The Palace

The Empress called for me in the late afternoon, the day after my encounter with Adina.

- "How was she?" asked Yasina, bluntly.

- "Beautiful." I answered, truthfully. "Amazing."

- "I thought she would be." said Yasina. "Do you know what she said about you?"

- "No." But I was dying to know.

- "Nothing."

My face fell. I had been hoping that she might have said ... actually, I didn't know

what

I had been hoping for. But something, at least. "She said nothing?"

- "Not a word." said Yasina, shaking her head. "But she was smiling all morning ..."

That was better. Yasina was simply toying with me. She would not have ordered me to impersonate Bishkur in the bedchamber if she didn't think that I could do a creditable job. Yasina and I had shared a memorable evening of our own, and then she had watched as Nanka and I also shared a wonderful encounter.

So, yes, I was feeling a bit cocky - though I did try to conceal my grin. I wasn't sure how Yasina would feel about discussing other women, other concubines. She had once been one of them. She had also admitted to being competitive. But perhaps she simply considered herself superior to them.

- "What do you think the Emperor would do, after a night with a beautiful concubine?" she asked me.

- "Highness?"

- "You don't even have to use your imagination, Carrach - it

was

you! Think. You just had a night of a passion, and had sex with a beautiful concubine ..."

- "Twice." I added.

Yasina rolled her eyes. "Fine - twice. So what would you want to do today? Or tonight, to be more precise."

- "Send for another concubine?" I guessed. After all, it was what I would do, if I was the Emperor.

- "Exactly." said the Empress. "Now, I've chosen another of Zoer's concubines - don't worry, she's not old. I'm sure you'll be very pleased with her."

I had a sudden thought. "Highness - is there something I could - I mean, that the Emperor could do, after ... " I wasn't explaining the idea very well.

- "Spit it out." she said.

I tried again. "Wouldn't it be nice, if the Emperor could let Adina know that she did well last night? That she pleased him? After an enjoyable night with a concubine, couldn't he send her some small token of appreciation?"

- "Such as?"

- "I don't know, Highness ... a rose?"

Yasina did not answer right away. A faraway look had crept into her eyes.

- "That's a wonderful idea, Carrach. Small, and inexpensive. But personal ... and everyone else will know that she received it. I like it!"

- "Can the concubines read, Highness?" I went on. "Perhaps a short note, as well - a simple 'Thank You', a few words ..."

- "No." said Yasina. "You'd end up repeating your words, eventually, and they would become trite - meaningless. No, the rose idea is perfect. And the gardeners will be competing to produce the most perfect roses. Wonderful."

Then she looked at me, as if seeing me for the first time. "You continue to surprise me, Carrach. That's a very good idea. The whole Palace will soon learn about it. I wouldn't be surprised if people all over the capital came to hear of it. Simple - elegant."

"You know, though," she said, "I was annoyed with you. I watched you, last night, with Adina, as you disobeyed my instructions."

- "Highness?"

- "I told you to just fuck her, Carrach. To take your pleasure."

- "I - I did, Highness."

- "Yes, you enjoyed yourself. I saw that." She smirked. "But you also tried to ensure that she would enjoy it, too. You treated her like your woman - as I specifically told you not to."

"But this morning, when I heard that Adina was smiling ... well, I may have been wrong. You're young, and you have a romantic streak in you. Instead of trying to change that, maybe I should just let you be."

- "Thank you, Highness." I said. How else does one respond when the Empress of Zamarka basically says 'I'm not going to kill you - instead I'm going to let you continue to have sex with beautiful women'?

- "But ..." Yasina shook her head again. "You are creating a problem for me. For Bishkur. When he marries - as he will - he's going to have make love to his wives. And it's going to have be at least similar to what you do." she said.

"But that's a problem for another day. Off to the baths - Nanka is waiting for you."

********

Olom was an Anysi nomad. She had their light-coloured, almost blonde hair. Her mouth was a trifle too wide to be considered classically beautiful, and her lips were full. I should not have compared her to Adina - but of course I did.

I realized, then, that even beauty is relative. In a marketplace, or on Wool street, either Adina or Olom could have caused a riot. Or, at least a stampede, as men rushed to see them. But at the Palace, they were simply two beautiful girls. Olom, perhaps, was the more noticeable, because of her exotic appearance.

