Talisman Ch. 1: Tallus Hostilus Ursus

For the second time he ripped her gown from her body. This time she helped him strip it from her, as if she couldn’t bear to have anything between them either. He tumbled her onto her back, following her into the blankets. She wrapped her arms around his neck and tugged him down for another searing kiss. He gave into her mouth, letting her have her way, and sent his fingers down the smooth lines of her body to the fiery wet curls between her legs.

She spread her thighs, lifting herself against his hand, and tried to pull him into her. He groaned into her mouth, the urge to penetrate her almost unbearable. The only thing stronger was the need to taste her a little more.

She tried to pull him back to her mouth when he licked along her jaw to nibble at her throat. With both hands, he plucked at her nipples. She shivered, gasping. He took one in his mouth, lashing at the hardened nub with his tongue before sucking on it.

The musky taste of her sex filled his mouth. He’d never tasted a woman’s juice before, had never desired to. It was an almost unheard of deviance that was looked down upon. She tasted like the smelled, earthy and intoxicating. He dipped his fingers into her nether lips again, then painted the other nipple with it. He licked the wetness off and only wanted more.

He rose, spreading her legs wider, and looked down at her. The red hair between her thighs gleamed wetly in the lamplight and the scent of her filled his nostrils. He licked his lips and watched her smile at him. He leaned down and pressed a kiss to her gently rounded belly, to his child. She slid her hand into his hair, smoothing his scalp with long strokes of her nails.

Settling between her legs, he pressed a kiss to the top of her sex.

“Beithir! No!” She tugged at his hair. “What are you doing.”

“Hush, Brigid.” He licked at her nether lips.

“Have you lost your mind, Roman? Stop it at once!”

He must have. He could think of no other reason for what he was doing. His tongue glided over her lips again, lapping up her wetness, and he no longer cared. She tasted like burnished fire and he wanted more of it. He parted the lips with his fingers and licked at the source. She gasped, her hips jerking, and nearly jerked out fistfuls of his hair. So she liked this as well as he liked her mouth on him.

He ran his tongue over every bit of flesh he could reach, inside and out. He sucked one lip into his mouth, and then the other one. The more he tasted the juicier she got. He pulled back a little and spread her open. He had never actually seen a woman’s vagina this closely. He knew what it was like in general. There was a hole guarded by lips and hair. At the top was the clitoris. Hers was a shiny pink nub no bigger than the blunt end of his stylus. Rubbing it with his finger while he rode her never failed to bring her to climax.

She jerked as if struck by lightning when he swiped it with his tongue. He did it again, enjoying the sound of her panting cries. He tested her clitoris with sharp touches, gentle caresses, and varied the speed of his licks. He knew what pleased her most not only by her breathing, but as if someone where whispering it in his ear. Lick her here, like that, harder, faster, gently.

He slid two fingers into her while lashing her clitoris with the tip of his tongue and he knew that it would make her body erupt with sensation even before he did it. He pressed upwards and found a spot that he could almost feel within his own body.

Coupled with the unrelenting tongue on her clitoris, she couldn’t resist the tide of pleasure. Her hips surged upwards, forcing her sex harder onto his mouth, and her low scream echoed through the room. She pleaded with him, begged for him to take her, but wouldn’t stop pulling his face into her.

He couldn’t wait another moment. He threw her ankles over his shoulders and pressed the head of his cock to her still throbbing sex. Finding the entrance, he sank inside. She was like hot oil and a tight fist. Her orgasm turned her into a rhythmically clenching sheath, one that sucked at his cock like a mouth. He withdrew and then thrust himself deep inside again, seating himself almost fully. He did it again, and then again until she held all of him.

He had been fucking her for nearly two years and he had never felt her this way. She was liquid fire and he would never get enough of it. He pulled back, the head of his cock rasping against the heated walls of her sex made him grit his teeth to keep from shooting his seed. He wasn’t ready for that, he wanted more. His head pounded from the want.

Putting his hands on the bed on either side of her, he rocked into the cradle of her hips. The tightness and the heat stole his breath. He knew he wouldn’t last long.

“Breithir,” she hissed. He could barely hear her over his own breathing. “Breithir.”

Orgasm slammed into him, starting with the tips of his toes and the top of his head, then exploding though him and into her. His eyes rolled into his head and his roar shook the walls.

