Cleopatra would have blushed in this Empress’ presence.
Based on the work of Robyn Bee, In 7 parts. Listen to the ► Podcast at Connected.
“I will die before I let them take the purple that robes me. For never will I see the day where those I meet do not call me Empress.”
Leontius is stratiotai, a soldier of Rome’s armies. He has lived a decade and more of war, staining his boots with the dirt of nations that have dared to raise their blades against the Empire. It’s left him tired. So, when given a chance to step from the battlefield and into Constantinople’s Imperial Palace, he takes it.
Leontius enters the service of Empress Theodora, a woman unlike any other, who rose from the capital’s meanest brothels to sit as co-ruler of the Mediterranean’s mightiest Empire. But the city writhes in her grip. As embers of rebellion flare into conflagration, Leontius will find that there exists a life beyond what he has known. A path he sees reflected in the smile of a guardswoman with wild, cypress eyes.
This is a story set in the Imperial court of the Byzantine Empire in the year 532 AD. It is the tale of a young soldier inducted into the guard of a very horny Empress.
"Tell God that He made a mistake, dear father, when He only gave me three holes for pleasure."
I turned those words over in my head, shifting uncomfortably in my seat. I swear, those words had nearly killed my mother when she'd first heard them. She was a tough, tight-lipped seamstress that could heave a bolt of satin over one shoulder with one hand, while she slapped a lesson into me with the other.
"What sort of woman would say that?" She'd rail, before clapping her hands over my ears. "Close yourself off to such things," she'd warn me. "They are not for folks like us."
Those were for the people of the capital, where the streets teemed with prostitutes and silk covered actresses. Not for the goodly, simple folk of Rhodos and my mother's shop.
Despite myself, I felt my lip quirk into a small smile. Of course, the capital was exactly where I was. I stood and kept my eyes lowered until I'd made my way to the nearest window. I stared out into the afternoon sun, breathing deeply of the summer air that was heavy with the scent of nearly half a million people. Constantinople, golden capital of the Eastern Roman, Byzantine Empire and center of the world.
I was looking out over the Hippodrome's track and out into the thousands of domes and roofs of the city. There was no city quite like it in all the world, and even now, a month after having arrived, I still often got lost in its crooked streets.
I heard a polite cough behind me, and I turned to find one of the armored guards nodding to the seat I had just vacated. Evidently, I was supposed to wait there.
I gritted my teeth, but obeyed. They were just doing their jobs. It wasn't their fault that I was nearly twitching with restless energy.
I adjusted myself on the chair, shifting around in vain to try and find a comfortable position. In all fairness, my discomfort wasn't the furniture's fault either. This was, without a doubt, the finest chair I'd ever sat it. Its cushion was thick, held up by four intricately carved legs of scented wood.
The rest of the small antechamber was just as luxurious. Everywhere I looked, I saw gold and marble and fine pottery. Even the large door, so diligently guarded by the two armored Excubitors, was carved and inlaid with gold.
What in God's name was I doing here? I was a soldier; my hands calloused by the sword. I was stratiotai, an infantry man. My place was in the shield wall, my sandals stained with the dirt of kingdoms that dared raise their blades against Rome.
At least, that's what I kept telling myself.
I heard the muffled sound from behind the guarded door. It made me think back to my mother, to those words that she'd so hated to hear.
"Three holes for pleasure," I murmured to myself.
I coughed, feeling heat rise to my cheeks. I shifted again on this damnable chair. What would my mother think if she could see me now? Her only son, her soldier, her little lion; invited to the Imperial Palace.
I think that those words would be the first thing she thought of. I think that she would once again clap her hands to my ears so that I would hear no more from the woman that had so famously uttered them.
This woman; she who'd been crowned Augusta. A woman who'd come from the flea ridden pallets of the city's meanest brothel and had risen to command the wealth of half the world. A woman upon who's words rested the fate of millions. The most powerful woman on earth; co-ruler of the Mediterranean's mightiest empire and who's beauty and ruthless intelligence were already being woven into legend.
Theodora; Empress of Rome. The woman that I was to meet.
The door guarded by the two Imperial Guards suddenly swung open. I leapt to my feet, my spine snapping into a salute.
"Ouch," I heard a woman laugh. "What do you think boys, is his back is straight enough?"
The two Excubitors chuckled. I blinked, and found myself facing not the Empress, but a woman in the armor of a guard. The breastplate she wore was of plain, functional steel. She carried with her a heavy, iron-rimmed shield with a short-sword and dagger strapped to the belt at her waist.
This was a stratiotai's kit, standard issue amongst the Emperor's legions. It was the twin of the one I'd worn nearly every day since my sixteenth birthday; right down to the helmet she held in the crook of her arm.
She moved towards me, her hobnailed boots loud against the marble floor. My mind was blank and only a decade's worth of military discipline kept my mouth from gaping open like the world's largest fish.
Woman weren't soldiers. They couldn't be soldiers.
A woman's place was married, tending to a home or shop or farm. From crib to hearth to crib to grave; my mother would say while pinching my cheek. A good woman could be happy nowhere else, she'd insisted.
And yet, here one was, grinning at me with her emerald eyes.
"Loosen up," she said. "My back hurts just looking at you."
I obeyed the note of easy command in her voice, staring up and over her left shoulder as I would any Centurion.
It was easier than trying to work through my confusion.
I felt her eyes on me, taking note of the muscles beneath my light tunica. She swept her eyes down my arms and made an approved sound when she saw the callouses on my open palms. I felt her take note of my scars next, her eyes lingering on each one.
My face flushed, my heart beating faster.
I wasn't used to being around women, at least not ones that I hadn't paid for their company. They were hard to find in a legions camp. This guardswoman was strong, confident, and my awkwardness wasn't helped by the fact that she was intensely beautiful.
Her bright green eyes were the most striking, though it was far from the only thing that made her a rarity. Her hair was held back at her forehead by a band of cloth; a wave of copper-colored hair that curled down to her shoulders. And though her skin was bronzed by the summer sun, she had the sort of complexion that was rare to find in the capital since the loss of the Empire's western provinces.
"So, you're the one who won the foot-race," she said. "Leontius, right? I watched you come into the Hippodrome. You've got good form."
Was she a runner too? Judging from the lean muscles of her arms and legs, she very well could be. And why the hell not? Apparently, women could be soldiers here, why couldn't they run naked with the rest of us in the athletic events?
