While Cassius licked her belly, his face buried in her softness with an expression of pure, unadulterated satisfaction—Maria found her mind drifting back to another time.
Years ago.
When Joy was just a little girl.
They had been living in the royal palace then, under the Empress's protection and Joy had been a moody child, rebellious in that particular way that only children who had seen too much too young could be.
Maria had tried her best to be a good mother, to raise her daughter well, to teach her the ways of the goddess and the path of righteousness.
But Joy had always had a stubborn streak.
Whenever Maria denied her something—staying up too late to read holy scriptures, or attempting something dangerous that she wasn't ready for—Joy would pout and grow frustrated.
And as retaliation, she would launch what Maria had come to call her "sneak attacks."