He knew he said something, but he couldn’t grasp the words. He fell down beside her on the bed, her fingers in his sweaty hair, too content to tell where she ended and he began. Asleep before she could speak.

Before the sun set the next day, he climbed the hill to the end of the wall. The men were working to cap it, create an end that could stand forever or could be torn down to continue the work on the wall. The salarius acknowledged his presence. He put his hand on the wall, the smooth stone seeping peace into him as it always did. Even though they were leaving it behind, the wall was forever. A brief thought of Brigid and her fire flashed through him, but the wall still remained, still kept safe.

“So this is the wall you don’t want to give up, Ursus.”

He ignored Gaius and went to inspect the new work. He took his time.

“I am speaking to you, Praefectus. I will not be ignored by the likes of you.”

“A good day’s work, salarius. Dismiss the men.”

The salarius eyed the two men who looked so much alike, but did as bid without comment. Tallus ignored the rustling of the men as they left for the fort. Instead he traced his fingers along the drying mortar.

“Why did you leave?”

“Ask your mother.”

“I did.”

“Then why are you here?”

“I don--” Gaius cut himself off. “I want your version.”

“I was exiled, leave it at that.”

Gaius hissed something. “My mother is a fine and noble woman.”

“Your mother is a bitch.”

“Damn you! She’s my mother!”

Tallus took a deep breath and put his hand on the wall. “It’s all very simple, boy. Your mother married a man with wealth and power. A man who never touched her. Not even to have children. She used me to get you. When she was finished with me she had me exiled.”

“Why? Why would she do such a thing?”

He curled his fingers into the stone and took a steadying breath. “I am not interested in your mother.”

“There is talk in the Senate.”

“That is all the Senate does. I have work to do.”

“Corruption and my grandfather. He has power and some wish to depose him. There is talk of bringing you back to Rome.”

Tallus froze. “Is that why you’re here, to bring me back to Rome?”

“I want the truth.”

“What truth? The truth is that I am as far away from Rome as I can get and I intend to keep it that way.” He gripped a jutting rock and fought for control. “I don’t care what happens in the Senate.”

“Did my grandfather do what they say he did?”

Tallus eyed the boy who looked so much like himself. “I left that behind when I left Rome.”

“But--”

“Go home, boy.” He kept his mind firmly on the problem of the edge of the wall. The smooth stone brought him a sense of relief. “I have more important things to do.”

He left his son standing by his wall and didn’t look back.

Brigid was in the bath when he returned. He sat at his desk and did a little work while waiting for her to finish. He intended to bury himself in her and then go to sleep. What had happened last night was--

It was an aberration that would not happen again. He twisted the ivory medallion in his fingers. Everything had an exactly place in his life and everything would stay that way.

She came from the other room and sat in front of the fire, drying her hair. He watched her sway with each stroke of her comb. He had always thought of her as returning to her people after he left the area. He had no interest in common law weddings any more than he had interest in camp followers. Brigid was now in his life forever. That thought didn’t panic him nearly as much as he thought it would.

Smiling, she crossed to the doorway to his bed. “It is late, Beithir, come to bed now.”

Without a second thought, he followed her.

She helped him remove his garments, then reached for the medallion to tug it off. Irritated, he pushed her hand away. “No, leave it.”

“What is it?”

“A gift from Venus.”

“Your goddess of love.”

He didn’t care forthat tone in her voice. “We’re going north, it’s to keep me safe.”

“Oh.” She rolled onto her side, giving him her back.

He snuggled against her and nibbled on her neck. She relaxed and let him do what he wanted to. He lifted her leg and slid his fingers into her. She was warm, but only a little moist. Lazily, he played with her, coaxing more and more wetness from within. He was in no hurry, he felt oddly content to simply lay there and tease the skin of her neck and shoulders.

Her nether lips parted easily beneath his fingers and the deeper heat drew him farther inside. She moaned and leaned more fully against him, spreading her legs wider. It was odd that he’d never noticed how incredibly gratifying it was to bring her such pleasure. He pulled a wet finger through her clingy, lower lips to her clitoris. Using slow, gentle circles, he drew it out from its hiding spot.

