Rune and Ruin

Seeds of the Gods - 12 - Plant in the Garden

395 B.C.E. - Villa of the Headsman, The City of Veii, Early Spring, Month of Aprilis

From His Memory

Would this day never end? Her face was so pale; the color leeched from her by the sights of the war she had been subjected to this past week. The time he could spend with her only stolen moments, unsatisfactory and far too short. Now, he was forced to entertain Cassius, and a more disgusting leech never existed. Falx found that his appetite was non-existent. He watched Thania instead of eating, but his woman's attention was always riveted to the small private garden the triculum overlooked.

The rotting corpse had not fallen yet. Falx knew that Thania had brought the slave women food and drink. He allowed it, though the idea of his sweet girl stumbling onto Cassius' more sadistic treatment of the women was abhorrent. His Flammatia was stubborn enough to continue to help those slaves, and if she caused a problem with Cassius, then Falx would be forced to reprimand her again. She hadn't met his eyes for two days after he forced her to suck his cock on the first night.

"Thania, serve me," he said in a low voice. Her gaze shot to his, her eyes wide and red-rimmed from the weeping that would overtake her every so often. "Down next to me," he commanded her when he saw her fingers trembling on the platter.

She sank to her knees so gracefully that even the other slaves glanced at her in begrudging admiration. Falx reached out and tangled his hand in her hair, rubbing her scalp in comfort. A moment later, she surreptitiously wiped a tear from her cheek. Falx used his grip to pull her closer. Perhaps he had been too lax with her lately, allowing her to fetch for the slaves, her good heart swaying him to allow her certain liberties.

"Gods be damned," he swore aloud, albeit quietly. His father heard, raising an eyebrow in question before his knowing gaze dropped to the beauty kneeling by his son. His close childhood friend, Tems, smirked at Falx, waggling his eyebrows suggestively at Thania. Quintus, per usual, had no expression on his face, but his eyes tracked Thania through the room.

"Mine, you dogs," Falx muttered.

"Such a pretty thing your son has already taken," Cassius says to Falx's father, his voice overly loud.

Falx's demon wanted to sink his claws into Cassius and spill the male's guts on the floor. Falx's father had settled a decades-old debt with Cassius's House by gifting the noxious male Veii. Falx seethed in outrage, his anger a palpable thing as he glared at the offending man.

"Tell me, Fyrrin, where did you acquire her? She's not one of these filthy Veii Acera. More importantly, are you loaning her out?" the man cackled, slapping his bulbous knee.

Falx felt the fire of pure, unadulterated rage burning in his gut. Gods, he would kill this indolent, self-important bastard. "She is mine. I do not share her, Cassius, and what does it matter where she came from?"

Cassius's eyes grew cold and calculating. Falx saw his father give him a warning glance. For all that Cassius was pompous and arrogant, he was no fool. "I'll just ask your new general, then," Cassius hints at the lie Falx just told. The slaves had been abuzz about the notoriously possessive Warlord sharing his treasured bedslave with his newest general. "She sucks a good cock, doesn't she, General?" Cassius's eyes glinted with malice.

"She does," Quintus replied blandly, as if he was agreeing that the weather was fine that day.

"See there?" Cassius smirked. "Maybe a wager? I'll try your whore, and you try mine. We'll see which little cunt sucks a better cock."

"And what will you wager, Cassius?" Tems asked, his expression filled with humor. Only those closest to the male could see the hostility brimming under the smile.

"Ah," Cassius's smug grin widened. "What is the wager, indeed? Shall we use money? The whores? More slaves? What do you want, Fyrrin?"

I want his blood spilling down my gullet, Falx's demon chanted.

"We'll wager 50 gold marks," Tems interjected, still smiling.

Falx was about to lose control of the thin thread holding his temper in check, when Tems continued, "but let's make this fair, yes? The pretty redhead sucks me off, and your slave, Cassius, will suck off Quintus."

Cassius's booming laughter hid Falx's snarl of outrage. The fat noble then jokingly stated, "No deal, Lord Runion. Fyrrin and I will do it." His eyes danced greedily. "Just to warn you, this slave," Cassius indicated the small female at his feet, "is a great cock-sucker. I trained her myself. Had to cut out her tongue to get her up to my standards." He smirked at Thania, "if she isn't any good, Fyrrin, I can show you exactly where to separate the muscle from the mouth."

"Or," Falx said in a low rasp, "I can slice a hold in your abdomen, spill your guts on the floor, and fuck the hole with my fist. It would be more pleasurable than your tongueless slave."

A beat of silence hung over the meal, and then Tems and Quintus began to laugh. It loosened the tension but didn't completely dispel it.

"Falx," his father muttered under the sound of laughter from Falx's friends, "I will gift your whore to Cassius if you continue-"

"No one takes her from me," Falx replied, his voice a low, dangerous hiss of warning straight from his demon. In the common tongue, he murmured to Thania, "go fetch the desserts from Marcus."

As Thania stood, Falx did as well, trying to be casual in his movements. He reached out, unable to resist, and stroked her hair before patting her on the ass. Thania swayed under his touch. His fingers tightened on her, but she merely withdrew from him and rushed away to Marcus. Falx didn't miss how Cassius's beady eyes followed his female as she crossed the room to a pale, nervous Marcus.

"Oh, Come now, Falx, the Acerian women are flagrant whores. They overflow in even the royal harem. With your victories, we have enough sluts for every Runion to have one. Can you blame me for wondering where you got such a creature? I'll purchase my own if you tell me what stock she came from. If she fucks as wonderfully as she looks, then she is worth her weight in gold!" The corpulent male tossed back his head and laughed, apparently not bothered by the silence from the other men. The man's cheeks were ruddy. He was drowning in drink already.

"She is unusually beautiful, isn't she? Let's not have the wager tonight," Tems said smoothly as Thania returned to Falx's side. "She's a bit too pale. I believe she is upset by your display, Cassius."

"Nasty creatures, the Acerian. Especially my new garden ornament." Cassius laughed. "Relax, Runion. General, you have won. Think of the spoils you will bring to Rune." The man leered at Thania.

"Enough, Cassius. Rune will be flooded with Acera women soon enough," Falx snapped at the man, his attention still on Thania as she blinked and trembled. She was too pale, almost white. Was she becoming ill?

Cassius snorted. "If they all look like this one, we will have riots, but I imagine you have taken the prettiest for yourself, eh Fyrrin? All that galavanting through the countryside."

Falx stiffened as the drunken male continued to poke at him. "Galavanting?" he asked softly.

Cassius seemed to realize his mistake, hurrying to change the subject, "Well, now, this is a fine city for my family, is it not?"

There was no response for a long while before Falx's father replied cooly, "Perhaps." Cassius's face flushed at being denied a straight answer.

His father's response cooled Falx's rage a bit. As Cassius and his father began to barter back and forth, Falx sat again, pulling Thania back down to kneel in her place. She was watching them warily through her eyelashes. When she glanced at Cassius, an amusing wrinkle of distaste crossed her face. At the look, Falx felt the worst of his anger dissipate.

Her sudden pallor caught him by surprise. She swayed in her half-kneeling position, blinking rapidly as though spots danced in her vision.

Falx gripped her shoulder, gently pushing her to sit the last few inches to the ground. Thania's knees gave way easily, needing little persuasion to rest. He signaled a sour-faced slave to take the plate of desserts that Thania held away. Then he threaded his fingers through her hair, pushing again until her head lay pillowed on the cushion next to his thigh. He heard her soft sigh of relief.

Forget punishing her. Gods be damned, he would fetch a dozen little rat Acerian children for her to fawn over if it pleased her.