I heard the rising voice of my mother's outrage in my head, but I pushed it and all my swirling confusion to the side. I was a soldier, and I knew how to deal with the dangers of the present before I worried about the future. And right now, the danger was that I'd been staring at this guard's shapely thighs during a long moment of still stretching silence.
"Ahem," I cleared my throat, my face suddenly burning. "Thank you, sir!" I coughed again, "ma'am"
She laughed; eyes sparkling. She had a deep, full-bellied laugh; one that thrummed through my chest and made my toes tingle.
"Sir is fine," she said. "For now. I know that you legion boys have a hard time with change." She winked.
"Ah, yes sir," I swallowed. "Thank you, sir."
"Alright, then. Are you ready to meet your Empress?"
"Yes, sir!" I said, snapping off another salute.
She smirked, and led me through the open door and into the short hallway beyond. I followed her towards the door at the other end.
"You won the Emperor's foot-race," she said. "And you're a soldier; that means that the Emperor has granted you the chance to join the Empress' Guard."
"Yes, sir."
I tried not to remember that race. I love to run, but that had been brutal. I'd run for almost an entire day, hammered by the summer sun, racing against the thousand others that had decided to sign up.
But I'd won, and the Emperor, Justinian himself, had come down from the Imperial box to put the laurel upon my head. I don't remember much of that day, though I'm sure that beneath the pain and intense dehydration I'd been proud. I had to have been.
The guardswoman glanced over her shoulder at me. "It’s just a chance; an interview. Remember that. The Empress has the final say."
My face must have flickered, because she spoke again. "You have a question, soldier?"
"No, sir."
"Yes, you do," she said. "Spit it out."
"Sorry, sir, it’s just that I thought that it was the Emperor that chose his Excubitors."
Her lip quirked. "We're not Excubitors. They guard the whole palace, and the Emperor, sure. Our duties are to the Empress, nobody else. That clear?"
"Yes, sir!" I said, though of course, her answer had just raised a hundred more questions in me. "Clear as the giant's foot."
I immediately cringed as the words slipped out. Now wasn't the time for a damned joke! But to my relief, she laughed once again.
"You're just full of surprises, aren't you?"
We were at hallway's only other door now, the one that presumably opened into the Empress' chambers. She turned to regard me with an expression that made the heat rise to behind my neck.
"Sorry, sir!" I said. "It’s an expression from my home. God as my witness, I meant no offense."
"Your home," she said. "Rhodes, right?"
"I,” I blinked. "Yes, sir."
She grinned. "I knew that there was a reason I liked you. I'm from Lindos, on the eastern side of the island."
"Yes, sir. I know it."
I shoved that information into the same corner of my mind as my now screaming mother. I had family in Lindos, had visited it as a boy. To find out that we may have crossed paths once before was just too much.
"I'm from Rhodos," I said instead. "The city. Though I haven't been back since I joined the legions."
"It's been a long time for me as well," she said.
She reached for the ornate handle, pausing to look back at me.
"A word of advice," she said. "The Empress will not be what you expect. Obey her, and remember that while you're in that room, you're as responsible for her life as I am."
Without giving me a chance to respond, the armored woman threw open the door and marched me into Empress Theodora's private chambers.
Her sitting room was large, airy, kept cool by an open balcony and several wide windows. The walls were of stone, festooned with tapestry, art and the many other sort of golden things that the rich liked to collect. Beautifully carved wooden chairs, couches and divans were spread throughout the space.
And lounging on one, a book held delicately in one hand; was the Empress Theodora.
"Highness," the guardswoman said. "Here's the man that won the Emperor's Race."
"Your Majesty," I said. I dropped to my knees, keeping my eyes on the stone floor. "It would be an honor to serve you."
"Would it, now?" I heard her say in a voice that was tinged with a smile. "Stand up, solider. Let me get a good look at you."
I obeyed, keeping my eyes downcast. I heard the rustle of fabric.
"How do you expect to guard me if you're always looking at the floor?"
I flushed, feeling the heat crawl up my neck. I hurriedly looked up, and I swear that for several long heartbeats, I couldn't breathe.
The beauty of the Emperor's wife was spoken of everywhere her name was known. I had heard her described a thousand different ways; heard a hundred different versions of how she'd come to be named Augusta.
Born on faraway Cyprus, she'd come to Constantinople as a child. Her father had trained bears for the circus, and when he'd died, her family had been doomed to the worst sort of poverty. She'd survived as many a young woman had; by trading her body for a roof and something to eat.
She'd worked at a brothel, and later as an actress, which many said were the same sort of profession. Constantinople's taverns were full of men who'd claim to have known her then. They'd wax about the times they'd had her, for one night or many. Others would reminisce about her time on stage, their eyes faraway as they'd recount the day they'd seen her dance clothed in nothing but a long, red-ribbon.
I'd heard every story, though none could prepare me for the sight of her. She'd set her book down, her body still draped over the divan. She was young, I realized, barely past her third decade. She wore a thin, silky sort of dress, the material clinging to a figure that had retained its dancer's strength.
Her feet were bare, and she stood in one smooth motion. Her smile was pleased as she glided towards me, her curves tight against the cloth of her dress.
Dark, intelligent eyes watched me from above a long neck. It swept of gracefully from her tight chest, a golden chain disappearing into the space that divided it. I wondered what was hidden there, safe and out of sight. How warm the gold must be, cradled against the smoothness of her skin.
The Empress smirked. I wrenched my eyes back to the floor, mortified. What in God's name was I doing? My face burned, and I was opening my mouth to stammer an apology when the Empress spoke.
"I did not say that you could look away, soldier."
"A thousand apologies, my Empress," I said.
I lifted my gaze back up to hers with some difficulty. Her eyes were wrinkled in a smile. The rest of her skin was smooth, a warm brown that was a only a few shades lighter than the thick, wavy tresses of hair that cascaded down past her shoulders.
She'd stopped an arms-length from me, examining me in the same manner as her guard had a few minutes before. My flush deepened.
"Am I making you uncomfortable?"
"N, No, your Majesty," I managed to say.
"Good," her smile widened. "Because I am impressed with you, stratiotai Leontius. And that is without taking into account your victory in my husband's race. You fought in Persia, did you not?"
"Ah, yes, your Majesty. I fought in general Belisarius' army."
