The funeral was dull and tedious. The wet and cold weather crept through my shoes to my toes and from there into my whole body. The high priest of Naletha, the goddess of the dead, sang the last notes of the funeral texts in his dreadful voice at the graveside. My face was wet. Perhaps it was a good thing to be seen crying. But I knew I wasn't crying; it was just the rain on my face.
The time for mourning had come to an end. Four months ago, my father died. For me, he began to die years ago, when age and illness deprived him of his spirit, his strength, his virility. He was no longer the man he used to be. I was sorry the day he died, but not for him. I was sorry for me. Now my old life would come to an end.
And why should I be sorry for him? He was 87 years old; he died peacefully, and now he rested in the arms of Naletha, the warm and lovely goddess, the one who takes away all suffering and cares for the old and afflicted souls.
Three days ago I came to Ashtagoah, the ancient city of kings, where my ancestors were buried, my father's father and his father's father and perhaps one day I too. Today I would have to rush back to Rallagoah. Fortunately, it was just a two hour ride. Others have done it before me. They did it. Sixty-seven, to be exact.
Three of my father's wives were here in Ashtagoah for the funeral. Darnela, his first and his queen had stayed home. They cried throughout the journey from the capital. So, I decided to ride on the horse and not go in the carriage. I had no special relationship with them. But they cared about my father, he loved them, and they should have a chance to say goodbye.
The high priest finished, and I went to the grave to give my father a yellow rose for his last journey. As I turned around, my foot slipped in the wet mud, and I stumbled for a second. It seemed the funeral had been exhausting after all. A servant rushed to me, took me by the elbow and escorted me on my way to the next station. "Through the left gate, Your Majesty," he said, "there is a carriage waiting to take you back to the residence."
Now I was the king. My time of education and growing up had ended the day my father died. But I was not king then. As the future ruler, I had to officially mourn until my father, the 67
th
King of Rall'enagil, was buried. From then on, I would be called Majesty, King, Emperor - even if the last title was technically not yet correct. Right now, there was nothing majestic about me. My shoes were dirty from the mud of the royal cemetery, my clothes were wet, and I was cold. The carriage drove to the small residence palace in Ashtagoah where I could change and warm up a little before I rode back south to Rallagoah.
I loved the capital -- it was a bustling, sleepless, wonderful, vibrant city. Colourful and rich in scents. But the next few days would be absolute chaos. I had to move from the Children's Palace to the Inner Palace with its endless corridors and hundreds of rooms. As a child, I used to imagine my father finding his way from his office to his bedroom with a map in his hands. But he didn't need a map. The royal palace wasn't that complicated, and he was never alone, just as I wouldn't be alone for a second for the rest of my life once I was back in the capital.
The carriage came to a halt -- fortunately under a roof. After all the water that was already coming from the sky, it started to rain even more. I jumped out and went into the small residence palace where many fireplaces heated the rooms so I wouldn't freeze as I changed for the journey. Quietly I walked up the stairs in the foyer and into the king's warm and cosy private chambers. The king. Me. My private chambers. I took off my clothes and looked around. There was a bathtub filled with hot water. That was nice -- but I couldn't remember ordering it, so I looked around. I didn't see anyone and went to the tub. As I tested the water with my fingers, I felt very cold hands on my back.
"Larna, what are you doing here? I thought you stayed back in Rallagoah." I sounded more annoyed than intended -- actually, I was glad to see my wife on this occasion.
"I left this morning in my own carriage. Since the old man took his time at the temple and the graveyard, I was able to prepare the first bath for our new king so he wouldn't catch a cold on his first day!"
"How do you speak of our honourable High Priest?"
"Oh, you know as well as me, that he waited with his resignation until after the funeral, just to be able to say, that he buried a king, even if he preached like a sloth and sang like a rusty stove pipe."
"He is not that bad; he is just old! But you are right, he should have resigned years ago."
"As should have many others. And as your queen I'm ordering you to take off your clothes and get into the tub. I'll follow right after you."