She arrived wearing a long yellow robe, and enormous gold earrings. Truth be told - I didn't think they suited her. She also wore a long gold chain around her neck, which did. Olom was of average height, and probably in her mid to late 20s.

She giggled and thanked me when I offered her a glass of wine, and sipped it right away.

- "Go ahead." I encouraged her. Olom grinned at me, and then tilted her head back, and drained the entire glass. She had lovely teeth, and a great smile.

Unlike Adina, Olom did not wait for me - she took charge. She put both of our glasses aside, and then encouraged me to sit on the divan. Then Olom removed her robe.

She was completely naked underneath.

It would have been much more sensual if she had removed her clothing more slowly. But I had no complaints when I saw the body she revealed. Olom had powerful thighs, and her breasts were high and firm. She was slender, like Adina, but more muscular.

Olom stood and let me admire her. She was so frank, so artless, that I had to smile. That made her smile, in turn. Then she walked over, and knelt at my feet. She reached for the drawstrings of my trousers, and untied them. Olom then began pulling them off. I lifted my hips to assist her.

But all I did otherwise was watch, fascinated, as she bent her head, and took the tip of my growing erection between her lips. She slid her face further down the shaft, taking more of me into her mouth. Then she pulled back, and smiled at me.

Olom took hold of the base of my penis, and began to slide her hand up and down. At the same time, she extended her tongue, and licked around the crown. At intervals, she would take the top half of my shaft in her mouth, and bob her head up and down on it. She was not the first woman to pleasure me orally, but she was by far the most skillful.

- "I'm going to - " I tried to warn her. Olom simply redoubled her efforts, sucking and stroking at the same time. I fired into her mouth, and kept firing - it seemed that I could not stop spurting. To my amazement, she swallowed it all. Then she gently sucked and licked my penis clean, and finally sat back on her haunches, smiling at me.

"That was amazing." I breathed.

Olom's smile grew even wider. "Good." she said.

I stood, and pulled her to feet. Then I picked her up, and carried Olom to the bed. I put her on her back, and then kissed my way from her shapely calves, up her muscular thighs, and across her flat belly. I fondled and kissed her breasts for a short time, before working my way back down, between her thighs.

Olom's smile faded - she seemed uncertain of what I was doing.

- "Relax." I told her. "I won't hurt you."

- "But -" she began to protest, mildly.

- "But nothing." I proceeded to pay her back, in full. She was clean, and fresh, and her inner lips protruded slightly beyond the outer. She was a lush playground, and I took my time. Olom stopped resisting, and threw her head back on the bed. But she soon lifted it again, wanting to watch what I was doing to her.

She began to moan as I teased her with my tongue. Taking a page from her book, I used fingers and lips at the same time. Olom's hips began to rise off the bed, as she sought closer contact, and more pressure.

Olom squeaked as she reached her climax, and her powerful thighs squeezed my head as she clenched her legs together. I extricated myself, and climbed a little further up the bed.

- "That was - " she panted. "I never -"

- "First time?" I asked.

- "Yes!"

- "Well," I told her, "it won't be the last."

Olom smiled at me, and spread her legs willingly as I moved between her knees. She even had the foresight to pull a cushion towards us. I helped her slide it under her ass. It tilted her pelvis upwards, and made it very easy to position the head of my erection against her lower lips. I pushed my cock into her - it was like cutting a knife through hot butter.

She was hot, and wet - a silken sheath. I pushed my erection all the way into her. Olom smiled again, and I marvelled again at how much she seemed to be enjoying this.

I propped myself up on my hands, and began to cruise in and out of her. Olom moaned at every thrust. I kissed her, and dropped my head lower to suck at her nipples. She responded by tilting her hips back, and then she wrapped her powerful legs around my ass. I thrust in and out of her, and Olom met me every time.

She was wet, and smooth. I had spent only recently, and yet I was fired up, ready to go. Olom wrapped her arms around my shoulders, and thrust her pelvis up at me.

It was a long, energetic fuck, as I pumped my shaft into her, sometimes hard and fast, sometimes at a steadier pace. Olom took everything I threw at her, and came back for more. My orgasm crept up on me, almost by surprise. Then I was spraying my seed into her, in short bursts.