"Indeed," she said. "You shared in his great victory at Dara, and in his defeat at Callinicum a bare few months ago."
I did not want to remember those battles, that campaign against the Sassanid Persians; neither the baking sun and trenches of Dara or how their cavalry had swept through us at Callinicum.
"Yes, your Majesty," was all I said.
"I've spoken to many of your fellow soldiers, since Belisarius and his army have trickled back to the capital. You are well regarded by your comrades."
I ducked my head, "thank you, your Majesty."
"A thoughtful man, they all say. One serious about his duty. You had few friends amongst your cohort, yet all respected you." The Empress continued. "You enlisted at sixteen years of age. You've served a decade already, and I believe that you would have served another one if you'd not caught my husband's attention."
I nodded, ignoring the twist in my stomach.
"An exemplary man," she said. "In most things."
The Empress started to move, circling me. She made a little sound with her throat. "He's quite handsome as well, is he not?"
"I thought so too, Highness," the emerald-eyed guardswoman said.
"Lean," the Empress continued. "A runner, obviously. Well-muscled, though his shoulders are a little too small. I'm not sure about the beard either, though the jaw beneath looks strong."
"I rather like it, Highness. It’s just a dusting of whiskers, but it suits him nicely."
"Yes, well, you've always liked them rather savage, Helena. Your Rhodian blood, no doubt."
The other woman, Helena, grinned. "He's Rhodian too, Highness."
The Empress sniffed. "Figures. I suspect that he will be as uncivilized as you are, then."
Her smile made light of her words, though I was still incredibly uncomfortable. I sweated beneath the attention of the two beautiful women. I kept my back ramrod straight, knowing that I'd be squirming like a virgin at a brothel if I let myself relax.
"Now," the Empress said. "Lie down. On your back."
The order confused me. But she was my Empress, and so I obeyed; lowering myself onto my back, the stone cool through the linen of my tunica.
She smiled down at me. "Your obedience is commendable, soldier. And fear not, you're down there for a reason."
Cloth rustled and sighed, her bare feet making no sound at all as she stepped around me. She was beside my chest now, her large, dark eyes twinkling as she kept her gaze on my face. Inexplicably, I felt my cheeks redden. I averted my gaze.
"Look at me," I heard her snap.
My eyes, wide with sudden panic, flew back to her face. Her smile was gone, replaced by a downward twist of her lips.
"Your, Your Majesty." I stammered, frozen, like a rabbit beneath the eagle's shadow. "Forgive me. Please, I didn't,”
Her smile returned, softening her features and a better companion to the sparkle that had never left her eyes.
"Shush," she said. "There's nothing to forgive. I need your eyes to be on me at all times. This is very important."
"I, of course, Empress."
"Good," she said. "You're to guard my life, soldier. I need to be able to trust you. And so, we're going to have a little test."
She lifted one leg, stepping over me so that she straddled my midsection. My body stiffened; my fists clenched but I didn't dare look away.
"Very good." She stretched the words, ending on a deep, breathy sort of note. "You'll do very well, I think. Keep your eyes open, soldier, whatever happens."
I nodded. In truth, I don't think I could have looked away from her even if I tried. There was a heat to her gaze now, a smolder within her that made her skin glow. Her lips were parted, air escaping in slow measure breaths.
"Then, let’s begin."
She took one step, and then another, her dark eyes locked on mine, her movements smooth, deliberate in their slowness. She glided forward until I lost her eyes, the hem of her dress sliding over my face until I was trapped in a tent of cloth.
Then, my Empress stopped.
I forgot to blink. My heart began to pound and blood roared in my ears, loud enough that I almost didn't hear her speak.
"Are your eyes open, soldier?"
I swallowed, choking out an affirmative.
"Very good," she almost purred. "Now, tell me, what do you see?"
Her bare legs rose above me on either side. The skin smooth, darker in the shadow of the hair-thin fabric of Theodora's dress. Her flesh curved around the muscles of her calves and thighs, two winding trees who's canopy's melded together high above.
My breath hitched. The shadows were deeper where her legs wove into each other, though there was light enough that I saw the shape of her. No wrap or slip of cloth obstructed my eyes, and my gaze found the curve of her behind.
I started from where it disappeared up into darkness, my gaze sliding across from where her back was split in two. I followed that shadowy crevice forward, eyes straining for any tantalizing detail within those shifting shadows.
My attention was pulled onward, sliding forward until I came to her center. There, my gaze would go no further. It trapped me, the sight of her. Mesmerized me with its lush, faintly seen arches and looping seems.
It was a long time before I spoke.
"I see, everything."
The Empress made a small sound of pleasure, her muscles shifting.
"Good," a breath I could hardly hear. "Keep your eyes wide, my soldier."
Then, her legs shifted. They folded at the knees, two mighty trees cracking at their center, bringing their canopies down to meet the ground beneath.
I didn't breathe, didn't shift or blink or even think. All I could do was watch, staring as the shadows fled, revealing every curve, every ripe fold and detail of her sex. She stopped a bare finger's breath from my face, holding herself upright and letting my eyes drink in the sight of her.
I was still that rabbit, unable to flee from beneath the glory of the descending eagle. I burned, the heat from her an inferno. Her flesh was a furnace, scalding me with its nearness.
I noted the soft curl of her dark pubic hair, trimmed short and sculpted into an inversed pyramid. An arrow, forcing my gaze down and into the lush smoothness that was the rest of her. Her skin was tight, only a few faint folds peering outward. Her sex was a gate; the locked entrance to a paradise only a few would know. I yearned for it, longed to slip between those lips and into the soft wonders that lay behind them.
"Breathe," I heard the Empress sigh. "I want to feel your breath on me. Make me shiver, my soldier."
I obeyed, letting out a long sigh that prickled her skin. She made another small sound, her muscles quivering as she shivered.
"Very good."
I inhale, a shallow breath, releasing another stream of air that swirled around her.
"Very, very good." She breathed. "Now through your nose. Deeply, my soldier. Bring my scent into you."
Once again, I obeyed, pulling the furnace hot air into my lungs. I almost whimpered as the smell of her flooded me. It was intoxicatingly, head-swimmingly feminine. I was heady with it; the scent of her mixing with the perfumed oils she'd applied.
My world swam. I tried to keep my breath smooth, but I couldn't. Everything was too hot. I was panting, breath ragged and tearing out of me. I was burning, my heart bruising the inside of my chest with the force of its pounding.
