To Love Again - Bertrice Small [132]
Removing his lips from hers, he smiled wickedly into her face. “I will come as soon as I can, my love,” he promised, removing his hand from her gown, but not before he gave her nipple a little pinch.
She caught her breath, and then letting it out slowly, promised him, “I will wait, my lord, and be prepared to do your every bidding.”
Chapter 12
Did you see the way he looked at her?” Flacilla Strabo said to her husband, Justin Gabras. “He loves her! He actually loves her.” Her face was angry.
“Why do you care?” he answered. “You never loved him. It should not matter to you that he loves her.”
“That is not the point!” she snapped. “Do not be so stupid, Justin! Can you not see how embarrassing his open passion is? He did not give his love to me, but he has given it to that little whore! I will be a laughingstock among all those who know us. How dare he bring that creature to the games and sit so boldly with her in his box for all to see. Even if no one knew who she was, practically everyone in Constantinople knows Casia, particularly now that she is Prince Basilicus’s mistress! How like Aspar to surround himself with artisans, actors, and whores!”
“You are not particularly attractive when you are angry, my dear wife,” Justin Gabras softly chided Flacilla. “Your skin becomes quite mottled. You would do well to keep your temper in check, particularly when we are in public.” He leaned across the ripe, young body of the slave girl who lay between them, and tipping Flacilla’s face up to his, kissed her hard. “I do not choose to discuss this matter any more, Flacilla, my love, and further mention of your former husband is apt to rouse my blackest ire. You know what happens when my anger is stoked.” He ran a hand down the slave girl’s body. “Let us concentrate on far pleasanter diversions, like our charming little Leah. Is she not lovely, my dear, and so eager for our tender attentions? Are you not, Leah?”
“Ohh, yes, my lord,” the girl responded dutifully, arching herself toward him teasingly. “I long for your touch.”
Justin Gabras smiled lazily at the pretty, compliant creature. Then seeing his wife was still not content, he said harshly, “You will have your revenge, Flacilla, but which would you prefer? A quick strike which will allow Aspar to strike back at us? Or, wait for the right moment, and then destroy them both? I would have you happy, my dear. Make your choice now, and then let us be done with this matter. It begins to bore me mightily.”
“Will he suffer?” she demanded. “I want him to suffer for his rejection of me.”
“If you will wait for the right moment so I may plan it properly, yes, he will suffer. Aspar’s life will become a hell on earth, I promise you, but you must be patient, Flacilla.”
“Very well,” she responded. “I will bide my time, Justin. As impatient as I am to destroy Aspar, you have a skill for evil such as I have never before witnessed. I will trust in that mastery of wickedness that you possess. Now, which one of us is to have Leah first?” Flacilla looked upon the girl and smiled. “She is indeed lovely, my lord. She is not a virgin, is she?”
“No,” he said. “She is not. It would please me if you took her first, Flacilla. I like watching you perform with another woman. You are very good at it, I must admit, and more tender with one of your own sex than you are with those young men you so favor and yet brutalize.”
She smiled archly at him. “Men,” she said, “are meant to be punished by women; but women should be cherished by lovers of either sex. A woman cherished gives far more than one abused, Justin.”
“Then Aspar must truly cherish the fair Cailin,” he replied cruelly. “Though he looked at her with eyes of love, his looks were returned by that adorable little beauty tenfold. If he loves her as you so believe, she, I assure you, loves him in return.”
“And