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He stuck her again. Sweat broke out
all over her body and tears stung in her eyes. She clenched her jaw
so hard it hurt.
    Saturnios stopped. “Paolo,
give her the opium.”
    “ I don’t need it,
Saturnios.” She glared at him.
    “ I do.”
    Paolo left her. A moment later, he
returned with a dark vial of liquid and a spoon. Saturnios propped
up her head and Paolo shoved the spoon between her teeth. They held
her jaws shut and pinched her nose until she swallowed the bitter
potion.
    “ Curse the both of you,”
she said.
    Saturnios blotted her skin
and inspected his work. “We’re half way through the first
word.”
    Goddess, that was all
they’d done? Her arm was on fire.
    “ What word?”
    He grinned.
“Dario.”
    Oh, no. He was tattooing his name on
her?
    “ Milord,” Paolo said
hesitantly. “I don’t mean any disrespect, but wouldn’t an important
captive like her normally go to the king?”
    Saturnios nodded slowly.
“Yes, she would. But my uncle is abroad, and besides, here in the
field I want to claim her as my own to prevent anything happening
with the men. She’s not an ordinary captive and there’s so much
rancor between our kingdoms that I don’t completely trust the men
with her unless they know unequivocally that she’s
mine.”
    “ Oh. That makes
sense.”
    It didn’t make sense to
her. Didn’t he have control over his own men? That spoke ill of his
leadership. Her women, for example, would never disobey an order no
matter what the temptation.
    Of course, these barbarians were
males. No doubt they lacked the discipline and intelligence her
women had.
    Saturnios began sticking her skin
again. The opium made her feel dizzy and heavy. She lost track of
time as the piercing went on and on.
    Finally he stopped. He blotted away
the blood with more brandy, then wrapped a linen bandage around her
arm. Paolo began to kick dirt on the fire and the flames died,
leaving them in utter darkness.
    “ Now you’re mine,” Dario
said with obvious satisfaction.
    “ I’ll never be yours.” She
tried to inject deadly scorn into her voice, but the drug made her
sound dreamy and languid instead of battle-ready.
    “ Is there anything else you
need from me, milord?” Paolo said.
    “ We’ll be moving on in a
few minutes. Ready the horses.”
    As the youth left to tend
the mounts, his master crouched next to her and removed her boots.
He jerked the dress over her head, leaving it loose around her
bound arms, and lifted her. The opium still had her floating, her
body limp and relaxed in the aftermath of the pain. Someday she
would emerge from her drugged haze and be appalled at what he’d
done to her, the way he’d permanently marked her as his. Right now
she couldn’t summon the energy for it.
    He was going to take her
into the heart of Saturnios, and she couldn’t do anything about it.
She couldn’t fight him with the drug in her; even without it, his
size and prowess made him too difficult for her to
defeat.
    Dario carried her toward the horses.
The blackness of the sky showed no sign of fading. It must be near
dawn, though, she thought blearily. Had her women discovered her
absence yet?
    Probably not. They wouldn’t
realize she was missing until sunrise.
    The stars seemed to turn in
a slow circle as he carried her to his mount. He threw her
face-down, halfway across the pommel and halfway across the horse’s
neck. The stallion snorted, but offered no other protest. Saturnios
swung himself up behind her.
    He picked her up and maneuvered her
until she sat upright in front of him. He draped his cloak around
her so it covered her to the ankles. Arms corded with muscle
bracketed her as he picked up the reins.
    Paolo came around and
attached a leather strap to her ankles. The strap passed across the
horse’s chest, keeping her solidly on the mount. There was no way
she could jump off and escape.
    The youth handed his master a pouch
and a flask before returning to his own mount. Dario un-stoppered
the