We were both reduced to heavy breathing after that. I rolled off of her, but kept a hand on her thigh. I'm not sure if I intended to try for a third round with Olom, or not. In any case, I fell asleep ... and she was gone when I awoke.

********

I was sent to the baths the next afternoon. Nanka attended to me.

- "You enjoy the night?" she asked, while shaving me.

- "Yes." I admitted. Then I whispered: "

But I would rather ask for you."

- "

Don't!

" she hissed. Then she turned my head, sharply. "When I can," she said, very softly, "

I

ask for you."

She gave me a manicure, as well. Then she gave me my instructions. "New concubine, tonight. This one named Nima."

Nima was a classic Zamarkan beauty, in all respects but one. She was moderately tall, but still slim. Long, dark red-brown hair hung halfway down her back. She had a straight nose, sensual lips, and smooth, unblemished skin.

Most Zamarkans have brown eyes, but Nima's were an unusual shade of grey - almost blue. It gave her a tremendous appeal. She made Adina and Olom look merely pretty.

Nima understood the art of stripping better, as well. She removed her clothes slowly, stopping and starting, teasing me. She had a nice pair of plump, round breasts, but the body she revealed was otherwise unexceptional. She lacked Olom's muscle definition, yet she was not so slender as Adina. 'Soft' is perhaps how I would describe her.

But that did not mean that I found her unattractive. Far from it. My eyes were continually drawn to her lovely face. And her teasing was having an effect; I was hard, and ready. But I decided that I would tease her, for some mild revenge.

I sat Nima on the divan, and knelt before her. When I tried to spread her legs, however, I met unexpected resistance. When I glanced at her face, she looked frightened.

- "What's wrong, Nima?"

She was terrified. "I'm sorry, Highness. I'm so sorry - it's just ... I'm not comfortable with ...

that

." She pointed, timidly, towards her crotch.

- "You mean if I use .. my tongue? My lips?" I asked. I was surprised when she nodded. I would have expected that any woman would enjoy having a man please her orally. The reverse was certainly true. Poor Nima - she seemed embarrassed

and

frightened.

Nima had bathed, and had been massaged, just before coming to see me. I wanted to reassure her that she would taste fresh - that it would not be unpleasant for me in the least. But if she was unwilling, perhaps I should just leave it at that.

"We don't have to do anything like that, Nima, if it makes you uncomfortable." I sat on the divan, next to her - but not too close. Perhaps she was unwilling, period. I had no idea what would happen to an uncooperative concubine. But I wasn't going to force her to do anything she didn't want to.

That, it turned out, was not an issue.

- "Thank you, Highness." she said. Nima recovered quickly from her initial embarrassment. She turned and knelt on the divan, next to me, and then scootched over, until she was only inches away. "Besides -" she said, "it should be me pleasing

you

- not the other way 'round."

She smiled, and slid her arm along the back of the divan, around my shoulders. With her other hand, Nima reached into my trousers. That beautiful face was close to mine. I saw no sign of unwillingness, or reluctance.

In fact, Nima was a polished seductress. She had started off by stripping for me, most effectively. I had destroyed the mood by trying to go down on her, which clearly made her uncomfortable. For whatever reason, she did not want me to pleasure her orally. But there was nothing shy about the way she manipulated my flaccid member, and quickly produced an erection.

Her face was tantalizingly close. But I waited, curious to see what she would do. Nima leaned even closer, until I could feel her soft breath. Her tongue came out, and gently touched my lip. Then she ran her tongue across my upper lip, and came back via my lower lip. She smiled, only an inch away; Nima could my cock pulsing - throbbing, even - in her hand, so she knew that her magic was working on me.

Part of me was tempted to throw her on her back on the divan, but I was also willing to let her take the lead. She kissed me then, while continuing to stroke my erection. Nima pulled her arm back, and used two hands to untie the drawstrings of my trousers.

Then she lowered her head into my lap, and flicked her tongue across the tip of my penis. As she had teased me when she stripped, she was even more deliberate now. She ran her tongue around the head, and then down the shaft, and then repeated the process, this time while gently fondling and rolling my balls. Nima clearly had no objection to oral sex - not if she was the giver!

Eventually - and by this time I was hard as a rock - she lowered her lips over my shaft. Slowly, painstakingly, she took more and more of me into her mouth. She took more than half my length, and then reversed direction.

