I already knew that the Empress had a sense of humor. But she proved it again. She told me very little about my next assignment.
- "Her name is Lottana. She's another Anysi, like Olom. Nice girl - you'll like her."
Just like Olom, Lottana had light, almost blonde hair, brown eyes, and delightfully tanned skin. She also had excellent muscle tone.
What the Empress had neglected to mention was that Lottana had an absolutely beautiful face. It would have been difficult to choose between her and Nima, but the Anysi girl's delicate features were incredible. She could have been a creature out of our myths and legends, a river goddess, or a Princess of the Djinn.
But Yasina had also left out one small detail about Lottana: her height. She was over 6' tall - and in those blasted sandals, she looked 7' or more. I would have to approach her, of course - but with those damned shoes on, there was no way that I could kiss the girl without standing on the table, or making myself look ridiculous. No doubt Yasina was watching - and laughing.
Inspiration came to my rescue.
- "Please - have a seat here, on the divan." I said. "May I pour you a glass of wine?"
Lottana giggled, and sat down, while I poured two glasses. Sitting, the difference in our height was not so great. I asked her to remove the shoes, which she was happy to do.
I did nothing but stare for quite some time. Simply put, the beauty of her face was astonishing. If I could have an accurate reproduction of a concubine's face on the wall of my room, it would be hers. Intoxicating - I simply sat there and drank it in.
Lottana broke the spell. She remembered her training, and offered to dance for me. She stripped off the sheer dress she was wearing, and posed. What a shame. She wasn't clumsy, just utterly graceless - if that is the opposite of graceful.
It was truly unfortunate, because she had a splendid body. Long arms, and incredibly long fingers, and legs that went on forever. Her backside was shapely, and she had sizeable breasts - certainly a handful for me. Her hair was just long enough to barely brush the tips of her nipples. It just looked a bit odd, at first, because of the distance between her neck and her breasts, and then from her breasts to her hips.
- "How tall are you, Lottana?" I asked her. I couldn't help myself.
- "Six feet, three inches, Highness." she said. And she started to blush.
- "You have a beautiful body." I told her. "And the face of a goddess." That seemed to cheer her up. She had a dazzling smile.
I solved the problem of the disparity in our heights by having her join me on the bed. There I could kiss her, fondle her breasts, and explore her body. I also discovered that the hood of her clitoris was quite prominent, though I chose not to tell her so.
Lottana was another girl who had never been stimulated orally, but she was more receptive to it than Nima. In fact, she took to it like a duck to water. Lottana was exceedingly eager to please, and willing to comply with anything I initiated.
I brought her to orgasm with my fingers, lips and tongue, and then mounted her from above. It was a bit of a stretch to kiss her while we had intercourse, but Lottana was easily able to close the distance. She was an enthusiastic bed partner, and I thoroughly enjoyed her.
****************
The Emperor himself sent for me the next morning. He wanted to discuss the military treatises he had been reading. As I had expected, he found them highly interesting. But there was another topic he wished to address - although shyly.
- "I wanted to tell you, Carrach,' he began, "that I am aware of what you've been doing ... on my behalf. At night."
I nodded. I'm sure that it was awkward for him to say.
"And I appreciate it." he continued. "Obviously, there is great deal that I can learn from you ... in many areas. The idea of the rose, for instance ... and your, ah ... techniques."
Something about the way he said that made me wonder. "Were you ... watching, last night, Highness?" I asked.
- "I thought we had agreed that you wouldn't call me that, in private." he said, with a smile. "But yes - Mother insisted. One day, I will have a wife - wives. Anything I learn from you can only be ... beneficial."
- "If you were watching last night, then you must have seen - it wasn't so much a question of
my
technique - it was Lottana. Her height set the agenda from the start!" I insisted.
- "Yes." he agreed. "But you responded kindly. You were very ... solicitous of her pleasure. I will have to be that way with my wives."
I wasn't so sure about that. His marriage - or marriages - would be for political reasons, above all. The girls were unlikely to be ugly, but they might not be beauties like Nima, or Lottana - or Adina or Olom. And their approach to the bedchamber would be very different. They would be virgins - possibly hesitant, or even afraid.
