Briseis

Briseis spent the next hour or so in between sleep and dreams. Maybe not dreams, just thoughts she did not usually permit herself. She wondered if this is how her mother, Sexta, had felt, the night Briseis was conceived. Maybe every night after that. Maybe the night she died, at 30, feverishly shivering in her bed, she had cursed the old Marcus Junius Brutus. Briseis and Titus did not ask about their mother; it was one thing to be a bastard of an honorable Roman citizen, it was another thing entirely to announce it. She had always adored her father and Master, but if "honorable" Lucius Junius Brutus as content to act like every other Roman male and treat her like she was a piece of semi-sentient furniture (

or worse- she had never seen him put a drinking cup down on bare wood!

), and he had been raised by Marcus Junius Brutus since he was young, it wasn't that far a stretch. Things like this happened to slaves all the time, she knew; male or female, old or young, it didn't matter. Her mother had a shrewdness when she was purchased by Marcus Junius's family, but no ability to read or write. As a beautiful woman with no skills other than hairdressing and sewing, Sexta was bound to be abused. Briseis believed her father had loved Sexta. He had taken no new lover after she died. Sexta had left Briseis all the gold jewelry given to her by Marcus Junius. One bracelet had been engraved "I love you," on the inside, where no one else but Sexta could see

. Perhaps Sexta had not even been able to read it

, thought Briseis.

After Briseis's own rape, so long ago, she had cloaked herself in knowledge, wit and humor, hoping that was what a Roman would want from a scribe. She had thought her education and her charm would protect her. Dressed like a married woman, she was able to walk the streets of Rome with her head held high.

What a fool she was; this time, the danger had been right in front of her eyes, and she hadn't even seen it!

Briseis audibly sighed. She wished she had her mother, or Titus, or Lilia, or anyone she knew wouldn't harm her. Then she could ask how to proceed, what was "proper" protocol for this situation. She had no confidence in her instincts. Just then, the cubicula door opened, making a small creaking noise. Briseis pretended she was fast asleep, falling limp as she tautly pulled the covers over her nude body.

Lucius Junius was not a fool, and he knew she was pretending to be asleep. He had heard some great, womanly sigh as he walked down the hall, and then suddenly she was tucked up tight in his covers again. He wished not so tight; he hadn't had the opportunity to admire her from all angles yet. He poured himself a goblet and sat in the chair, looking her over. He had to admit, she was probably the most beautiful women who had ever been in this room with him, and he was very particular about women (

with a noted exception for Appia

, he thought mirthfully). Finally, he didn't resist his urges anymore. He softly peeled the sheet off of her. Briseis was a tiny bit too thin for his taste, but otherwise perfect. She kept up the ruse of being asleep, and he was happy to take advantage. He took a long draught and looked her over. That white marble skin didn't seem to have a blemish anywhere, except where he had left bite marks and bruises on her. He had ensured, even in his lust, that they would be easily hidden by clothing. He had never noticed the perfect size and shape of her breasts, they must always have been tightly bound down with cloth, as larger sized breasts were never the fashion in Rome. Her waist had been bound by the same cloth, he would have ventured that he could have fit his two hands around it perfectly. It flared out into wide hips, suggesting her slightly large ass. Even her delicate neck, arms and legs were perfect for her. He took another long sip, stepping back and sitting in his chair, surprised she had not given up the ruse. His tunic rose above his hips a bit as he sat. No, he did not regret this.

Briseis felt she was being tested beyond what she could stand. He had looked her over so coldly. She could feel the tears welling up in her eyes again, and her gentle demeanor finally snapped. "You fucking bastard," she croaked out, voice hoarse. It sounded weak. She sat up, wishing for anything to throw. Lucius lifted an eyebrow, before a pillow was thrown at him. The pillow, unfortunately for her, managed to knock the wine goblet out of his hand, and send it splashing all over his now nude lap. Briseis could not help but throatily laugh, until she felt a hand reach out, dragging her naked form to the floor in front on him.

In a whisper that was more fearsome than most men's shout, Lucius hissed "Know that I will repay you tenfold for any mischief, dear Briseis." She was too afraid to look up at him, knowing his countance must be frightening.

