Strength in Numbers Read Free Page A

her.”
    “I am the only man who has rights to her,” Eterin said, sounding
calm yet fierce.
    “She is a
trained whore,” the man snapped harshly, spittle flying about.
    “She is my
whore now,” Eterin stated. The pain of his words was
greater than any the man before her could inflict. Tears welled but she held
tight to them, refusing to show weakness.
    Sempia , Eterin said, his voice pushing through her mind. On my mark, drop down and tuck
into a tiny ball.
    “I will not,”
she stated firmly, still hurt by his proclamation.
    The man before
her tipped his head curiously. “You will not what, whore?”
    Rage and a good
deal of hurt consumed her as she stomped on the man’s foot before driving her
knee up and into his groin. Her years in training had taught her much more than
just how to please a man. They had taught her how to cause him the greatest
pain as well. He doubled over and she reached for the mirror and tugged hard
upon it until it gave way and fell upon the man. He crashed with it to the
floor and she stood above him, glaring down, a hand going to her hip. “Have you
anything to say now, sir? Wish to call me a whore again?”
    “I think I like
her,” Pataryio said with a snort. “A lot.”
    “Silence,” Eterin bellowed. “ Sempia , come
quickly. His guards will notice his absence and seek him out.”
    She crossed her
arms under her breasts, holding her ground. If she were going to throw caution
to the wind and run off with a man from her past rather than the one who had
intended to purchase her, she was going to make sure he heard her speak her
mind at least once. “I will do no such thing. You are not the boy I once knew.”
    “You’re right,”
he acknowledged. “I am a man.”
    “One I find
myself not liking very much at the moment,” she returned with a look of
indignation.
    “ Sempia ?” Eterin asked, appearing
taken aback by her behavior . He moved forward,
assuring the man on the floor and his knife were truly separated. He hoisted
the man up and tossed him toward the wall as if he were no more than a sack of
dry goods. He then shoved him into a cubby hole of sorts, making it impossible
to see his body lying there unless one specifically entered the tiny offshoot of
a room. When Eterin turned his gaze upon her, it was
heated. “Did I not tell you to wait in the hallway? Were my instructions not
clear enough for you? Should I have used smaller words for your feeble mind to
wrap around?”
    Pataryio lifted a hand in an attempt to stop
what was going on. “Boss, I think she wanted to get dressed.”
    “Where she is
going she needs no garments,” Eterin said sharply.
“She only needs to understand how to please me. For that, she does not require
clothing.”
    “You don’t mean
that,” Pataryio protested, casting a sympathetic look
in her direction. “You’re upset with her and you were afraid for her
when you saw him with a knife to her. Don’t lash out at her because of that.”
    “Mind your
tongue and your own affairs,” Eterin replied. His
expression was hard. Unreadable. “This is between me and my purchased
companion.”
    Sempia lowered her head, the fight leaving
her body. Eterin had promised long ago to come for
her, to take her from a life of servitude, only to be the very man who in the
end enslaved her. She began to loosen the cords holding the cloth to her body.
If he wished her to be attired in nothing so be it.
    Strong hands
clamped over hers. “Leave it.”
    “As you wish,
master,” she said, refusing to look upon him.
    Eterin lifted a hand and grazed a knuckle
over her cheek. The act was tender, unlike his words had been. “ Sempia .”
    She continued
to stare at her feet, unwilling to face him. “Yes, master?”
    “Well, you went
and did it now,” Pataryio offered from the sidelines . “You bitched and moaned nonstop about what she
was going through, about what she’d be forced to do for her master once
purchased, and then you become the very thing