I heard her soft gasp, my breath making her body twitch. The heat of her, so crushingly, soul-achingly near. I watched the soft folds of her quiver, letting slip a faint, glittering trickle of moisture.
My breath, my heart, my entire being stilled. All of me focused on that single drop, watching it drift lower and lower; every shiver of her body helping it along its meandering path down her folds of softness.
My throat was dry as sun-scorched rock, my tongue thick and heavy with sudden, raging thirst. A taste. I was suddenly desperate for a taste; to feel that cool, soothing wetness within. Though part of me knew, in that moment, that no matter how deeply I drank of her, I would never be truly sated.
An eternity later, I felt more than saw her shift backwards. The movement pulling the entrance of her away from my eyes so that I stared up through the cloth of her dress towards the ceiling of her chamber.
And the knife that glinted there.
I reacted before any sort of thought entered my head, pushing off the ground with my arms. I threw myself in a roll, catching the Empress with my rising arms and pulling her away from the plunging dagger. My elbows slammed painfully against the stone, but I didn't let myself fall. I cradled the Empress beneath me, shielding her with my body.
I heard her scream, and I struggled to free myself from the folds of her dress, powering to my feet and feeling the cloth slide off my neck.
I blinked frantically in the sudden brightness, blindly spreading my arms wide in a desperate attempt to catch the killer's blade.
But nothing happened. I heard no sigh of metal parting flesh, and felt no coldness enter me. And, as my eyes began to see, the Empress' screams turned into a stream of delighted laughter.
It wasn't some masked assassin that I faced, but Helena. The armored guardswoman was grinning beneath her auburn curls, sheathing a dagger.
"Well done!" She said, taking a step to try and move past me.
I moved to block her. My eyes were wild, heartbeat still frantic. I was tense, my blood-afire with the need to fight or, something. I still couldn't think. My mind was like a wheel in mud, spinning endlessly as I tried to piece together exactly what in God's name was happening.
Her face hardened. "Move."
"Let her through, my brave soldier." The Empress spoke from behind me. "Helena was part of my test."
"Sorry, sir." I said, letting mindless military obedience speak for me.
I let her step past me this time, turning with her to help the Empress to her feet.
"Are you hurt, Highness?" Helena asked.
"No, no." Theodora waved her off, gliding towards a nearby table and taking a small sip of wine from a waiting cup.
"You were right, Helena," she said. "Your Rhodian passed with flying colors."
"We are a reliable bunch, Highness." Helena answered with a smile.
"Indeed," she said. She came back towards where I stood, my thoughts still whirling. "I can see that you're still a little lost."
"I, Yes, Highness." I managed to say, "I'm sorry."
She smiled, reaching up to touch my cheek.
"Don't be afraid, my Leontius. Your trial is over. You did exactly what you were supposed to." She let her hand fall, and my cheek suddenly felt cold in the wake of her touch.
"As my guard, you will be with me always. You will see a lot of things that might shock you. A lot of things that will, make it hard to focus. I needed to make sure that, no matter what you see or what you do, that you'll still be able to do your job."
Her eyes twinkled. "This won't be the last time you see my cuneus, soldier."
I choked, and the Empress laughed.
"You kept your head," she continued. Then, her smile turned wicked. "I might be disappointed by that, if I couldn't see the, small affect my cunny had on you."
Her eyes flicked downward, and I suddenly became aware of the fire raging between my legs. I was mountain hard, the tip of me pushing painfully at the cloth of my tunica. I was horrified, but what was worst was that the very visible bulge between my legs was pointing directly at the Empress.
"Your highness!" I cried, crashing down onto my knees. "Forgive me! Please! I mean no disrespect. I,” I tried shifting my stubborn phallus back into place, but the accursed thing was caught in my tunica and I would sooner cut it off before I reached down to adjust it in front of her.
Her laughter interrupted me. It was different than her last one; this one an ugly, snorting peel that blotched her skin. But it was one so full of sheer joy and honest delight that it made her even more beautiful.
"The terror!" She howled. "Your face! So scared!"
Words failed her, her hand motioning towards Helena who moved over to support the gasping Empress. The wheel of my mind had finally stilled, knocked askew by shock. Nothing moved now. No thoughts entered my head as I watched with slack-jawed amazement as the Empress of Rome, the most powerful woman in the world, laughed about my erection.
"I'm sorry!" She gasped when she finally mastered herself. "It’s just that I've seen men trampled in the Hippodrome with more serenity on their face. Thank you, Helena."
She stepped away from her guard's support and tossed me a wink. "And don't worry, there's nothing to forgive. I would have been much more insulted had you shown no reaction at all."
I merely gaped at her, my eyes rising higher as she stepped towards me.
What in God's name was this place?
Suddenly, she transformed. Her face lost all traces of mirth, her back straightened and it was steel that now glinted behind her eyes. She was regal. A ruler. An Empress.
"Will you swear yourself to me, Leontius?" She asked, gazing down at me from an unknowable height. "Will you grant me your body and life? Will you serve me, forsaking all thoughts of self until I should release you from this oath? Will you swear to all of this on almighty God?"
And though my thoughts were addled, my body and mind a mass of fire and chaos and confusion, I did not hesitate. This woman had captured me, and I did not look away as I spoke.
"I swear it, in God's name and my own. I am yours, Empress."
She pulled on the golden chain around her neck, a golden cross sliding out from between her breast. She leaned down, holding the crucifix to my lips.
"With this kiss, you seal your oath to God," she said.
I pressed my lips against the cross, the soft metal warm from the heat of her.
The Empress straightened, tucking it away. Her face had softened, her lips parting with a soft exhalation. "Good. Very good."
Then, her lips widened into a smile, a corner of them held between her teeth. She slid right before me, reaching down to pull the spider web light folds of her dress up to her waist. My breath caught, heat rushing into my face as I found myself once again eye level with her luscious sex.
I swallowed. It was even more wondrous in the naked light of the sun.
She slowly lifted one bare leg; her eyes locked hungrily onto mine. She rested her thigh against my shoulder, opening herself to me.
"And with this kiss," she breathed. "You seal your oath to me."
She flexed the muscle of her leg, pulling me into her soft, sweet-smelling center.