"I am sorry; my senses have taken leave of me." She smiled, all false innocence and sweetness. "However, you may understand. It is a terrible shock to have a man you trust, drug you, take you to bed and do all manner of... things to your restrained body. I am unsure of what action a proper slave should take in such times, so I merely followed my instincts..."

He wasn't sure if he had heard her correctly. Lucius had never seen such cheek in a slave. She had been spoiled rotten, and he was thrilled by it. The slave would present herself plenty of opportunities for...

correction

, with such naughty behavior. But he kept his face composed, a mask of disapproval and anger. "Briseis, your apologies ring hollow. By rights, you should be flogged black and blue. However, I am still feeling generous. Clean up the damn mess." He gestured to his lap, where an entire puddle of wine still sat, with nothing to absorb it. Briseis looked around frantically for a towel or a cloth, before he sighed, head in hands. "No, you pretty idiot. Use your tongue."

How humiliating!

But Briseis didn't have to look at him to know he was being utterly serious, and the tone in his voice terrified her. She hesitantly lapped at him, like an animal. But very quickly, the majority of the wine was gone, and his wine stained cock and balls were all she could see. She tried to pull away. But his hand used her hair to secure her there, so obviously he had a more thorough cleaning in mind. And she could see, his cock had gone from semi limp to not limp at all, thanks to her delicate attentions.

He tsked, now feeling far more excited than angry, and finding it hard to keep his control. "No, no, no. You're not finished yet, Briseis. Get my cock all the way into that beautiful mouth of yours. Then you're going to suck on it."

She looked up, ice blue eyes huge with disbelief. Her rose colored mouth was half open. Lucius took the chance to bring her up, grabbing her from under her shoulders as if she weighed absolutely nothing.

Gods, but she was perfect

. He found himself kissing her deeply again, and to his absolute amusement, she started to kiss him back, intertwining her tongue with his.

Was she trying to trick him somehow?

He suddenly put a hand around her neck, and used his other hand to force her back down on her knees.

Briseis responded by looking deeply into his eyes as she kissed the tip, and licked around the head of his now painfully swollen cock. Lucius audibly groaned. He could hardly think, to question why she was suddenly being so agreeable, when she took his cock in her mouth, and started to do exactly as he asked. With amusement, he noted that she could almost fit the whole thing in, even though tears from the exertion were peeking out from under her long lashes, and she had to stop and gag, hurting the throat that was still hoarse from crying earlier that night. "It's not a race, my dear. You're doing a very good job." He stroked one calloused hand through her pale blonde hair.

Briseis looked up at him, with a mouth full of cock. She tried to pretend she was sucking on a sweet, while making sure not to hurt him, for self-preservation only. He looked almost weak, the way he watched her in fascination. She even gently sucked the wine off his balls, just to see what he would do, how he would react. His eyes almost rolled back in his head, and he groaned. When he looked as though he was about to lose control, he murmured softly "That's enough play for now."

Lucius then took a fistful of her soft hair and started to throatfuck her quite roughly. Briseis gagged and choked, to no avail, scared that she was going to pass out from the lack of air. When suddenly, he coated her mouth and throat with his cum. It was almost a relief, to know it was over. It might have been a minute, it might have been ten, but it felt like an eternity. "Swallow it," he growled, even though it was already half way down her throat. Briseis then fell to the cold marble floor, panting, grasping at her hoarse and now violated throat.

Lucius frowned. He had obviously scared and hurt her, and felt a strange way about it. But he also had very little experience with those feelings, and suddenly, he was unsure of how to continue. But as Briseis started to cry, he picked her up, and dropped her softly on the bed.

She said, softly "I thought I was pleasing you."

Lucius didn't know how to answer. Of course she had been pleasing him, physically. But he had wanted to push her, to have a perfect experience with his perfect girl, before he went off to Gaul. "I know what I've done tonight was wrong." He stroked the tears from her eyes. "But I've wanted you so much. And you are going to be mine, so why should I wait?"

"I wanted you too. But more than that. I loved you."

"Perhaps it is a good thing that I have disillusioned you of a girlish crush," he murmured, stroking her from her rib up to her neck. She shivered, half in unsated strange arousal, half in fear.

