Lupercalia

"Last night I thought about my life. I thought about you, and how much I have loved you ever since we were children. I thought about how my life was taken away from me at 10 years old, with a story about receiving the greatest honor a woman of Rome could receive, and no real chance to choose for myself. I thought about living for 10 years being afraid of having a word or even a lock of my hair out of place. I am 20 years old and I do not crave death, but I now no longer fear it... and if I am to die for loss of virtue, I would rather choose to give myself the gift of having that moment be with you, rather than having it taken from me like the rest of my life has been. So... that is why I have asked you here, tonight. Will you help me, Marcus?"

Marcus stood silent, though not for lack of words. For once in his life, he had too many words, so many that none would come out of him. While he had breath in his body, he would not allow her to die. No one would ever touch her unkindly again, and he would see to it that the High Priest was cast into the Vestal fire and burned to death while he screamed to deaf ears for mercy. Oaths and harsh threats welled up in him like a volcano, ready to burst out and destroy everything they touched, but then he saw her. He saw his Julia, the child he loved grown into a woman. She didn't need his curses or oaths. His threats and violence would bring her no peace. She needed him. Nodding silently, he committed himself to her without words and drew near to her.

Though Marcus was the sexually experienced one of the pair, he nervously fumbled with his clothes, still unable to bring himself to boldly approach her as he had so many other women. She wasn't like the other women. Even if it wasn't forbidden, he would be overwhelmed at the privilege of touching her. Seeing his hesitancy, Julia laughed and pulled his clothes off him with abandon, tumbling with him to the bed and climbing atop him with a gleam in her eyes. "None of that. I want you to touch me, Marcus," she said, taking his hands and running them up the sides of her body. "I've dreamed of you touching me... making me feel things," she said, lightly running her fingers on his bare chest, smiling when a rash of goosebumps spread across his skin. "Please, Marcus... make love to me," she said.

"May the gods forgive me, I never could refuse you," Marcus said, sitting up in the bed, cupping her face and drawing her closer for a kiss. Her lips were soft and sweet, her hands gently touching and enflaming him, both curious and full of shy desire. Careful of her wounded back, he pulled her closer, twining his fingers through her hair and opening his mouth, inviting her to kiss him more deeply. Pulling back slightly, she looked at him, frowning slightly in confusion. "It's like eating a soft delicious fruit... try it," he challenged her, licking his lips and opening them again for her.

Feeling foolish, Julia opened her lips slightly, watching him cautiously for signs that he was joking with her, and lowered her mouth to his again. Their lips met again, tasting and sampling each other, and Julia moaned softly with dawning understanding. Marcus rolled them onto their sides and continued kissing her, exploring her body with his hands and lips. She shivered when his teeth gently grazed her collarbone, her leg winding around him and pulling him closer. She trembled when he bent lower and put his warm lips to her breast. "Oh yes... yes, Marcus..." she whispered, arching herself to him, and he answered her by taking her rosy nipple into his mouth.

His tongue tasted the keeper of the Vestal Fire. She tasted of honey and flowers, with the slightest hint of smoke. He let her nipple slide slowly from his lips, then took her into his mouth again and again, suckling harder with each forbidden mouthful. He felt her mouth in his hair, her breath warming him as her shuddering gasps quickened.

Catching her aroused scent, he glided his fingers along the inside of her thigh, coming to rest over her soft mound. Releasing her breast, he rose up and kissed her lips again, looking at her lovely face panting softly. He waited for her to open her eyes, to read them carefully for any hesitation. When her trusting eyes regarded him, he saw only love and desire there.

Holding her eyes with his, he slipped his fingers between her plump lower lips, bathing them in her arousal and sliding them up to her nub. Rubbing in firm slow circles around it, he smiled, watching her eyes grow wide and then squeeze closed as she began to squirm in her mounting pleasure. He watched her body build on the sensations she had never received from another. Her leg tightened around him as her panting became uneven, mewling cries coming out of her as her hips began pressing to him in need. When she crested, he slid a single finger deep inside her, stretching her barrier slightly, and watched her eyes go wide at the sensation of her body clenching around him. "Marcus... uh... unh... aah... Marcus!!!"

