The water, retaining the heat from the day's sun, brought sensuous warmth in the cool of the evening. Bathsheba stepped into the mikvah, savoring each wave lapping her naked thighs. Already the warm liquid tongues on her legs and the fingers of evening chill above were causing her nut-brown nipples to grow hard and erect.
The mikvah, the ritual bath, was a monthly practice for Jewish women. It marked the end of the niddah, the period of separation between husband and wife. Beginning at the onset of a woman's monthly period and lasting until seven days after the flow ceased, religious law forbade sexual content between spouses. The ceremonial cleansing celebrated the renewal of marital relations. But tonight that was an empty promise for Bathsheba.
Bathsheba had recognized since adolescence that she was a woman of strong sexual desires. The niddah was often almost unbearable for the sensuous Jewess, her body nearly aching for intimate contact before the time of separation was half over. Before she was married to Uriah the Hittite, the time of abstinence was still kept. It was an abstinence from pleasuring herself. The niddah regularly ended in the mikvah itself. She would quickly bring herself to climax in the spring-fed pool. During her marriage she rushed from the bath to her bed where her husband awaited. But tonight Uriah would not be there to greet her.
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The king was restless. He had sent his army off to war the week before and had decided to stay at the palace and mind other matters of state. But the inactivity had stolen his sleep. His restlessness begat boredom. Boredom with his kingdom. Boredom with his family. Boredom with his wives. In his ennui David's mind explored desires he once would have resisted. But those desires brought him to the balcony outside of his bedchamber that evening.
David had noticed the wife of Uriah the Hitite before. A striking women, even fully clothed, the sight of the naked bather was nothing short of electrically erotic. As David stood on his balcony, he felt a stirring in his loins as he observed Bathsheba in the water below. Absently his right hand wandered to his groin . . .
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During the last niddah, King David had sent his army to war. Bathsheba could not even give Uriah a kiss goodbye, let alone the type of send off she desired to give him. And now, as she cleansed herself in the mikvah, she had only her fantasies to slake her hungers.
As a sensual woman, Bathsheba had cultivated a rich fantasy life. And the fantasies which excited her most were often so taboo that she dared only indulge in them in her own mind. Often images of her own brother, father, or a favorite uncle invaded her erotic ideation. As her hands fondled her own supple body, she saw their faces, their hands, and their genitals (enlarged by her imagination, of course.)
Pinching her hardened nipples she felt the teeth of one female lover, while another planted quick kisses on her inner thighs. Of course such lovemaking was forbidden by Jewish law, but the forbidden nature of the prurient fruit made her own juices flow more freely and feverishly.
Another favorite fantasy was even more perverse. Her husband Uriah was a Hittite. Hittites were known as great horsemen, a skill passed from generation to generation. Uriah at times regaled his lusty wife with stories Hittite men told when no women were present. Hittite lore related tales of their women attempting sexual congress with their proud steeds. Uriah delighted in seeing Bathsheba's eyes widen has he described the girth of an aroused equine penis. Her breaths grew shorter and ragged as he described Hittite women trying to suckle the massive organs while fondling the testicles of a beast. He even was able to insert his entire fist into his wife's vagina while describing a horse cock penetrating a willing wife of a stable hand in the same manner.
But tonight Bathsheba's masturbatory fantasy would be of another taboo. This fantasy was not only sexually forbidden but politically dangerous. Her body warmed as she saw a barely perceptible shadow outlined by faint lamplight on the balcony of the palace above her.
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The king sat on his balcony watching the sensual wife of the Hittite bathe. He let his robes fall open and absently stroked himself as he fantasized about having her. David was no stranger to the desires of the flesh. In fact, he had seven wives in the palace as he was lusting over the wife of another.
Ogling Bathsheba, David's mind wandered, recalling the sexual proclivities of each of his wives. Michal, his first, was the daughter of Saul. The idea of a shepherd bedding a princess was an appealing fantasy. But the fantasy was short-lived. Michal was self-absorbed and aloof, both in the palace and in the bedchamber. Lovemaking was a chore to her, and she let him know it by her perfunctory performances.