Theodora gasped, a low sound of delight when my face touched her. I was overwhelmed, my thoughts seared away. I couldn't move, but my Empress had no such trouble. I felt her fingers weave themselves into the curls of my hair, pressing my face to her and holding me in place while she began to move her hips. She ground herself against my nose, sliding back and forth, the motion made easy by the wetness that flowed from her.
I couldn't breathe, smothered by her scent, engulfed by her parted folds of flesh. I could taste the sweetness of her on my lips, and tried to force myself to open. I wanted to breathe. I wanted to taste.
"A kiss," the Empress said with a breathy laugh. She made a sound from deep in her throat, grinding herself harder onto my face. "I need a kiss, my soldier. Kiss me."
I managed to purse my lips, some of her taste seeping into me.
"No. No. Stop teasing me."
She pulled my face away, tilting my head up so that I could look at her face. Her eyes and her skin were burning; red heat suffusing them. Her lips were still parted, and I could see the tips of her white teeth through the heaving of her breath.
"Your tongue," she panted. "Kiss me with your tongue."
She brought the hem of her dress up to her mouth, biting down on it and freeing her other hand. Then, as I watched, she brought that hand down between her legs, splaying her fingers and pulling herself wide open. She unfurled before me; gleaming with moisture, the petals of a flower drenched in the morning's dew.
"Right here." She spoke through the cloth. "Kiss me right here."
The air exploded out of me, my chest gasping. I was beyond even my mindless paralysis; her command and the sight of her freeing me to obey. She pulled my nose back into the soft curls of her pubic hair, and my tongue flicked out.
Her taste exploded through me. An indescribable sweetness, a delicious hint of sour and a luxurious ripeness that all blended together in a heady mix that was powerfully feminine and uniquely hers.
"Ah," she sighed, pulling me deeper. "Very good."
I'd thought to be like the serpent, tasting her with quick, clever flicks of my tongue. But that wasn't enough. Instead, I found myself running my tongue over the lushness of her folds in long strokes. I lapped at her wetness like a dog, desperate to taste all of her.
"Very good," she moaned, sliding her hips. "Oh, my soldier. That's very good."
Her fingers were tight in my hair, and I couldn't move even if I wanted to. My tongue explored further, finding the folds at her center and plumbing its depths.
"Ah!" She gasped, crushing me into her quivering softness for one, two and then three heartbeats.
When she pulled me away, her wetness coated me. She moved slowly, reluctantly. And as my head drifted back, a thin strand of her moisture between my lips and hers kept us connected though there was now but air between us.
She brought her leg off of my shoulder, the strand snapped and she let her dress fall back into its place.
"And with that kiss, your oath is sealed," she said. "Now rise, my Leontius. Rise and take your place as guardian of my body."
Empress Theodora smiled at me as I staggered to my feet, my breath ragged and my vision blurred.
And thus began my first day as the Empress' bodyguard.
The Empress takes a bath. Leontius' journey continues!
"The Empress' chambers are the only place that we can leave her alone, though never if she has a visitor. Our own quarters are right here, see? We're close, in case she ever needs us."
Helena was giving me a tour of the Empress' section of the Imperial Palace. She was rattling off some of my new duties as she named each room we stepped through. And there were many. It turned out that the Empress had an entire wing set aside for her use, with only that single, guarded door leading into it.
I tried to focus, tried to shove what had just happened into that corner of my mind and pay attention. But it was too much, the memory was too vivid. I had a few lucid moments throughout that afternoon, but always, my thoughts would go back to Theodora.
I could still feel the heat from her, could still see her unfurl her moisture drenched sex. I recalled how she'd slid herself against me, her folds silky, slick with her own wetness. I swallowed past my dry tongue, remembering how I'd nearly drowned in the taste of my Empress.
And then, I'd feel a shift between my own legs, warmth would rise through me and my thoughts would drift from my ears in a cloud of steam. I'd wander after Helena in a haze until something pulled me out of it. Then, I'd cool down for a while and I'd listen until the cycle started again.
It was only once we left the Empress' wing entirely, and a different pair of Excubitors shut the ornate door behind us that I was finally yanked out of my daze for good.
I froze mid-step, my body suddenly corpse stiff. I could feel my eyes try to leap from my head, my entire frame beginning to tremble as a tidal wave of horror washed through me.
"Ah," Helena said with a grin. "I was wondering how long it would take. Come, let’s go talk about it."
"The Emperor," I choked.
"Yes, yes," she said, pulling me along until we came to place where we wouldn't be heard. "I thought that you'd have worked this out sooner."
I collapsed onto a bench, staring numbly ahead as Helena lowered herself down next to me.
"The Empress," I said. "I saw her, I licked her,” I could barely speak. "The Emperor's going to have me flayed."
"He won't," Helena said.
"Of course, he will!" I nearly screamed. "You saw what I did! He probably already knows."
"You're right about that second part," Helena said. "He knows. The Empress loves that little test."
I let my head fall into my hands. "Then, I'm already dead."
"Don't be dramatic," Helena said. She leaned back against the wall, her armored shoulder brushing mine. "Didn't you hear me? You're not the first man to, give her a kiss."
"What?"
The guardswoman chuckled. "She worked in a brothel. Just like,” She cleared her throat, speaking hurriedly. "The Emperor knew all of that when he married her. And just wait until she throws one of her parties."
I couldn't even comprehend her. The words she spoke made sense, but I just couldn't grasp the meaning of them. It was like she'd just told me the sky was green.
"The Empress and her husband adore each other," Helena continued. "They've been married for years yet still dote on one another. Truly, I have rarely seen two people more in love."
I groaned, my stomach sinking even deeper than before. He'd have me flayed first, then he'd tie my skinless body to his chariot and drag me through the sands of the Hippodrome.
"Stop that," Helena said. "Let me finish. They adore each other, and that will never change. But the Empress is a lot more, sexual than her husband. The Emperor knows, and even encourages it. He participates, too, when he feels like it. Although, I think that he prefers to just watch."
No amount of ingrained military discipline could have kept me from gapping at that. This wasn't how men and women; wives and husbands were supposed to act. Life was supposed to be simple.
One day, you'll marry a good woman from a good family. You'll love and be true to each other. She'll care for your house and bear your children and you'll be oh so happy, my little lion.
Those were my mother's words, ones I'd heard often before leaving Rhodos. Happiness was a formula to my mother, a set of steps to be taken. And throughout my time in the world, I've met hundreds, if not thousands that lived by the same series of steps.
