The Silken Slit of the Empress Ch. 01

This is the first chapter of a planned series. If you like what you read, make sure to come back for more! I plan to post a chapter about every week. 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.

Enjoy, and let me know what you think!

.......

"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. "Its 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, its 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. "Its 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. Its 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.

"Shhhhh," 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, lets 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.