Briseis shook her head in protest, throat too tender to talk, mind exhausted. Lucius suddenly felt very hollow. He watched her fall, exhausted, into a deep, dreamless slumber, in too much pain to stay awake. And found himself unable to sleep, for the first time in years, because of that strange, nameless feeling pounding in his chest. How odd.

The next day, Titus and his sister were setting up the patrons for their father to come in see, in order of when he would wish to see them. He would have done this himself last year, like a very old style of patrician, thought Titus, but he could barely walk or hear anymore. So, it was up to them to organize them. Briseis was laughing with a wealthy freedman Marius, who was always trying to impress her. She had burst into her father's room late that morning, and they had barely gotten him out in time. It was very unlike her. And she seemed to be in a very odd mood. He didn't remember her coming home last night. Everything added up to a conclusion that didn't make any sense. As she led the last client to her father, he heard a knock at the door.

There was a beautiful Nubian woman at the door. "Please bring Briseis to the door," she said.

"Briseis is my sister." Titus said, struck by today's events so far. "I'm sure I can handle any business for her. How do you know her, and what do you need?"

"I was told I could only speak to you in front of your sister. I have a delivery for her, and I must see that it gets into her hands."

"Give the delivery to me. She will get them. She doesn't need to come right now."

The beautiful woman pressed what felt like beads into his palms. "I believe you. You also have the blonde hair he spoke of." He looked down and saw that they were not beads at all. It was a necklace of perfect tiny pearls, meant to fit around a small neck. No, it was two strands. Not a priceless gift, due to the size, but very nearly, and ever so elegant.

"Who? Who would give these to her?" he frantically said, as Briseis popped up behind him soundlessly. Her face was hot pink.

The mysterious woman remained composed, but seemed amused. "A slave in a grey tunic. I don't know who he was. He said to find the two blondes and make sure you gave her these. I have other deliveries to make, young man." She flashed a bright smile and turned away.

Titus took a moment to compose himself, reeling in his anger and confusion. He practically dragged her into the dining room. Briseis realized, with some mirth, that she was tired of men dragging her around like a hunting dog.

"Sister, why is a slave sending you this?"

Briseis saw the pearls and gasped. She had never owned something so beautiful. "I don't know, Titus. Perhaps the freedman, Marius?"

"He is not that stupid. You are such a poor liar." He reclined at the dining chair, holding the pearls in his hand. "Tell me."

She sighed, trying to feign exasperation. Titus tapped his finger against the table in exasperation. "Don't you get with child. And he had better be handsome and rich enough to be worth risking your own honor over." He gave them to her, exasperated and a bit embarrassed of her behavior. She could barely notice in her shock. "I left the dress on the bed. Master will want to leave early tonight for Lucius Junius's going away party. Don't

forget

."

He was more like her father than her brother sometimes. Briseis sighed. At least he hadn't figured it out. He just thought she was being a strumpet.

He had mentioned a dress?

And indeed, a pale grey dress was sitting on the bed, complete with a darker grey stola. It was so... unlike anything she had seen before. Perhaps all the men she knew were trying to buy her affection. It was a strange fabric, with a subtle sheen. Not silk, that would have been ridiculous. Perhaps a tiny amount of silk blended with linen. The most shocking of all- the dress was missing a sleeve, or both, rather preferring to hang off her right shoulder. It fit her like a glove, and was completed by a darker grey sash that showed off her tiny waist. And after that, in her exhaustion from the night before, she fell asleep on her bed.

She was running, and her brother was screaming for help, and she kept running. A shadow was trying to catch her. And that was how it had happened. Everything after that was a blur, until she got to the part where Lucius Junius was dragging the shadow into her father's (well concealed) gardens. His plebian counterpart, Cae Flavius Sabinus, had then beaten the shadow to a pulp, while he was screaming and begging for mercy. Both men had laughed at that. Spurius Narcissus Quintus would never return to Rome. But he was still in her nightmares, chasing her around her house, and every time, she couldn't run fast enough. She never, ever got away, and nothing ever made her feel better.