That was happiness, I'd thought. Not whatever went on in this palace.
I shifted, and felt Helena's iron shoulder once again with my own. Even she was something completely foreign. A woman armed and armored as a stratiotai, a kit she wore as naturally as any veteran. I'd never heard of such a thing; women weren't soldiers.
But, as my mind continued to spiral and lose itself in this alien universe, I found myself lashing onto what was familiar.
I heard the creek and jingle of her armor as her chest rose and fell. My own breath, filling me with the scent of steel and sweat that I knew so well from the legion camps. But more than anything, it was the feel of Helena that drew me from my crisis. It was the simple, solid presence of an armored body beside me; one that would fight at my side should the need arise.
She was woman, and while part of me still insisted that she had no business wearing that armor; another, larger part of me, simply accepted it and moved on
.
"Sorry, sir," I said, sitting straight.
"Good man," she said, pulling me to my feet. "And none of that 'sir' nonsense anymore. We share a rank now. My name is Helena."
"Okay,” I said, wondering at my sudden discomfort.
"Helena," she repeated. "Say it."
She was watching me, a small smile curling her lips. She was tall, I suddenly realized, her eyes a bare hands-breath bellow mine. Her bronzed cheeks were pink with summer's heat, and she was near enough that I could smell the faintly fragrant scent of her auburn hair.
"Helena," I said.
Heat stained my own features, but I found myself unable to look away from her eyes. I'd described them as emeralds before, that was wrong. The green of her eyes was darker than that. It was the green of the cypress tree, growing wild and strong through rock and storm.
"And I'll call you Leo," she said, her smile growing wider. "Though, there's not much of the lion about you."
She laughed, and I felt my own lips quirk.
"Alright," Helena said, turning away. "Let's go get you fitted for armor. Then, I'll show you the rest of the Empress' wing."
"When am I going to meet the rest of her guard? Do they sleep in another part of the wing?"
She didn't turn back, leading me through the ornate hallways of the palace. I nonetheless heard her grin when she answered.
"We're it, Leo. So, I hope that you're ready to work!"
Scene
The sun was low in the sky, the heat of summer air fading with it. The Emperor had decided to hold a banquet at his palace that evening. He'd invited dozens of men and women; generals, senators, ambassadors and anyone else of sufficient not.
And so, before the evening truly began, the Empress needed a bath.
Helena and I had accompanied her down to her private bathing chamber; an ornately tiled room with a large basin carved into the floor at its center. The bath had been shaped for comfort, the tiles within sanded smooth.
I worked to light a dozen different lanterns, servants having just finished filling the basin with bucket after bucket of steaming water.
The Empress lay within, submerged to the neck. The water was hot, perfumed with scented oils. Theodora's eyes were closed, head leaning back in the specially sculpted seat. Her long, walnut-colored tresses were piled high atop her head, pinned so as to stay out of the water.
I finished with the lanterns, whipping the sweat from my forehead. It was uncomfortable in the billowing clouds of oil-scented steam. I moved to stand near the door, still in my tunica, though with a short-sword strapped to my waist. My hand gripped the hilt tightly, my eyes flicking about a lot more than they ought to within this small room.
My armor wouldn't be ready until the morning, and I felt strangely exposed without it. Vulnerable; the delicate skin between my shoulder blades prickling as if waiting for the stab of a knife.
Although, with a glance towards Helena, I supposed that my discomfort was rather mild in comparison. The guardswoman was seated at a small wooden desk not far from the Empress' bath. She was still in her full kit, and the heat had long since plastered her auburn hair to her skull. Her skin was flushed, and beads of sweat had quickly turned to rivulets that trickled down her nose.
To her credit, however, her voice didn't waver as she red from a sheaf of reports.
"The Bishop, Philaretos, begs an audience. He intercedes on behalf of his flock."
The Empress snorted, and didn't even bother opening her eyes.
"On behalf of his flock? Is that what he's calling this? The rapacious old fool wants money to plate his church's altar in gold. I'll see him next week."
Helena took up a ready quill, quickly scribbling down a few words before she kept reading.
"The weaver's guild complains about the price of wool."
The Empress raised her arm to make a shooing gesture, sending the perfumed water swirling in a series of ripples.
"Skip it."
"The Governor of Crete wishes,”
"Pass," the Empress said. "Is there anything there that I need to know right this moment?"
Helena fell silent for a few moments, scanning her list of reports.
"Alexius has sent another message," she eventually said.
The Empress groaned, finally deigning to open her eyes to glare at the other woman. "There's one from the Greens too, I guess?"
"Correct, Highness."
Theodora lifted a hand from the water to massage the bridge of her nose. "My husband grants the Blues too much leniency. Alexius is viper. And Diocles of the Greens isn't any better."
I'd never spent much time in the capital before now; but even I knew those two names. They were the leaders of the two largest party factions of the city. Those factions filled with groups of the Empire's richest men; senators, merchants and lords. Each group employed hundreds of men and women in order to fulfill their one, most important goal; entertaining the mob.
They sponsored charioteers for the sands of the Hippodrome; putting on plays, games and other grand spectacles to dazzle and amaze. No doubt making oceans of gold in the process.
They were integral to the city.
It was dangerous to wear certain colors in certain places. The Blues and Greens having carved wide territories out of Constantinople's streets. And on race days, whole neighborhoods of their supporters emptied to fill the hundred thousand seats of the Grand Hippodrome.
"Are they complaining about the crimes of the other? Or do they want a tax break?"
"Both, I believe, Highness. They're each using next week's chariot race as an excuse."
"God deliver me from the short-sightedness of vain and greedy men," the Empress said. "Can't the fools see that we're trying to restore our Empire to what it was? As soon as they start voluntarily pledging their wealth to its growth, then, I would be happy to ease their taxes."
Helena's quill started to scratch, but the Empress interrupted her with a sigh.
"No, Helena. I'm sure they'll have people here for my husband's banquet. I'll tell them myself. More artfully, I supposed."
"Very well, Highness. Next, we have,”
"No! No more, Helena. Not yet. Give me a moment."
She leaned back against the bath's shaped seat, the motion causing her breasts to bob. I caught a glimpse of the chain nestled between them, the soapy-water shifting to reveal the dark shapes of her nipples
.
I ripped my gaze away, spinning to face the still closed door. Heat rushed up the back of my neck, a warmth that had nothing to do with the steaming air of the baths.
