The Silken Slit of the Empress Ch. 08

She shivered as my fingers massaged her scalp, shifting languidly where she lay.

"Alright," I said once I'd finished. "Are you ready for the next part?"

She cracked open an eye, peering at me through slitted lids. "What is it?"

"You'll see," I said, slipping my arms back beneath her back and legs. Then, ignoring her little mewl of protest, I lifted her out of the water. She snuggled into me, keeping her eyes closed until I'd walked us over to the massage tables.

"Oh, Leo," she purred, finally peeking at where I'd brought her. "I love this idea."

"I thought you might," I said, placing her down on the one I'd spread a few towels on earlier. "Lie on your stomach."

She obeyed, stretching cat-like over the toweled surface. Her eyes fluttered shut, resting her head in a pillow of her arms.

I hesitated a moment, standing there above her. My heart suddenly started to beat a little faster. Her body glowed with the soapy water that still clung to her; giving the bronze of her skin a deep, burnished look.

Embers spun faster, burning hotter, and I felt my body respond. She was a vision, stretched out before me as she was. The swell of her hips, and the arch of her near-naked buttocks. Her ass curved gracefully into the air, veiled only by the thin strip of cloth still buried within.

It was shaped so perfectly; a delicious fruit, ripe for digging into.

"Is looking all you're gonna do?" Helena asked, shifting her body so that her flesh quivered.

I coughed, managing to tear my gaze away from her bouncing cheeks. I quickly dried her with one of the soft towels, dribbling scented oil onto her back. I started rubbing it into her, as she melted into the table with a sigh.

Her flesh was warm beneath my touch, quickly heating the oil. It smelled of flowers, though of which, I did not know.

Again, I worked slowly. I started at her shoulders this time, moving down. I was no body slave to know just where to press and sculpt. But I was stratiotai; I knew the feel of knotted muscle and how to smooth it back into place. "Roll over," I said, when time had passed and I had finished.

Reluctantly, I pulled my hands from the warmth of her burnished body. "I'll do your front as well."

Helena made a small sound in her throat. She raised her head, glancing back at me through a curtain of darkened copper hair. Her eyelids were heavy.

"That does sound nice," she said.

And with another long blink of her pleasure hooded eyes, she pushed herself up. Her breasts came off the covered stone, swaying pendulum-like through the heated air. Instead of laying onto her back, however, Helena sat upright. She stretched, her feet touching back down onto the tiled floor.

"You don't want to?" I asked.

I took a step back, leaning against the edge of the second stone table.

"Oh, I do," Helena said. "More than anything. But..." She reached down, fingers plucking at the cloth that was still wrapped around her waist. "Wouldn't it be easier without this?"

My throat was suddenly drier than the Persian desert. Unbidden, my gaze slid down the naked curves of her body, coming to rest of the snuggly wrapped swell of her sex. She shifted her oil slickened thighs, opening herself up to me.

I tried to swallow, but couldn't. I felt the weight of her eyes on me; could picture the way her breath escaped through parted lips. But I couldn't look away.

My hardness was a bar of molten metal between my legs. I could see the veiled outline of her shape pressed tight against the wet layers of cloth. The barest shadow of the lush folds and silken flesh that awaited me within.

She laughed, the sound low, and from deep within her. "I guess that's a yes."

Her fingers slipped into the wrapped loops of cloth, emerging with now freed end of the long strip. She was on her feet a moment later, the wet cloth noticeably looser, though it still clung to her hips and navel. She swayed into the space between us, gliding towards me. Her loincloth hung in long loops now, only held in place by the loose grip of her fingers.

I sat back on the table, making space for her between my knees. I didn't speak, reaching out to grip her waist. I pulled her close, enough that her steam-moistened nipples brushed my naked chest. We stared into each other, and my heart ached at what I found there.

I saw that thing; that vast, unknowable, beautiful, wondrous thing that grew within her. It filled her now; pushing at the edge of her and there for all to see. I blinked gathering tears from my eyes. My throat closed up, blocked by a hundred, hundred embers of all-consuming tenderness that had been swirling up from the deepest parts of me.

She was so beautiful; so gentle, so warm and so strong. God, but she was everything; the answer to every question I'd been too afraid to ask. I...

"...love the way you look at me, shield mate," she said.

Helena brought her free hand up, trailing her nails through the rough hair along my jawline. I smiled, relishing even this small connection between our bodies.

"Shield mate?" I said, teasing. "Is that what we are here?"

Her expression changed, the softness leaving her face. It was as if she'd suddenly been doused with ice-water. "Shieldmates stand side by side. Together, Leo, that's what you told me. I believed you. I--"

Helena shook her head, taking a half step back. "If you can't do that here, then I..."