He licked her just below the ear and slid his finger inside for more of her juice. She moaned, long and breathy, when he found her erect little clitoris again. Her hips danced with his hand, imitating the circle and sway of his finger. Her sweet butt teased his cock with every brush against him.

He sank his teeth delicately into her neck, reached between them, and arranged his cock against her. They both moaned when he pressed forward, his shaft burrowing through her lips to slide just a little inside. He found her clitoris with his fingers again and returned to the slow teasing.

Gritting his teeth, he resisted the urge to force his way into her. Every flick of his finger on her clitoris set her hips to writhing with it. The wiggles and jerks worked the very head of his cock across the entrance of her sex. Sometimes she would take him deeper, swallowing nearly half of him, and sometimes he would slide past his own fingers. It was too good to stop and almost too painful to continue.

She shifted her body, taking a good portion of him inside. He tugged gently on her clitoris, then rubbed it with his thumb. Her hands went to her own breasts, pulling on the nipples as he’d done last night. His cock throbbed at the sight. She’d never done that before and he intended to see that she did it again.

He used his finger again, this time quickly and gently. Somehow he knew exactly what kind of touch she needed. She arched her back, calling out something that sounded like his name. She pleaded in her Celtic gibberish, demanding that he take her. She was as taut as a rope pulling a stone to the top of the wall, on the verge of orgasm, and he wanted nothing more than to drive into her.

Instead, he forced himself to keep teasing her with a strength of will he didn’t even know he possessed. She was almost there, ready to climax just for him. She needed something, a little bit more, to push her over the edge. His medallion had somehow gotten in his way, he shoved it aside to get to her throat. He took her earlobe in his teeth then licked behind her ear.

“I want to watch you, Brigid. I want to watch you explode.” He had no idea where that came from. To speak was to share more than bodies, so he never spoke. This was an iron clad rule that he never broke. He swallowed to keep the next set of words down, but found that he couldn’t. “I want to see you orgasm with nothing more than the head of my cock in you and my finger on your clitoris.”

She almost did, she clawed at the blankets, at him, and howled his name.

“I want to feel you orgasm. And then I’m going to fuck you.”

He felt her climax with his cock before he saw it in her face. It squeezed at him, milking just the tip. He couldn’t wait another moment. He rolled her onto her belly and thrust into her fully. She screamed, bucking her rump back against him. He grabbed her hips to hold her still, and pounded into her. It only took a few strokes for him to orgasm along with her.

Rolling onto his back, he tried to suck in air. His cock flopped wetly against his thigh. Brigid put her head on his shoulder, pressing the long length of her body against his. She idly toyed with the medallion.

“When must you leave?”

“In three days.” The silence stretched between them. Normally he would have counted it a blessing and gone to sleep. This time it bothered him. “I will come for you as soon as it is safe to do so.”

“I feel as if I just found you all over again. I don’t want you to go.”

He sighed. This is why soldiers weren’t permitted to marry. “I am a soldier. I obey orders.”

“I know. But that does not mean that I have to like it.” She sounded as grumpy about it as he was.

He felt ridiculously pleased that she felt that way and it irritated him. He grunted and closed his eyes, determined to end the conversation.

“Tell me about your son.”

“He isn’t yet born, there isn’t much to tell.”

“Gaius. Paullus told me that his name is Gaius. How old his he? Who is his mother?”

“I do not wish to discuss it.”

“Are you, that is to say, is his, well--”

“By the Gods, Brigid, spit it out.”

“You don’t have to snap at me. Have you a wife?”

“No. I will not speak of it.”

“You are as stubborn as a badger. Fine. I shall have to ask Gaius, then.”

He rolled on top of her, pinning her arms down. He shoved his face to hers, to make certain that he had her absolute attention. “You will not speak to Gaius or to anyone else of this. It does not concern you.”

She lifted her head and pressed a kiss to his jaw. “I will know, Roman. You might as well tell me.”

Damned woman. “Leave it be, Brigid.”

“He seems to be,” she paused long enough that he thought she’d be silent, “hostile. Have you never gotten along?”

“We have never met.”

“Never? But why--”

“Besilent!“

“I do not understand this at all, Beithir. He seems like a fine man. Was his mother a good woman? It is important that a mother be--”

He clamped a hand over her mouth and glared at her furiously. There wasn’t a bit of fear in her eyes and that irked him further. “His mother was the vilest of bitches. Gaius is twenty years and he is not my son. Yes, I sired him, but another man raised him. Enough with your questions.”