"Careful, my Leontius," the Empress said. "You might lose your head if you keep twisting that quickly."
"Yes, Highness," I managed. "Apologies."
I heard the splash and shift of water, followed by the faint sound of Theodora's laughter.
"Put the message scrolls away, Helena," she said. "I need to clear my head before this dinner; not fill it with more clutter."
"Very well, Highness," I heard Helena say.
"Turn around, Leontius," the Empress said.
"I, Ahem. I'd like to keep an eye on the door, Highness. For intruders."
"This propriety of yours is getting rather tiresome, my Leontius," Theodora remarked. "Helena was never this prudish."
Helena snorted. "I'd already seen your tits more times than I could count, Highness."
Theodora laughed. "I suppose that's true." I heard the water trickle and swirl. "Besides, with breasts like yours, mine don't seem too impressive."
Helena laughed, a surprisingly girlish sound from the armored warrior. "Oh, yours are perfect, Highness. Just look at the effect they've had."
I heard the Empress sigh. Then, the water shifted again, louder this time, a cascade of drops splattering into the steaming bath.
"Yes, well, I think that our troublesome soldier would fall dead if he ever saw yours, Helena."
"Perhaps," I could hear the satisfied smile in Helena's voice. "I think his restrain is rather nice. It’s refreshing, isn't it?"
Another trickle of water. "You Rhodians are a strange people. Leontius, turn around."
I started at the sound of my name. I sucked in a mouthful of air. I'd been holding my breath, I realized, strangely intent on capturing every word spoken between the two women.
I coughed, my face flushing. "Empress, I,”
"I will not keep speaking to your back," Theodora cut in. "Turn around. I am decent."
I turned, and froze. It felt like my entire being had stilled; my heart stuck in the space between beats. My mind stuttering to move past its final thought: I could see everything.
Theodora was completely naked.
She was perched up on the bath's tiled edge, leaning back onto her palms with only one foot trailing in the perfumed water. Her skin, dark as the richest honey, glowed a deep gold in the lantern light. She shone with inner warmth, the oil-perfumed water clinging to every curve and slope of her body.
"Now isn't this better, my soldier?" She murmured. "Come closer."
Her voice, the sparking ember in the darkness of her eyes, jolted me into action. I took a step closer, then another, advancing until I stood just across the pool from my Empress.
"Good," she purred, her smile languid. "Don't look away, my Leontius."
As if I could. I was entranced, falling into the burnished depth of her oil-slick flesh. Fire burned beneath my skin, and I longed for a quenching taste of the water that flowed down her. I followed one such rivulet, tracing its path down the arch of her neck and into soft slopes and valley of her chest.
My throat tightened, and I lost track of my drop of water; entranced at the full, unobstructed glory of her breasts. They were smooth, taunt with the same dancer's tightness as the rest of her. Two nipples, round and colored a deep rose, stood high in the naked air. Water beaded upon them both, the gathered drops quivering with every breath she took.
Something between a growl and a mewl escaped my lips. My blood roared in my ears. I saw that long, golden chain spill down from her neck. One side of it flowed through the smooth space between her breasts, shaping itself to her slopes and curls.
The other side lay draped across one breast; the soft, golden links of metal held back by the delicate protrusion of her rosewood nipple.
I longed to brush it away; to hear Theodora gasp as the warm links of gold slipped over the stiffness of her nipple. I burned with need. Hungry for the sight of that chain sliding down her oiled flesh, tumbling into the soft valley of her chest and swallowed by its curving shadows.
Then, my Empress shifted, stretching herself backwards. She let out a breathy little laugh, and I forgot to blink as I watched that chain move exactly as I had wanted.
"God," she said, making a small sound deep within her throat. "Do you see it, Helena?"
"I see it," the other woman answered, her voice tinged by her own depth. "The need."
"A hunger," the Empress breathed.
She brought one hand to her chest, her fingers trailing down the links of her golden chain. I followed them, watching as they brushed past the heavy cross that lay upon the angled tightness of her stomach. My eyes traveled lower as they did, past her navel, coming to rest on that silken, glistening seam between her open legs.
"The sweetest sort of hunger," Theodora said.
Her fingers slid past the matted, oiled curls of her dark pubic hair. Slipping them between the soft, oil-slickened folds of her sex.
"Do you remember our morning, my soldier? Do you remember the taste of me?"
"Yes," I choked.
Her fingers slid over every inch of her silken cunt. She brought her other leg out of the pool, spreading herself wide and unfurling once more before me.
"Would you like another taste?"
Her fingers had begun to move in a slow circle, massaging upper folds of her seam. I saw the heat rise beneath her skin, her breath coming faster.
"Yes," I groaned. God help me, but I would drink from her every day if I could.
"Take out your phallus," she said.
I lifted my eyes to her face. Her lips were parted, her teeth biting down on the corner of one. Her eyes burned with that same hunger; her gaze fixed on the bulge I suddenly felt aching between my legs. I was still not wearing any armor, so it was the work of a moment slip the edge of my tunica up over my own erect nakedness.
"God," my Empress moaned. I saw the pink triangle of her tongue flick out to run over her lips. Her fingers working her oiled lower ones faster and faster.
"Take it in your hand," she panted. "Stroke it. I want to see."
I obeyed; my eyes locked upon her body. My manhood was a bar of molten led in my hand, the skin tight, every ridge searing into my palm. I worked my hand along it, slowly.
The Empress made a sound that was something between a purr and a moan. Her body tightened as she curled a finger deep into herself. She slid another one into her silken-wetness, curling them in and out of her.
"Come here," she said.
But I didn't move. I kept my eyes on her, stroking myself. Something held me back; that last shred of myself that hadn't yet been consumed by the inferno I felt rising in me. Theodora wasn't my wife; she wasn't a woman that I'd paid to keep me company.
She was my Empress, and I was just a soldier. I couldn't.
"Hurry," she begged. "I want to taste you."
"Empress," the word grated out of my throat. "I, I can't."
"You want to. I see it, my Leontius."
My phallus was still in my hand, her own fingers urgently pumping in and out of herself.
"I can't," I repeated, cursing myself as the greatest sort of fool.
Her fingers slowed. Though, the heat in her eyes and beneath her skin did not fade.
"I could make you; you know. I could order you to fuck me; to bury yourself into the tightness my cunny." She pulled her fingers from herself, holding them up so that I could see the wetness that dripped from them.