His wives would be there to get pregnant. Bishkur's concubines, on the other hand, were for his pleasure - and for prestige. The number of his concubines, how frequently he called upon them, all reflected on him and his reputation. That was why Yasina had liked my idea of the rose; I saw it as a nice gesture for the woman, while the Empress saw it as a semi-public announcement of how often the Emperor (well, me - in his place) was using his concubines.
That gave me an opening for a subject I had been contemplating - but didn't feel comfortable addressing with the Empress directly. Of course, she would read about it, when I wrote my report, but somehow I decided it would be easier to discuss with Bishkur.
- "What happens when a concubine becomes pregnant?" I asked.
- "Well, they all closely monitor their cycles. Accidents do happen, of course ... but, generally, pregnancies should occur only when you are ... actively seeking them."
- "But what happens to a pregnant concubine?" I persisted.
- "I believe that they are very well treated." he said.
In other words, he didn't know.
That night, I met Alakis, a Zamarkan girl. She had big brown eyes, and luscious lips. Her luxurious, long, dark hair was remarkably soft. She had plump, round breasts, and a soft, lush body. She was reserved, at first; I mistook it for shyness. So I approached her slowly, and gently.
I went down on her on the divan, and brought her to orgasm. That loosened her up quite a bit. That was when she admitted that why I took for reserve was, in fact, her withholding judgment.
- "I heard the other girls talk - especially after they received their roses." she said. "I thought they were exaggerating. I couldn't believe that the Emperor would do -"
- "What we just did?"
- "Yes." she said, with a pretty blush.
- "Would you like to do it again?" I offered.
- "Yes. Of course. But I should - "
- "Relax." I told her. "You'll get your turn." I laid her down on the divan, and went back to work. Though perhaps I should not call it work. I enjoy it too much. It might be because I had started with Minika, wanting her to experience some of the pleasure she had brought me.
But I also derive great satisfaction from pleasing my partner. Alakis was certainly enjoying it. This time I did not bring her to another climax; instead, I spread her thighs and slowly entered her. She was very wet, but still quite tight.
It was one of those occasions when - for no predictable reason - I felt like I could fuck all night. The sensations were wonderful. I just didn't feel that my own orgasm was imminent - or even on the horizon.
So I fucked her slowly, easily, as if I had all the time in the world. Then I turned her around, and bent her over the back of the divan. With one foot on the floor, I began to thrust harder, slamming into her from behind. I grabbed Alakis by the hips, and pounded my cock into her humid sheath. She groaned and shuddered as she finally reached her second climax.
I relented then, and carried her to the bed. I lay behind her, and re-inserted my erection into her now sopping vagina. She was caught off guard.
- "You didn't -? You haven't spent, yet?" she said, eyebrows raised.
- "Not yet. There's no rush." I said, as I continued to saw in and out of her.
Alakis took that as a professional challenge. "Let me help." she said, turning about and sliding down the bed. She took my erection between her lips, and began to suck on just the head. But she also slid a hand under my hip, and reached around with the other hand, to take hold of my butt cheeks.
With a firm grasp of my ass, she pulled me even closer, and tried to take my entire shaft down her throat. She was literally trying to swallow my cock whole. It felt incredible - and I told her so. But I was no closer to a spend, and she was beginning to gag.
I pried her off me, and threw her on her back. I lifted her legs, and bent her nearly in half as I began to ruthlessly pound her from above.
That did the trick. I grunted, and began to ejaculate, spurting ropes of semen inside her.
Alakis let me sleep after that.
****************
The Empress must have read my report of my conversation with the Emperor. She called for me the next day.
- "Why do you want to know?" she asked, without preamble.
- "Highness?"
- "Pregnant concubines are well-looked after. They get special privileges, their own apartment, and servants to take care of them. If you asked the girls, you would find that many of them
want
to get pregnant. It's not such a bad thing, you know, to bear the child of an Emperor."
Truth be told, I
was
concerned about the women. But I was more worried about the children they might bear - from me. It might not be such a bad thing to give birth to the Emperor's child - but what about the offspring of an impostor?
And I could not forget the Night of the Knives. One day, Bishkur would die. I hoped that that particular moment lay far in the future, for one thing was certain: if anything happened to the Emperor prematurely, then I was not long for this world, either. Yasina, or Opkor - or anyone else who knew the secret - would not let me survive him for long.