She slowly relaxed against him, her eyes glowing as she leaned up to place light kisses of gratitude over his face and shoulders. He eased his finger out of her slowly, watching her face as he brought it up to his mouth and sucked on it. Her eyebrows knitted slightly, "Why is there no blood?" she asked.

"I didn't break you, yet," he chuckled. "Your maidenhead isn't a wall or shield. It has a small opening... my finger was able to sneak past your defenses without damaging you," he said, bending down to kiss her again. "It also means that you can still change your mind, Julia. You don't have to do this. We can find another way, make a pl—" he began, before she stopped him with a hungry kiss.

The kiss went on for lifetimes forgotten, pulling them out of their troubled thoughts. When she pulled away, Julia sat up and her eyes drifted over his body. His neck and shoulders showed the strength of the real work he did at his father's construction business, though as the son of a wealthy man, he could have lived a life of lazy luxury. Enjoying her admiring perusal, Marcus folded his muscled arms behind his head and watched her. His torso was firm and rippled with muscled flesh and she allowed herself to trail her fingers over it delicately, her eyes twinkling when she reached spots that were obviously ticklish. She lingered on them, making him squirm as he tried not to react to her provocation.

His erection stood straight out from his body, now, and he waited, wondering if she would be brave enough to touch it on her own. "How does one make this feel good?" she asked, bending down and looking at it closely. "It looks like it is ready to burst. I know it's supposed to go inside me and where, but how can this be anything but painful to you? Look at it!" Marcus leaned up to see himself nearly purple and more engorged than he had ever been, proudly enjoying her frank fascination.

"It is wonderfully pleasurable to a man, but not if it has to wait too long. It likes to be touched gently near the head, the top right here," he said, taking her hand and moving her fingers around the mushroom tip of his cock. "The shaft and the base like firm strong strokes," he said, wrapping his hand around hers and guiding her on how to pull from the root. "These, though..." he said, moving her hand down to his testicles, "they like to be cupped or petted very gently, maybe giving them a little shake."

Watching Julia become more aroused and confident in touching him, Marcus moved her fingers to the ridged area under the head, "This is one of the most sensitive places," he said, stroking her fingertip on it gently, wincing with pleasure. "It likes soft wet touches, kisses, licks, sucking," he said, glancing up to see her looking dubiously at him. He laughed, shrugged, and smiled at her, "Of course, as inexperienced as you are, I'm sure you would be too scared to— oh gods! Fuck!" he yelled in shock, curling up off the bed as she bent down and took his entire head in her mouth and sucked on it. He had been holding back so long that just the feel of her mouth on his cock put him beyond any control. "Oh woman! Oh... fuck... Julia!" he cried, when she added firm strokes to the shaft and he felt his long-held orgasm explode out of him and into her warm wet mouth.

She sucked at his head as burst after burst of his seed came out, making her cheeks puff out until she swallowed, her eyes going wide in surprise at the taste of him. When his orgasm had passed, she primly cleaned his cock and sat up, wiping a dribble from her chin with a finger. "I'm sorry, you were saying something condescending, Marcus?" she said, an impish challenge in her eyes.

"Um... no. I was saying something very stupid. My apologies... and my eternal gratitude," he laughed, catching her in his arms and pulling her on top of him. "Julia... my Julia..." he sighed, stroking her long hair as she melted into the warmth of his chest.

"I missed you both so much..." she whispered, stroking his face as he held her. "When they took me away, I begged them to let me see you one last time. I wept until I was punished for it. Then, I was with the Sisters, learning. How to feed the Vestal fire, how to draw from the spring, how to prepare the cakes, but mostly how to be... or how to appear to be. Always clean, always serene, always pure, always perfect... pleasing to Vesta, but in truth what mattered most was what pleased the High Priest. There was some peace to be found in all the repetition, but only if you could bring yourself to stop thinking or feeling and just be content to be empty... a vessel only. I would see you sometimes, working on buildings or in the street with Gaius, and in seeing you I could only see the life I would have had if we'd grown up together. I never wanted to be revered, Marcus, I only wanted to be with you. We should never have been parted."

"I missed you, too," he whispered into the top of her head. "I'm almost grateful I never saw you. I wouldn't have had a moment's peace, knowing you were forever out of reach."