Briseis woke herself up, remembering that she was in a dream, as Titus had always told her to do. She applied a tiny amount of kohl around her eyes, and debated on the pearls. They were from Lucius, that much she was certain of. They were also part of a test. If she didn't wear them, her brother would ask her why not. If she did wear them, Lucius would assume her tacit approval. A stupid test that enraged her. But she knew exactly what she would do.

As the slave opened the door at Lucius Junius's estate, Briseis made sure the clasp was fastened perfectly. She was surprised her master had even noticed, he was so blind, but he did and asked as well. Of course, the pearls were from the wealthy freedman Marius, who had dropped them off when he came to visit this morning! Marcus made a snide remark about how he should not give fools financial advice, when they would go and waste it on Briseis, who was far too beautiful and refined for the crass freedman. She grinned and blushed, and hid her reaction to Titus's angry blue eyes. He was wearing an elegant outfit of pale grey, without the shimmer of her dress. They were both walking, breathing advertisements for his work. Their master and father was still droning on until they had to hold him back so he didn't knock into Cae Flavius Sabinus, Lucius's right hand man. He grinned widely, and greeted them all, in his plebian, overly casual manner.

The food was already out, piled high on silver platters, and the wine was flowing freely. It was all delicious. Even Briseis, who normally hated the smell of roasting meat, found herself salivating. Appia was stretching out her oversized frame, reclining close to her husband.

"Wonderful, Marcus Junius thought it appropriate to bring his two blonde bastards. They are so strange looking. And they don't know their place, remotely..." She sighed, while a slave nearby fanned her. She popped a grape into her heavily rouged face. Lucius had to look away. He gave her a condescending pat on the hand, which could be viewed as loving by the ones reclining around them. "My father is to be respected in my house, wife. I don't want to hear you speak ill of his... favorite slaves. Or mention their very speculative parentage, ever again." His whisper was a threat, one that Appia didn't even know.

Appia motioned to another slave to pour wine in her husband's goblet. Hopefully, if he was drunk, she could get him to take her to bed tonight. He ignored her completely, focusing on their newest guests. Most of all, Briseis. She looked delectable, and the whole room seemed to notice, taking the attention away from Appia. He could still picture her, completely nude, pretending to be asleep on his bed, and he wished he had been a bit more careful with such a beautiful creature.

Briseis noticed that Lucius was looking at her, otherwise totally unobserved. So of course, she half mockingly raised her eyebrow and her now full wineglass towards him, and took the opportunity to speak to Cae Flavius, as her father was led by Titus over to greet him. Lucius Junius, his pearls, his all-encompassing gaze and his wrathful tongue could go get lost in Hades. "Cae Flavius Sabinus, it is so wonderful to see you! And it will be terrible to miss you while you are in Gaul, although it will be of great service to Rome."

And to Cae Flavius's career

. Both being great strategists, she had no doubt that they would come back and have much more influence in the senate, which had always happened whenever they went off on campaign together.

"Yeah, Lucius Junius has some interesting ideas. I'm sure we'll have a lot of fun." His idea of fun was chopping the head off any person and any poppy in a field. Ugh. At least Lucius was really starting to look at her. She hoped he was feeling very insecure right now, since she knew exactly where Cae Flavius's eyes were trying to subtly wander down to. "Where'd you get that necklace? My wife would like that."

She grinned at Cae Flavius as if they were co-conspirators, as she took his arm and moved them within hearing distance for Lucius and her father. "Some suitors just won't stop trying to pursue my affections, even when their gifts are unwanted. But that doesn't make the pearls any less beautiful, you know. I wish I knew where the fool had got them, though... I'm sure Paulla would love them!" She didn't look at Lucius, but she knew his expression was dour, and that made her quite happy.

Let him suffer.

The event, in Appia's usual style, was opulent and over the top. As the guests mostly left, Briseis waited for Appia to finish talking to Marcus Junius Brutus. Lucius Junius watched her, hidden away in the hall, instead of talking to his guests. She was a tad shy, but not this shy. He sat down beside her, watching the shock cross her porcelain face in near darkness.

"The pearls look beautiful on you. I have heard that pearls reflect the beauty of the wearer." He said silkily, moving his hand along her neck. "And, truthfully, I have always loved the thought of choking a beautiful woman, sweet Briseis." His whisper was halfway between evil and charming.