Obediently I followed her orders and stepped into the tub. Just as I sank in, my eyes followed her naked form coming right after me. She leaned with her back onto my breast and grabbed my thighs. "How is this possible? You are still cold in the hot water!" she screamed.
"I'm already warming up!"
"I can feel that," she purred as she wiggled her butt against my groin.
"That's not what I meant."
I leaned back again, relaxed, and enjoyed the sensation of my beloved wife's, queen's skin against my skin. I caressed her arms, kneaded her shoulders, and kissed her head and neck.
"Did you prepare this on your own?"
"No, I had help. But I sent all the servants down to the ground floor and had them not disturb us for at least two hours."
"Mhh. Fine. We won't have much time together just the two of us for the next few days."
"Or years..."
"Or decades..."
She turned around and kissed me. Intently she touched all my limbs. "I think you are warmed up." was her conclusion. I kissed her back and as our lips parted I added: "I concur."
Reaching for her butt I tried to pull her nearer to me so that I could better reach some more interesting parts of her body. But she pushed away and stepped out of the tub.
"I know a better place for this." she said and pointed to the bed on the other side of the room. She handed me a towel and I dried myself as fast as I could, the air in the room felt chilly again. My lovely wife had already made her way under the bedsheet, and I followed her. I lay at her side, kissed her on her full lips, her slender neck, on the place right under her ear, where she was so easy to tickle. After a few seconds I found my way down to her breasts. I kissed the valley between them, which seemed even deeper, when she lay on her side. I suckled on her left nipple and kissed her right under it. She was very sensitive on this part of her body. Kissing further down I found my way to her navel and from there to her hips. I tried to give them as much attention from all sides as possible. This was no easy task under a bedsheet in a dark room on a late winter afternoon. I kissed her perfectly round butt an smelled the spicy scent of her excitement from between her legs, where I intended to spend some time.
"It seems you are quite warmed up yourself." I mentioned while she grabbed for my hair and tried to pull me further down. She aimed my head to her pubic area, where the scent became even more intense. I kissed her down from her navel and on the inner sides of her thighs.
"Don't let me wait any longer. Just dive in!"
"I'm afraid I would drown."
"I will rescue you right in time, you have nothing to be afraid," she said with more urgency in her voice.
"I'm not so sure about that."
These were the last words I got to say before my face was pressed into the pool of excitement, that opened between her legs. I still tried to avoid her clitoris, so I licked and suckled on her labia.
"You are such a tease! I hate you!"
"No, you don't," I mumbled from between my wife's wonderful legs, "You love me. And I love you." But I took her words as my cue to do, what she wanted, and began to kiss and lick this tender place, where the lightest touch would send waves of pleasure and excitement through her body.
"Shathor!" she screamed. After a short pause she added: "I will reward you for your bravery in these dangerous waters." She moved her hands a bit clumsily and tried to find the places on my body that were most excited and warmed up after the bath and the following action.
Right when her hands found what they were looking for we heard a hard knock on the door and my valet saying: "Your roy... - Your Majesty, there is somebody to talk to you."
"What is it?" I asked back not hiding the annoyance in my voice. This was one of the downsides of living as royalty, you couldn't even have such simple things like sex with your beloved wife without the fear of being disturbed over some petty matter.
"Excuse me, Mandrak. I didn't want to snap at you." I knew he would never disturb us if it wasn't absolutely necessary.
"The High Priest of Naletha and his council want to talk to you. They are already in the residence, downstairs. They were trying to get through the guards to find you by themselves. I was able to stop them -- but only barely."
"Thank you. I will be downstairs in ten minutes. The queen will accompany me."
I looked at my wife. On her face were amusement and disappointment in the same moment. "You have to wash your face, or they will smell me on you. And drink a glass of wine and water -- it will kill the scent in your breath. And get up. We have to hurry if you don't want them to see the queen in all her naked glory in ten minutes."
We got up. She kissed me on my cheek and gathered a towel to clean herself up a bit. I did the same.
"This is going to be interesting."
"How?" I asked. Clearly the only thing I felt was disappointment.
