The Palace Pt. 05

She called me back to her quarters. This time she was more formally dressed, with her hair piled up, and a considerable amount of makeup. Yasina saw me looking. She did a slow twirl.

I could see that she was trying to tone down her sexuality, to look more like the Emperor's mother than the most famous concubine of the age. It wasn't entirely possible, of course. The woman simply exuded sexuality.

- "Well?" she asked.

- "You look more like an Empress Dowager than I ever seen." I said. "I suspect that you are also trying to avoid overshadowing your son completely. But if there are any foreign Princes in the Palace today, you will probably receive marriage proposals."

Yasina tilted her head to one side, her lips slightly puckered. Her eyes narrowed as she tried to read my expression. Eventually, I think, she decided to accept my comments as both flattery and a fair appraisal.

- "I only have a few minutes." she said. "So listen, Carrach: tonight is your audition. I have chosen one of Zoer's concubines. You are to meet with her, and have sex with her."

- "Yes, Highness. May I ask her name?"

- "This is not your wife, Carrach. This is not your woman." she said. Did she sound a little angry? "You are not to repeat what you did with me, or with Nanka. This girl is going to be there for your pleasure. You don't woo her - you fuck her. Do you understand?"

- "Yes, Highness."

- "But ..." she continued. "We want this girl to go back to the other concubines with a positive report. Make sure that she enjoys it - more than once, if you can."

- "I think I understand." I said.

Yasina could tell that I still wasn't sure. "Listen, Carrach. There will be a beautiful woman there to have sex with you. Skip the conversation. She isn't going to become your soul-mate."

"You can be gentle. You can be nice. Bishkur would be. But you don't have to seduce her. She's there to be fucked, and she knows it. Just try to make it pleasant for her. I know you can do that." And the Empress winked at me. "Her name, if you need it, is Adina."

I was taken to the baths, where Nanka waited. I spoke before she could. "I know: 'Sturrip'."

She responded with the ghost of a smile. She scrubbed every inch of me, and then shaved me. As she leaned close, I whispered in her ear.

- "I wish it was you, tonight."

Nanka did not respond, other than to poke me in the chest with her finger.

You might think it odd, that I would say such a thing to her, when I was on my way to have sex with an Imperial concubine. But I had enjoyed every moment of the love-making with Nanka. I would also have liked nothing better than a repeat engagement with her - precisely because I did like her.

I wasn't entirely sure how I would perform with a stranger.

Nanka helped me to dress, in the most luxurious clothes I had worn yet. Then Notroh took me to an unfamiliar wing of the Palace. The floor here was white - and spotless. He left me in a candlelit room, which was clever on Yasina's part. Not only did it set the mood, but in semi-darkness, Bishkur and I would be virtually indistinguishable.

There was a warm bath, fed by a pipe in the wall. There were two large divans, and an enormous curtained bed. Everything about this place was opulent - in good taste, but far too luxurious for me. I wondered idly if Bishkur would change the decor. Or if he would use this room at all.

I had a drink, to steady my nerves. Then another, so that the first drink wouldn't be lonely. Some alcohol would probably help - though too much would be a bad idea.

She arrived before I could talk myself into a third.

Adina was beyond pretty - she was stunning. I understood immediately why Yasina had chosen not to marry this girl off. People would have questioned Bishkur's sanity, had he sent this woman away. She was in her late 20s, or early 30s, I suspected - past the first bloom of youth, certainly. But I was sure that her beauty had only matured.

She had light brown hair, and hazel, rather than brown eyes, which suggested that she came from Eastern Zamarka. Her features were flawless: eyes, nose, lips. Her lips were painted red, but her eye makeup was minimal. She didn't need much.

Adina was fairly tall - perhaps even an inch or two taller than me. She was dressed in a robe of deep red, trimmed with black.

I was about to start babbling. I could feel it. So I poured a second glass of wine, to offer her. But as I approached her, I saw my mistake.

The robe she wore had no sleeves. It would be difficult, if not impossible, to hold the glass I was about to offer her. I stood there a moment, like a complete idiot. But Adina came to my rescue.

The robe she wore, it turned out, was more of a cloak, or a wrap. She reached up to her throat, and unfastened it. Then she did the most wonderful thing: she moved her hands, crossing them, and the cloak billowed out, twirling away from her.

Underneath it, she wore a bandeau of red and black, and a red skirt, slit up the side to reveal the length of her shapely leg.

I stood there, like the callow youth I was, with a glass in each hand, and stared. Adina smiled, then, for the first time. She seemed to be enjoying the effect she was having on me. Feeling the urge to speak again, I kept my mouth shut instead and offered her the glass.

As she took it, I held out my free hand and relieved her of the cloak. I turned about, looking for a place to hang it up, or spread it out. Then I remembered that I was supposed to be the Emperor, and not a servant. So I simply tossed the garment over the back of the divan.

When I turned back, I did not immediately approach her. Instead, I stayed where I was, and enjoyed the view for a moment. She was not, in fact, taller than me; her feet were encased in heavy sandals with high heels.

Adina's eyes never left mine. She was gauging my reaction, of course; she had to know that I was entranced.

- "My Lord is pleased?" she said, in a slightly husky voice.

- "Your Lord is ... very pleased." Bishkur might have found an appropriate word - I couldn't, at that particular moment. "But your Lord would like to see the rest of you."

