The Silken Slit of the Empress Ch. 01

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 sculped 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 pussy, 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 I 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 cock 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. "Its 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 spiderweb 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.