to her voice. "How can you possibly keep all those women happy?"

"The more the merrier. I have a magnificent cock and it requires regular exercise."

She coughed and then wheezed, her eyes watering, "You have never kept one special girl then?"

"Why should I? It would be wrong to keep all my splendor for one woman alone. I bestow my generosity on many."

Now she made an odd noise, her lips trembling, her eyes squinting with tears.

"Weep not, Axa. You too will know the pleasure of being in my bed." It was an event for which he grew impatient.

"I'm sure they fight over you," she muttered, flashing him a strange glance.

"They might, but I have a strict rule. The women in my house never carry a weapon. Never. It is asking for trouble to let a woman be armed."

"Yes, I can see that might be a problem for you if they ever had access to weapons."

Ah, she was concerned for his safety it seemed.

How tender she seemed and yet she showed bravery too, speaking as she did to him. She was softness and spikes, sweetness and spice.

Reaching over, he slowly ran the callused pad of his thumb across her lips. "Now open your mouth wider, Axa." He parted his thighs and wrapped her chain around his fist, dragging her closer. "You have aroused me until my cock hurts, but I do not want to break your maidenhead yet. That I will savor a while longer. So tonight you will drink my seed down to relieve me of the ache you started."

She stared at his phallus as he pulled her face up closer between his spread thighs, her eyes huge and round.

"Fuck!" she exclaimed.

"Not yet," he replied. "Fuck later. Tonight you suck while I explain all your duties." He grabbed his cock by the root and angled it toward her tense mouth, tapping the wet crest on her pouty lips. "Open wide, Axa. And do not think to bite me with those fine teeth of yours, for Flavian stands ready with the flagellum. One sign from me and he will whip your arse until you cannot sit for a week."

Soon he would not need to threaten her with this punishment. Not once she began to enjoy his attention and realized what an honor he bestowed upon her body.

The woman closed her eyes and opened her mouth. He shifted to the edge of his couch and grunted, excited as she took his thick, throbbing penis between her soft pink lips. With his right fist wrapped in her chain, the fingers of his other hand spread upon her autumnal locks, he demonstrated the slower speed he wanted, because he feared spending too quickly down her silky throat and she was already sucking with energy. She had better not be trying to get it over with, he thought dourly. Of course, she couldn't yet know that he was a master at self-control.

He looked at Flavian who seemed fidgety. "What is it?"

"General, the Governor Damianus has come to visit. He waits now in the atrium."

"Ah." Gaius Damianus had arrived in Aquae Sulis a few months ago and liked to turn up uninvited, as if to check on the habits of his general. It was best not to leave him waiting. Sadly, he was also one of the most boring men in the Empire and liked to talk politics into the small hours.

"Bring him in. And then bring the prima mensa." Marcus was hungry and wanted his next course. Gaius Damianus would have to dine with him at his pace, politics or not.

When he felt the slave pause her sucking, he stroked her hair. "No need to stop, Axa. I shall show you off to my superior, eh?" Very proud of his beautiful, virgin slave, he looked forward to the expression on the other man's face when he saw her fine body.

The governor, who always boasted of his own fine stable of female slaves, would turn moldy with envy when he laid eyes upon his new prize.