Talos straightened his mask as he stood in front of the mirror, reflecting a wide stone room with thick rugs and colorful portraits, one being a dark haired woman with piercing green eyes, not unlike his prisoner. It was hung over a fireplace where a small dining table had been placed. Near the center of the room there was more furniture surrounding a small table full of opened books, and in the far corner there was a thin blind draping, closing off a wide bed that had already been turned down.
Talos looked over the dark suit he wore once more in the mirror, it looked as if he might be going somewhere formal, and it was just the look he had wanted for tonight. He heard the servants knocking on his door and told him to enter, just after he lifted the beaded clamps, the ones that had looked so delightful hanging from Sabine's breasts, and placed them neatly in his pocket. He turned from the mirror and watched as his cook and two helpers brought trays of food, and he gestured for them to set the table. He realized his servants had been followed by an unexpected guest however, as an older woman, elegantly strode in. Her light hair tied tightly over her round head and her overdressed gown swaying on the floor. Her face told she was older, but the kind of older woman who still saw herself as young. Talos seemed surprised at her appearance but politely kissed her hand as she approached him.
"Mara." He said.
"Well, look at you." She smiled, straightening his jacket, "Where have you been Talos?"
"Busy. Do you need something?"
She glanced over her shoulder at the table being set and then looked somewhat grim as she looked at him again.
"Don't tell me you're planning to have supper with your prisoner." She frowned.
"It's none of your concern Mara, who I have supper with, or what I do with my prisoners."
"Do you know what Lara would think if she knew what you were doing?" Mara frowned, "You have been neglecting her Talos, now I want you to get rid of your little prisoner before her brothers discover where she is, it's not as if we need the trouble, and I will not have Lara knowing you have been forgetting her to entertain an enemy."
"Rival, not enemy." Talos replied, "There is a difference Mara, and as far as Lara is concerned, I don't care what she thinks, and as for you, stop trying to push me. I have no interest in your daughter, Lara is practically my sister."
"Only by marriage." Mara spattered, "And don't think I don't know of your frolicking with her! You have already ruined her for other men and..."
Lady Mara was cut off by his sudden laughter.
"She was ruined far before I ever touched her." He remarked, "And from what I hear our Lara is content charming half the guard."
"She only does it to make you jealous!"
"I could care less what she does." He stated, "And I don't care what you do either, so long as you keep your head clear of my affairs."
"You ungrateful..."
"Watch what you say." Talos warned, "My father loved you Mara, so in his passing I agreed to care for you and your daughter, but I will not marry Lara. Besides, I believe I have been generous enough; you have access to my finances, god knows you use it."
"Limited access."
"You should be grateful you have any." He retorted, "Now if you don't fully appreciate the comfort of my home by all means find another one. Now I will hear no more of your fantasies involving Lara, I've given you my answer."
He had led her to the door and she seemed to scowl at him as he let the servants out and closed the door to his chambers, forgetting the entire encounter with the older woman he had once called mother. There were other things on his mind, his Sabine, the idea of her had been haunting him every moment since she had arrived, and it had taken a great deal of self control for him to keep his distance from her. It bothered him, that he had brought her hear to punish her, the dangerous woman, she was being punished for what she had long ago done to him, and he felt like the one being punished, having to keep himself from her warm body that welcomed him without her consent. It was driving him to madness. He had wanted to wait before fully taking her, until she admitted she remembered him, because she must remember him. But waiting had been unexpectedly painful, and he hadn't expected to walk in on her bath. The dull remembrance of the way he had washed her, the way he had opened her to the pleasures of her own body and her musical cries that followed, yes, the thought made him hard.
He looked over the food on the table and suddenly didn't care if it got cold. He lifted a key from the chain on his neck and eagerly unlocked the door he used to venture into her room. He was somewhat annoyed to find she had put out all of the candles, and even the fireplace, leaving only the light coming from the narrow window and the light from his own room to guide him through the shadows. He took a moment to look around, allowing his eyes to adjust. He didn't like this. She was up to something, he could feel it. And then there it was, the sound of rushed air as something hard hit the back of his head and forced him to his knees.
His precious prisoner was resourceful, he'd credit her that. Despite the precautions he had taken to keep her prison a safe place for him to be, she had made a weapon out of the silver tray her food had been left on. Talos was looking straight ahead, trying to recover, knowing she was right behind him and it came to his attention that the curtains in her room had been torn, and he knew what was coming next, he realized it just before the thick tassel of the curtain tie came around his neck, choking him, and his precious Sabine was probably determined to kill him too.
Talos hesitated no longer when he felt the air being cut off from his lungs. She might be resourceful, but there was no question that he was stronger as he grabbed the rope around his neck, hauling it forward and bracing as necessary while he pulled her over his shoulders, watching her fall at his feet and noted the sheet she had tied around her body as clothing. And the way she glared at him, so furious, she was already making him hard.
Before Sabine could move he had looped the rope back around, forcing it over her neck as a collar and he pulled the long end as a leash, bringing her forward and pulling her up on her knees, and even in her defeat she glared up at him with her wide eyes. She wasn't at all sorry for her mistake. Talos raised his hand as if to strike her, but the way she suddenly flinched away, bracing herself, he stopped.
Damn him for stopping, he thought. She deserved a good beating. Perhaps if it were anyone else he could do it, but not her, not when he still tasted her in his mouth and her scent flooded his nostrils. He lowered his hand and suddenly used the rope to pull her up, into his arms and held her tightly to his chest until she yielded again, after several minutes of struggling.
"Whatever am I going to do with you?" He sighed.
She turned away, still apparently angry. He wondered what she had to be angry about; she was the one who had assaulted him, after all.
"Well," He sighed, "I suppose I can forgive you... this once."
She looked confused.
"And to prove you have my forgiveness, you get to choose." He said as he led her hand down to his pants, where he was surprisingly erect. "Where do you want it, my Sabine, in your mouth, or your ass?"
Sabine began to struggle again, but he pulled the rope tight and forced her back into his chest, shoving her forward as he forced her to bend over a shallow dresser and tore the sheet from her body.
"Then I'll choose." He growled, holding the rope tight as he took a moment to let his pants fall.
Sabine screamed as she felt his intrusive organ sliding against her ass, pressing into the small hole as he gripped her hips firmly.