Julia nodded, looking up at him, resting her chin on his chest. "Tonight is our forever... but I will never regret it," she said, rising up to kiss him again.

Marcus cupped her face in his hands and reveled in her desire, marred only by the tears welling in her eyes. He felt himself hardening again, his member grazing her thigh as it rose. Julia's eyes flickered and she looked down between her legs. Settling herself over him, she began to stroke him against her clit, melting against the pleasure of his hard warmth rubbing against her. "Make love to me, Marcus..." she whispered, reaching down and moving his head to her opening.

Marcus pulled back, closing his eyes and struggling for control, "No... I can't. Not until you agree to let me help you. I won't let my love be a part of bringing about your death. Say you'll let me try. Let me try to save you..." he said, tilting her face to look at him.

Two tears rolled down her cheeks, as she looked at him with something akin to pity. Nodding, she closed her eyes and impaled herself on his member, pushing down until she felt his head push hard against her inner wall. Marcus gasped at the sudden vice-like grip around his cock and moaned into her mouth. "I love you, Marcus," she whispered, rising up and dropping down on him again hard enough to make her cry out, as if punishing herself with the pain of his entry.

"No..." he whispered, "I won't be a part of that either, my love. Hold still now," he said, putting his hands on her hips and guiding her up and down his cock in long slow strokes. Feeling her body slowly open to him, he began to thrust back, meeting her strokes and drawing gasps of surprised pleasure from her lips.

Her head dropped back in rapture, lost in sensation as she began sliding up and down on his cock with abandon. Her breasts bounced in time with the slick, slurping noises made by their joining. "Marcus... I need... I need..." she said through clenched teeth.

"I know... but your back is... wait—" he gasped, moving her onto the bed lying on her side, remaining inside her. He sat up and straddled the leg she had against the bed and moved her other leg to his shoulder, using the position to thrust deeply inside her while keeping her back untouched.

Julia cried out loudly as his cock created new pressures, new sensations inside her. "Oh! Oh! Ah! Ah! Ah! Oh Marcus! Oh gods! Aaaah!!!" she cried, as he rose up and used the position to thrust more quickly inside her and more easily rub her clit now that she was no longer bouncing on him. He pumped into her, flexing his hips and thighs in a carnal dance of giving and taking. Her voice rose higher in pitch as the tension inside her did, her cries giving way to mindless grunts of need.

Marcus felt her walls contract tightly on him and nearly lost himself inside her again, quickly thinking of the peril she was in to keep himself in control. He wanted this moment to last, to be everything she had been denied. He slowed his thrusting, allowing her to recover while still holding on to the moment. He held her leg against his chest, each thrust shifting her against him, pulling her close and pushing her away. When her eyes opened again, she looked at him with awe. "More?" she said, in both wonder and petition.

"Always," he groaned, moving her leg down to the bed, turning her on her stomach. Pulling her hips up over her knees, he entered her again from behind, holding her with one hand on her hip and one on her shoulder. He snapped his hips into her, growling at the sensation and the perfect view of her complete surrender. She was his... his Julia... she was never theirs. She moaned into the rumpled sheets and grasped tight handfuls as he began taking her again and again and again, his hips riding her and slapping against her bottom with each long hard thrust. "Julia... unh... unh... unh... fuck! Uh... uh... uh uh uh uh... Julia! Julia! Julia! Unhhhhhh!!! I love you!!!" he roared, his cock twitching, his boiling come ready to burst out.

Julia screamed, pushing herself back to him with each stroke, until her climax burst over her gripping his hard member deep inside her, feeling it twitch in response until he plunged deeply inside her and released his come in hot spurts.

Dizzy with the force of his orgasm, he pulled out of her carefully, collapsing on the bed next to her, panting, and felt her crawl to him. She put her arm across his chest, resting her cheek on it. Her long, tousled hair spread out on his torso. "And I love you," she whispered.

Marcus said nothing. There was nothing left to say. He stroked her hair gently, his bliss fading quickly as the plan for saving her formed in his mind. He would need Gaius. As irresponsible and careless as he was, he was the only person Marcus trusted to help them in a plot involving both treason and blasphemy.

