A Warrior's Redemption (The Warrior Kind)

She would rather have died from the rigors of a life spent as a field slave as opposed to this gilded existence as a pretty bird of paradise locked away in a cage of gold and fine linens. She reached up to wipe the tears from her eyes not wanting to display her moment of weakness to anyone.

Her action caused her pain from behind her left shoulder blade again. Remembering the pained itchiness she turned and stared over her shoulder in shock at what she saw. The ugly symbol of her slave status was no more and yet it was. Someone had used the darkened edges of the lop sided nine and turned it into the base of a work of art.

Radiating out from the loop of the nine were the lush petals of a rare tropical hygana flower in full bloom. The tail of the nine was the stem of the flower. The petals were exquisite in detail and lacked nothing in comparison to their natural counterpart. The tattooed shading of the petals and their intricate markings completely masked the ugliness of her old slave scar, which had to be felt to be noticed at all.

What master would go to such great lengths to hide the ugliness of a scar? Hers apparently! Looking around she saw that she was in the same room as she had been in earlier in the day. The door was open!

Cautiously she made her way over to it and peered out into the dimly lit corridor. It must be late at night for she heard not a sound except for the chirping of insects outside the mansion. No one was in the hallway, but at the end of the hall light streamed out of an open doorway.

Drawn like a moth to a flame she slipped into the hallway and softly approached the light diligent not to make any noise in her approach. Reaching the opened door she peered in and beheld a room of a definitely more masculine reflection.

Sitting behind a big oaken desk to one side of the room sat the man who had bought her. He had piles of paper before him, which he seemed very busy with.

He was writing something down when he spoke, "Come in and have a seat."

He pointed to a chair across from the desk, without even looking up at her. Krista jumped back from the doorway surprised. How had he known she was there? She debated about running back down the hallway to her room, but what good would that do? She cautiously stepped into the room feeling more exposed than she ever had in her whole life.