He rolled onto his side, his back to her, and shut his eyes firmly. He took a deep breath and prepared to sleep. Brigid wasn’t inclined to be wise.

“Why does he hate you so?”

“I do not know and I do not care. Sleep, Brigid. There is much to be done tomorrow.”

“Do you like him?”

He thought about Gaius and the earnest face demanding answers to something he was in the middle of through no fault of his own. Not do you want him, but do you like him. Cursed with a handmaiden of Hades for a mother and drunken lecher for a father. He wanted to say he didn’t like Gaius, but the truth was that he simply didn’t know.

“Beithir?”

He ignored her and thought about Gaius. He thought about the spark of life in Brigid’s belly. A man should have sons, his father had told him. A man should have sons he can be proud of. Gaius’s face, pleading for the truth, flashed in front of his eyes and something inside of him twisted.

“Good night, Beithir.”

Brigid had been gone with a chattering group of women for the day and had left him a measure of peace. The woman could talk an ear off of a squirrel. He sat behind his desk, making lists of who would remain behind and who would go, what to take, what to leave, and the various other nearly mindless tasks commanders had to do.

“Praefectus.”

He looked up. Gaius. He made a mental note to replace Paullus. “I am working.”

“I am not a man given to begging, but please, Imust know.”

Brigid’s soft voice, asking him if he liked his own son whispered in his ear. He sighed. “Sit.”

Eager, the boy sat in the stool opposite the desk.

“What is happening in Rome?”

“Will you tell me what I wish to know?”

“Perhaps.” Tallus leaned back in his chair. “What is going on in the Senate?”

“My father--”

The thought of this young man calling that fat, old man father made his stomach sour. “He’s your uncle, boy. He is my mother’s brother.”

“Uncle. I never knew. My uncle and my grandfather have become very powerful in the Senate. There are a small group of men who plan to accuse my grandfather of hiring a young recruit twenty years ago. The one that murdered Cispius Kaeso and prevented him from taking control of the Senate. Now there is talk of a witness who will speak against my grandfather and that he had you exiled to the legions because you were the murderer.”

Tallus rubbed his face and wished that he’d disappeared into the wilds of Germania long ago when he’d had the chance. He thought of his wall, the long smooth stones, and the security it brought. The thought only brought more turmoil.

“They sent a messenger, but he was killed by thieves before he left Rome. I imagine they will dispatch another.” Gaius cleared his throat. “I came because I wish to know the truth. My mother once said of you that you never lie. I believe that was the nicest thing she ever said about you.”

“Who knows that you have come?”

“Only the Emperor. He has sent me.”

“The Emperor has sent you?”

“He and I are friends.”

Tallus wanted absolutely nothing to do with the Senate and even less to do with the Caeser himself. All he wanted to do was build his wall. “I will not leave Britannia.”

“I only want the truth and then I will leave.”

He sighed. In the end the decision was easily made. He closed his eyes and thought of the flame in Brigid’s hair. “I met your mother when she wedded my uncle. I had finished my time with the army then and I had planned on joining my father in his business. Everyone knew he married her for power because he prefers male companions. He had never been with a woman and didn’t intend to. I felt sorry for her, I thought she didn’t know.

“I look like my uncle. The two of them chose me to father his son when it became apparent that he couldn’t do it himself. I was stupid, all boys are stupid. She told me sad tales of loneliness and I ate them. Once you were conceived, she had her father exile me in my uncle‘s name. She didn’t want me dead, in case she needed more children, and neither did she want me around. I went to the Sixth and haven’t seen Rome since.”

“Why did you not try to return? To see if things had changed?”

“Because I watched your grandfather murder Cispius with my sword. He has tried to have me killed off several times, but there hasn’t been an attempt in years.” Tallus sighed. “Every father should have a son he can be proud of. I have been a disappointment to mine.”

“What about me?”

“What about you?”

“Are you proud of me?”

“I don’t know you.” He moved a piece of paper on his desk and listened to the shuddered breath from the man in front of him. He looked into a reflection of his own face and threw a little caution to the wind. “From what I see, I think that you have grown into a fine man.”

“Perhaps I might stay until you leave for the north.”