As soon as he felt Julia's breathing shift into the mindless rhythm of sleep, he slipped out from under her and dressed quickly. Slipping out of the door, he went back up Palatine Hill, scouting the villas where Gaius was most likely to be. He hadn't gone more than a few houses away when he saw his cousin exiting the garden gate of a grand villa.

Recognizing him, Gaius glanced up and down the street, and immediately crossed over to Marcus. He punched Marcus' shoulder lightly, "Decided you were up for a little Pan worship after all? Perfect. Livia would totally take both—" Gaius cut off, seeing the look on Marcus' face. "What is it?"

Marcus pulled Gaius into a small shadowy space between villas and told him of his plan to help Julia and why it was needed. Gaius' merry face slowly fell as he heard the story, becoming almost frightening in the light of the street lamps. "I'm gonna kill him," Gaius said, ducking his head out to scan the street, as if expecting the High Priest to come looking for Julia that night, "I'll kill him myself. We've got that job going at the Horti Sallustiani, the gardens... it's close to the temple, perfect for the body. You wait here and I'll—" Gaius cut off, looking at something over Marcus' shoulder.

In the darkness, they saw a hooded figure leave the gate of the villa where Marcus had met Julia and proceed up the street at a quick pace. As the figure turned toward to check the street, they recognized Julia's face, pale and frightened in the moonlight. Gaius pulled Marcus further into the shadows. A temple guard appeared from around a corner and stopped her. She lowered her hood and said something to the guard in a low voice, her hair tumbling down around her shoulders. The guard looked taken aback for a second, then firmly took her arm and escorted her in the direction from which he had come.

"We've got to stop them. We'll never get her out of there if—" Marcus began, making to follow them, when he was struck hard from behind, lights flashing behind his eyes before he blacked out.

Gaius dropped the stone, now wet with Marcus' blood, and quickly stopped his body from hitting the ground too hard. Gaius briefly checked the wound he had inflicted, satisfied that even if Marcus would never forgive him for this betrayal, he would live. "Sorry, cousin... we aren't kids anymore," he murmured.

Awareness came back to Marcus in the form of throbbing pain at the back of his head. He reached up to touch it, feeling dried blood crusted around the swollen lump. He opened his eyes and a wave of fear nauseated him. Thick darkness surrounded him, there was no difference between when his eyes were closed or open. Feeling around, he seemed to be lying on a low bed, a piece of parchment folded on his chest... along with a fire steel.

Marcus groped in the darkness until his hands felt a small lamp. Using the fire steel, he quickly lit it, wincing at the brightness of the light when the flame took. Unfolding the parchment, his heart fell as he read the words in Gaius' hand:

"Stay quiet, use the lamp sparingly. Rome is looking for you. You will be killed if you are found. If you hear the door, hide."

That was all his useless cousin had written, and none of it answered the questions burning in his mind. What had happened? Why had Gaius knocked him out? Was Julia safe? What was going on?

He stood in the small chamber that imprisoned him, examining it in the dim lamplight. There were no windows, no drafts of air. The stone walls arched seamlessly into a vaulted ceiling that was not quite high enough for him to stand upright. Provisions of food, lamp oil, wine and water stood in a corner, in the opposite corner was a covered chamber pot.

Most troubling, he found no door. If he was supposed to hide when the door opened, it would be good to know where the door was. Going over the walls carefully with the lamp, he eventually found a spot where the seam between the stones looked slightly different from the others forming a square that looked large enough to fit a person through it. The door to the chamber was on the ceiling. The room was almost certainly built underground.

Why was Rome looking for him? Had Julia confessed to their night together? How long was he supposed to stay down here? Standing on the bed, he pushed against the door, but found it immovable. With nothing else to do, and to keep himself from going frantic with worry, he blew out the lamp and began testing the workmanship of each stone and crevice with his hands. He wished he could have used a harder tool, but the noise might carry. Each stone of the wall was well-laid and cemented into place. He found no metal implements in the chamber that he might use to scrape or otherwise test the integrity of the room. Each stone thudded solidly, showing no looseness or sound to indicate it lay against anything except solid ground.

If Rome was looking for him, what of his family? Were they safe? If he were accused of defiling a Vestal Virgin, there would be no peace for them. His father's business would be destroyed. Marcus' thoughts went then to Senator Tertius, who would be all too pleased to see that happen. Political treachery in Rome was a blood sport.