"See how ready I am for you, my soldier," she breathed. "See how easily you would slide into me; how good it would feel to erupt inside of me."
"Empress,” My will was drifting away, consumed as more and more of me was burned away in the heat of her eyes and her golden flesh. She was right. I wanted to; God but I wanted to. So, why didn't I?
I was shifting my weight forward, about to take the first step towards her, when she let out a long breath.
"But you aren't ready for me. Not yet." She made a questioning sound. "Should I take him anyway, Helena?"
I heard the other woman clear her throat. "Uh, I,” she coughed. "No, Highness."
"Hmm, I believe you're right. Bring me my golden spear, then."
I held onto to myself, backing away from the edge over which I'd been about to fall. My hand slowed, though the look in my Empress' eyes told me it would be a bad idea to stop.
"Very good, my soldier," she brought her fingers back down to her silken folds, stroking herself with luxurious slowness. "You are not ready, and that is fine. You will come to me in time. And you will taste all the sweeter for it. For now, though, I'm not done with you. Keep your eyes on me, my Leontius."
"Y, Yes, your Majesty."
Then, Helena arrived with a, golden phallus?
I blinked, trying to wrap my severely limited mental capacities around what the Empress now held. Sure enough, however, the more I looked at it; from the rounded swell of its bulbous tip, to the end of its burnished shaft, the more I became sure of what I was seeing.
"Do you like it?" She asked. "It was a gift from my husband."
She took her moisture slickened fingers away from her silken folds, trailing them up the erect, golden shaft to the blunted tip. She rubbed her wetness onto it, working her fingers around every swell.
She was thorough, digging deeply from that pot between her legs. She made the thing shine; the gold deepening with every coating of her oil-scented moisture. Her hand worked down its entire length. Soon, her fingers traveled easily up and down the slickened member; stroking it in the same way I touched my own.
Up from a strangely shaped base, to the rounded golden head and then back down, her fingers twisting and flexing down its entire length.
I learned of the base's purpose a few moments later when the Empress rose to her feet, moved a step backward and screwed it into a specially marked place on the tiled floor. I heard a click, leaving the Empress standing naked above an erect, golden member.
"A golden spear," she said. "For when I have nothing else to impale myself with."
She shifted her body so she straddled it. Her breasts quivered, nipples reaching towards me, begging to be touched, to be tasted. Her breath was coming faster. Her eyes smoldered, and I imagined the heat emerging from her parted lips.
"Don't look away. I need your eyes on me, my Leontius."
She lowered herself slowly. Her legs spread wide so that I might marvel in the glory of her; down until the tip of the golden phallus teased open the first of her soft folds. Then, she held herself there, muscled legs flexing. She was still as she had been over me that morning.
Fire tore through me. My manhood twitched in my hand, reaching towards her.
She made a deep sound in her throat, her lower lip caught in her teeth. She began to move, shifting herself, swirling her hips so she spread more of herself, more of her silken-wetness over the whole of that eternally stiff, golden head.
"I too remember our morning well, my soldier," she said. "The feel of your breath against me. The way I ran myself over the ridges of your face."
She let out a gasp. She'd twitched lower, a fingers breath more of the golden head disappearing into her. Her hips never stopped moving, working herself onto it in slow, tortuous gyrations.
"The way your tongue moved, slipping into me, so desperate for a taste."
Her eyes burned; her flesh red with the same furnace heat. My throat was dry, my own flesh ablaze. I forgot to blink. My eyes stung, but even when my eyelids flashed shut, the rhythmic circles of her naked, oiled hips followed me into the darkness.
"Faster," she breathed.
I obeyed, shifting up and down my molten hardness. I ached with need. My manhood stabbing into the air, spear-straight and desperate to reach out past the limit of its growth.
"Oh God," Theodora said, a shiver running up her naked flesh. "Oh God!"
Her hips shifted, taking in another finger-length of her golden spear. She completely engulfed the bulbous head now, her luscious folds clinging to the burnished shaft as she slid herself even lower. Her hips moved differently, though no less rhythmically, the strong muscles of her thighs flexing to let her body climb up and the down the burnished golden spear.
"How does it feel?" she asked, working herself down ever lower. She brought one hand down to where her legs parted, working her fingers into her velvet smoothness as she moved.
Her other hand went to her chest, to where her breasts bounced with the motion of her hips. Her fingers gripped that heavy golden cross, keeping it from rebounding against her.
"Is it hot? Does it burn?"
"Yes, Empress," I croaked.
That metal phallus disappeared deeper into her with every shift. She moved faster, her breath ragged as my own, desperate to take it fully into herself. And when she did, sinking her oil-matted pubis to the tiled floor, she froze.
For a moment, her body stiffened and her back arched. She moaned, and shivers wracked her body.
I stroked myself faster. I couldn't look away. I flexed, twisted and pulled on myself, drawing the heat there.
She wasn't finished. Theodora brought her hand down to the floor, splaying her fingers and using it to support herself as her hips started her rhythmic climb and descent once again. She moved faster, the other hand bringing the golden cross back to her chest, rubbing the metal against the tautness of her nipples.
"Very good," my Empress gasped. "Oh, God! My soldier!"
She moved even faster now, up and down, from the edge of the tip down to the floor. God, she was so wet. I could hear the squelch of the golden phallus within her, wondering what it would feel like to be surrounded by all that silken warmth. Her movements were fever quick now, her breasts rebounding in a way that seemed to defy nature.
I was almost at my limit, heat wild within me. We matched our rhythms, breathing in the sight of each other.
"Cum for me," Theodora begged. I saw her eyes through the falling strands of her hair. They were glazed, slitted with lust. "Please. I'm almost there."
That did it for me, the final part of me that might have held back evaporated. I let the fire rage through me unchecked, feeling it reach the tip of me. A growl tore its way out of my throat. I pointed my phallus towards my Empress, bucked my hips and exploded. I pumped thick ropes of milky fluid into the air over the pool, my eyes fixed on Theodora.
She screamed when she saw me finish. She slammed herself down to the floor; once, twice, three times. Then, she stopped, throwing her head back. Her body arched, a convulsion ripping through her.
Her hand. I don't know why, but my eyes went to her hand; the one that still gripped the cross at her chest. The symbol of God. And a thought flashed through me like lightning.
To be continued in part 2, Based on the works of Robyn Bee, for Literotica.