Nima then lifted her head from my groin. She shifted position, placing her hands on either side of me, and then lifting one leg across mine, to straddle me. When she sank down on my shaft, I let out a groan.

She was just wet enough, and quite tight, like a hot velvet vice. I watched that beautiful face as she lifted herself, until only the very tip of my erection was still inside her ... and then she slowly slid back down, taking every inch. She began to undulate her hips, rocking and twisting in my lap.

I reached up to play with her round little breasts. They were surprisingly soft and jiggly. But mostly I just watched Nima's exquisite face as she squirmed atop my cock, alternating her movements, so that at one moment she was sliding her ass along my thighs, and then pressing her tits against my chest. There was nothing frantic, or rushed, about any of her gyrations.

She was simply trying everything she could think of to please me, to give me new and exciting sensations. It worked.

- "Ah -" I grunted. I seized her hips, and pulled her tight against me as I reached orgasm. I pumped jet after jet of semen, clutching her to me as I did. Nima's arms went around me, and she continued to move, as if trying to coax every last drop out of me.

We moved to the bed. I lay on my back, recovering. Nima surprised me by half kneeling, half sitting beside me. She just watched me.

This girl was a bit of a mystery to me.

- "When did you arrive at the Palace?" I asked her.

- "Almost four years ago, Highness." she answered.

That made me wonder. Emperor Zoer had no doubt had her; her face was too spectacularly beautiful not to notice. It was unlikely, given her reaction, that Zoer had used his mouth on her. Instead, Nima had used all of her arts to arouse and satisfy an older man. She was a pleaser - a giver, rather than a receiver.

I had my eyes partly closed, but I could still see her, kneeling attentively next to me. She watched my face, but every so often, her gaze would travel the length of my body. My penis, as if aware of the attention, twitched and began to stiffen.

- "What are you thinking of, Highness?" she said, softly.

- "You, Nima. What else could I possibly have on my mind?" I answered.

She must have liked that response. She smiled, and reached out to fondle my balls.

One thing led to another, of course, and I ended up fucking Nima from behind, with her on her knees. Her soft ass made great padding for my thrusts, but I realized that I couldn't see her face - her most wonderful feature. So I turned her over, tucked a pillow under her, and knelt between her legs.

My second orgasm was a much more mellow affair, but none the less satisfying.

*****

Yasina sent for me the following afternoon.

- "You've done well." she said. "I didn't see last night's performance, but Nima described you as 'very considerate' - so I assume that it was quite satisfactory.

Honestly, she said 'performance' - as if I was an actor, or a dancer - having sex for her entertainment. Well, perhaps I was. I have to admit that I was curious to hear the reviews.

- "I did watch you with Olom, though. She used the word 'energetic' afterwards, which was a fairly accurate description." said Yasina.

- "Thank you, Highness." I replied.

- "Two things." she said. "First, you'll be moving, to the White Hall. I've set up quarters right next to the room that you've been using for your trysts. There's a communicating door."

"It occurred to me that all of the movement back and forth might attract attention. Guardsmen, servants - it doesn't matter. Someone's going to start to wonder why a hooded man visits the Emperor's rooms every night. This way is safer. Notroh won't have to ferry you back and forth each time."

- "Thank you, Highness. It's very luxurious."

- "You're welcome." she said. "Also - you won't be needed tonight. The Emperor has a function to attend - all male. It will go on late. So you have a night off from the concubines."

The words were out of my mouth before I could stop to think.

- "Would it be possible, then, Highness - for me to spend the night at home?" I asked.

Yasina didn't look too pleased at my request. To her credit, however, she did think about it.

- "I can't arrange it at such short notice." she said. "Notroh will be attending Bishkur tonight. The more he is seen in my son's company, the more people will think

you're

the Emperor, if they see you in public, with Notroh."

That made sense. There were only so many people who knew who I was, and even fewer who knew where I lived. And it was simply in Yasina's interest to keep it that way.

"I will try to arrange it for you at the next possible opportunity." she said. "Wait - here's a thought: what if we brought your father to the Palace?"

- "Oh." I said. "I don't know." I could think of a dozen reasons why that was a bad idea.

- "You wouldn't be happier? Having your father nearby?" she asked.

- "Well, my father is an odd duck. He would miss his old acquaintances, his neighbors ... but the thing I'm afraid of ..."