Teunis sat with his chin resting on his knees to watch the crowd, cheek still stinging because the dealer had slapped him and told him buyers wanted to see his pretty face, not the top of his head. He didn't want to be bought, he wanted to go home to his parents, but his father had told him to be good.
Teunis pushed the thought of his parents away, to keep himself from crying again.
“Well aren't you pretty,” a woman said, and tipped Teunis’ chin up with her walking stick. He looked up at the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen, her dark hair piled on top of her head and spilling around her face and dark eyes. “Stand up, pretty, let me take a look at you.”
The dealer came to hover as Teunis picked himself up; behind the lady buyer were another woman and two men looking bored, and a helot who looked exactly like Teunis watching eagerly over their shoulders. “Livonia, we'll be late,” one of the men complained.
“I'll just be a minute, don't fuss at me,” Livonia said. “Has he got all his teeth?” she asked the dealer.
“Of course, madame,” the dealer said. Livonia grabbed Teunis’ jaw and had him open his mouth, peering in at his teeth. She smelled like jasmine.
“Take off your tunic, sweetheart,” Livonia said when she was done.
Teunis blushed to the roots of his hair. He knew why he was there–had seen plenty of other helots stripped and inspected at the market while he'd been waiting to be sold, but no one had done it to him yet.
“Ah, and you're even prettier when you blush,” Livonia said, in a warm, pleased voice even as the dealer frowned. Teunis kept his eyes down and took off his tunic, conscious of the other helot’s eyes on him over her shoulder. “Has he got any training?” Livonia asked the dealer. “Music, embroidery, reading?”
“He's a virgin,” the dealer said as Teunis stood there naked, tunic at his feet. He wanted to say that he could sew, that his mother was a tailor's assistant and Teunis could sew as well as his father, to make this beautiful rich lady want to buy him, but he knew the dealer would slap him again if he opened his mouth.
“Turn around, lovely,” Livonia said. She made a thoughtful noise as Teunis turned his back. He tried to ignore the bored murmur of the two men with her, talking about the play they were going to be late for. She stopped him when Teunis faced her again and cupped his balls and tugged. He felt like he was going to die. No one had ever touched him before; no one else would ever touch him for the first time. “He's completely intact?” she asked the dealer as Teunis’ cock stiffened in her hand.
“I think he likes you, Livy,” the other woman laughed. The man who'd said they were going to be late made a disgusted noise. Barbaric, one of them muttered. Livonia laughed and flicked her hand for Teunis to put his tunic back on.
“He is, but I can have him castrated for you if you like,” the dealer said over Teunis’ bent head as he dressed.
“No, I'll take him as he is,” Livonia said. Teunis’ stomach lurched. The man who'd said they were going to be late rolled his eyes as she paid for Teunis, but the helot boy behind him looked delighted.
“You'll have a whole harem soon,” the man said, displeased.
“Oh shush, Gaius, he'll make a good model. Ephaedro, darling, take the new boy home,” Livonia said as she patted Teunis on the cheek and the helot boy came forward to take his hand. They were almost the same height, like looking in a mirror. Livonia took a few more coins from her wallet and gave them to Ephaedro. “Buy yourselves some candies and get him settled at home. The housekeeper will get him a collar.”
“What's his name?” Gaius asked, frowning at Teunis.
“Boy, for all I care,” Livonia said with an airy wave of her hand, already starting to leave. “You pick it.”
“Kallius, then, since you think he's so pretty,” Gaius said to her nastily as the little group of them turned away.
Ephaedro squeezed Teunis’ hand and gave him a smile. He led Teunis away from the dealer's stall, winding away through the crowded market. “Come on, we've got all afternoon. What kind of candy do you like?”
“Figs?” Teunis said. His mother's domina had bought them sometimes, if they were overripe and cheap. “I've never had a candy before. My name's Teunis.”
Something flickered over Ephaedro’s face, his smile briefly gone as though he wanted to look over his shoulder. “I'll buy you all my favorites and you can decide which ones you like best for next time,” he said, smiling again. “Come on, Kallius.”