A smile flickered at the edges of her lips. She put the glass of wine down, untouched, on a low table. Adina unfastened her bandeau, revealing breasts that would be not quite a handful for me. They seemed to sit extraordinarily high on her chest. It might have been because she was so tall.

But I was also amazed by the shape of her breasts. Her areolae and nipples were large, and set higher than the centre. Her breasts looked like ripe fruit, with nipples that pointed upwards. Had she been standing right in front of me, they would have been aimed at my face.

Adina turned, then, and slowly undid her skirt. I'm not sure if I would call her a practiced temptress. But she moved slowly, and her eyes never left mine as she let her skirt drop to the floor. It wasn't subtle, but it was supremely effective. I dare say that Yasina, in her prime, could have done it better. But I had no complaint.

Her long, slender legs, reached up to a delectable backside. There was not much excess flesh on her, though. She could not have weighed much more than Nanka, and it was spread over a much greater distance. It was a long way up that straight, slender back, to the fall of her light brown hair.

Adina held her position, looking back at me over her shoulder. I could see the side of her up-turned breast, and her prominent nipple, pointing up at almost a 45 degree angle.

- "Those shoes must be ... irksome." I said, in my best imitation of Bishkur.

Slowly, Adina put her foot on the low table, and then reached down to unfasten the strap. It was one of the most erotic things I have ever seen. In future, I suspected, my sexual dreams would be dominated by three sights: Nanka kneeling on the bed, presenting me her backside; Adina doffing the cloak by twirling it, and this vision of her bending to unfasten her sandal, completely naked.

I was so completely hard, that I had only one thing on my mind. I wanted to fuck Adina - right away. But I wanted to make sure that she was ready, too.

So I led her to the second divan, and sat her down upon it. Then I knelt on the carpet, between her knees. I removed my shirt. As I did, her eyes left mine for the first time.

I took Adina's chin between finger and thumb, and gently pulled her face towards mine. Unlike Nanka, this woman knew how to kiss; Adina could have brought a dead man to life. Her mouth tasted sweet, and her lips were soft and mobile. I couldn't resist any longer, and reached for her breasts.

They were soft, but firm. I was fascinated by the position of her nipples, and how they pointed up. But my need was becoming more urgent. I trailed a hand down her torso, letting the backs of my fingernails trail down her ribs, and across her stomach. Adina shuddered.

She moaned, too, when my fingers found her cleft. She was moist, but I wanted her wet. I leaned forward, and used my tongue. Adina gasped - possibly in surprise. As I used my fingers, though, to spread her lower lips, and plunged my tongue inside her, Adina began gasping in earnest.

- "So long ..." she said.

She leaned back on the divan, cupping her breasts, thumbing and then pinching her own nipples. I remembered, then, what Yasina had said: the concubines had not been with a man since the onset of Zoer's illness. Adina had not had this kind of stimulation for over a year, if not more. She deserved this.

So I swept my tongue across her clitoris, even as I inserted a finger into her vagina. It did not take long to bring her to completion. Adina's orgasm seemed to crash over her like a wave.

If she had been my woman, I would have let her recover. But she was a concubine, and here for my pleasure, which had been delayed long enough. I thrust my trousers down, spit on my hand and rubbed the saliva on my raging erection. Then I inserted the purple head between her distended lower lips. Adina shifted her hips slightly, to align herself, just as I thrust forward. On the third stroke, I hit bottom, so to speak, fully inside her.

I leaned forward, to lick and suckle on her nipples. But my hands went to her slender hips, and I began to stroke my shaft into her. I was so aroused, that I could think of nothing but a frenzied rush to orgasm. Blessedly, it did not happen immediately - perhaps the alcohol helped, a little.

But it did not take long, as I plunged between her thighs. The sensations were wonderful, and then the dam burst, and I flooded her with my seed.

I was breathing heavily, and when I looked up at her, smiling, she was smiling back at me. I needed to lie down - for a moment, at least. But the divan was too narrow for both of us. I stood up, and extended my hand. I led her over to the bed, untouched so far.

Adina lay down beside me, with my arm around her. Curiously enough, I didn't feel the slightest urge to talk. I would have to ask Bishkur how he acted after ... and then I began to wonder if he would feel awkward, talking about such things with me. I wanted to laugh at myself - here I was, lying on silk sheets with a beautiful naked woman, and what was I thinking about? How to perfect my impersonation of the Emperor.

I glanced at her. Adina was not sleeping. She was watching me. Yet she had not stirred, or tried to start a conversation, so as not to disturb me. She deserved a reward for that.

So I began to caress her breasts, until her nipples responded. I also squeezed and fondled her tight backside. Then I brought her, slowly but surely, to a second orgasm, using only my fingers. That made me think that I deserved a reward as well, so I moved higher up on the bed, until Adina got the hint and took my semi-erect organ into her mouth. Her tongue was as soft, as wet and as mobile as her lips, and she quickly re-energized me.

I pulled her on top of me. Adina sat down, slowly, on my erection, with a deep sigh. She was quite wet, so I settled back and let her do the work. Only when I felt my own need begin to build did I lift her off. Then I re-entered her, this time from behind. I took a firm hold of her hips, and began driving my full length into her. I pounded her hard and fast, until I exploded, spurting jets of semen into her.

I must have fallen asleep after that. When I awoke the next morning, she was gone.