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feet, slave.”
    The pressure on his neck released, and he contemplated again if he could knock her out and keep her hidden while he found Lila and escaped. Even as he thought it, he knew it was futile. Rowena would have her personal guard nearby. Slowly, he lifted his head and extended his neck, his mouth an inch away from her jeweled slipper. One long lick up the center of her foot, almost to the ankle. Her giggle reassured him. This situation could be retrieved.
    “Do it properly. Take off my slipper and try again.”
    O-kay. Using one hand around her ankle and one on the slipper, he wriggled her foot free, and then guided it to his mouth. A moment of distaste. Realisation that he’d done far worse already. He closed his mouth around her big toe . Think about eating grapes, instead. Firm but tender, sweet and succulent on the tongue. He lapped and licked his way along her toes, tickled the underside of her arch, and gave a playful nip to her heel before starting on the other foot.
    Grapes, black skinned and dusty, ripened in the sun, still with the bloom upon the flesh. A ripple of triumph uncurled in his chest when he replaced her feet inside the slippers and resumed the submissive position. Surely that would be enough? She’d be missed if she stayed here too long.
    “Hmm. You are a silver-tongued beast, my dear Wolf.” He felt her hands running through his short hair, petting him like a dog. “But I’m still curious why you thought I was Lila, and why you would be meeting her.” Her fingers tightened, nails scraping his scalp as she pulled his hair, hard. He froze. A solid ball of fear bounced around his stomach, and he concentrated on pushing it down. He almost missed her next words.
    “So let’s pay the Mistress Lila a visit. I, for one, should like to know what she plans to do with my slave.”
     

Chapter Fourteen
    Lila
    A heavy bang at the door jolted me awake, and I scrambled to my feet automatically. Where was Marc? Not back yet. My stomach clenched. I swallowed hard, and I ran a nervous hand across my hair. Had they caught him breaking curfew? I licked my lips as I strode to the door; the confident Lila had to appear.
    I drew back the bolt and pulled open the door to see one of the massive Saxon guards. Before I could speak, he took a step to the side, one hand securely on his sword. Beside him stood Mistress Rowena. Her lips curled up in an approximation of a smile, but her eyes were like chips of ice.
    “Mistress Lila.” Polite, but with a sneering note. “Your name is unusual in these parts. Does it mean anything?”
    I blinked, completely thrown by the random question. Every grain of common sense warned me to tread carefully, and I produced a cool smile of my own.
    “It’s just a name. I’m not aware of any meaning associated with it.”
    “Really.”
    What was I supposed to say? And what had happened to Marc? I was at a loss for how to reply. Rowena nodded to someone in the corridor, and a slave was tossed on the floor in front of me. He hit the ground with a soft grunt, landing on his side, facing me. I couldn’t hold back a gasp of horror, and I clapped a hand over my mouth before any words could tumble out. Jared. My God, Jared, what have they done to you?
    Unbearably thin, his naked torso bore scars and scrapes, with bruises and welts jostling side by side. The hideous slave collar. I couldn’t drag my eyes away. A bright smear of fresh blood oozed along the edge of the metal ring, and there were earlier sores where the rough iron must have chafed. His eyes regarded me steadily, the green and the blue so painfully familiar, even while the short, rough beard and cropped hair changed the appearance of his face. As if from a long distance, I heard Rowena speaking to me and I dragged my attention back to her.
    She poked him in the back of the neck with her toe. “Have you seen this slave before? He claims to know you.”
    Rowena couldn’t see his face, couldn’t see his mouth silently