She trailed off, her eyes falling away from mine. And in that moment, as I caught a glimpse of that vastness retreating from her gaze, I understood.

Men and women were not created equal. It was a truth so central to most of our lives, that most of us looked right past it.

But not Helena.

She'd never married, had eschewed the life that so many of her gender fell into. She'd fought for her place; for the chance to do something different. She'd no doubt sacrificed for it, lost friends and family for it.

And despite everything, she was terrified of losing it. Because in the Byzantine Empire; a man stood before his woman.

Not beside her.

She took another step back, pulling away from me. My grip tightened around her waist. I didn't let her go. We were here, together, within this place we shared. Shieldmates. And it was only now that I realized how much that word also meant to me.

Helena as my equal? It felt so right. Truly, unmistakably right. What a wonderful thing.

"Helena," I said.

She looked back up to me, so unsure. I let those embers within me swirl up until they danced behind my eyes, hoping she would see the fullness of my words.

"Do you swear yourself as my shield mate, vowing to stand beside me?"

She froze, eyes wide. She stared at me mutely; her expression one of such fragile vulnerability that I almost swallowed what I next spoke.

"Do you promise to stand together against the future; to face your enemies and mine with our shields locked?"

She blinked rapidly, her eyes shining with unshed tears. I could no longer speak past the lump that had returned to close my throat. I watched her, hoping that it would be enough.

Then, she leaned her chest into mine. Her arms rose to wrap themselves around my neck. I heard the wet strip of cloth she'd been holding tumble from her waist. But the sound was distant, easily ignored within this endless moment between our beating hearts.

"Do you, Leontius, swear yourself as my shield mate? Do you vow to stand beside me?" Her voice was so soft; that wondrous vastness there behind her eyes.

"And do you promise to believe in me; to trust that I'll hold that place beside you, and face what comes with your shield locked onto mine?"

I nodded; my voice rough. "I swear myself to you, shield mate."

"And I swear myself to you, shield mate," she said, a tear spilling down both cheeks.

Then, our lips found one another's. We kissed, falling so, so deeply into each other. I opened myself fully to her, and she to me. And together, we guided each other through every part of ourselves.

And when we finally parted, my head spun with the taste, and the knowing of her.

"A kiss to seal an oath," she breathed, her arms still around my neck.

I smiled. "We're bound together now, shield mate."

She nodded; eyes bright. "I have another for you."

"Oh?"

She leaned fully into me, her cheek sliding against my own so that she could whisper into my ear.

"Do you promise to make love to me?" Her breath, her body on my skin making me shiver. "And tonight, do you vow to hold me in your arms while I sleep?"

My heart hammered in my chest. "I swear it," I said, once again seeking her lips with my own.

"Ah," she said, dodging away. She put a finger to my lips, her eyes suddenly dancing. "Thats not the right kiss for this one."

I blinked, puzzled. I tried to speak, but she pressed her finger down harder.

"Shhh," she said. Her other hand came to rest against my chest, pushing onto me with insistent strength. "Lie down."

I obeyed, liking the way her bottom lip had curled up between her teeth. I shifted to lay down lengthwise; the stone wet, and shockingly cool against my naked back. Helena drifted around towards my head, her fingers trailing up my chest. I shivered as her nails curled up my neck.

"Helena, what--"

Her hand slid back over my mouth, cutting me off. She was at the table's head now, and I had to crane backwards to see her.

"No talking," she said.

Her eyes were on mine; dark now, above her now parted lips. I could see her breath coming faster, a bloom of deeper scarlet spreading beneath her flesh. She leaned forward, coming down towards me, her hands on the stone beside my shoulders.

"Don't move," she breathed. "Not yet."

My chest ceased its rise and fall, my breath locked within me.

Her naked breasts hung there, just above my face. They brushed against each other, the space between, deep enough to smother me. Her nipples, those pink, perfect petals brushing past the tip of my nose.

"I don't want to hear your promise to me, Leo."

She stretched over top of me. Her breasts swung away, her nipples slipping over the flesh of my chest. Her hands shifted and I watched the tight ripples of her stomach slide past.

"I want to feel it."

Then, in a show of fluid grace, Helena was completely on the table. She'd brought her knees onto the stone. They started right beside my head, but as she kept moving lower, they shifted into place on either side of my shoulders.

The naked arch of her navel slid past my gaze. I saw a patch of dark hair; my first glimpse of the full, uncovered beauty of her.

"I want you to show me your sincerity," she said. "As I prove my own."

And then, with one more agonizingly slow shift of her body, she was over me. I beheld the wonder of her; the curling, silken folds of her center. Those embers swirled faster within me, gathering together. My heart slammed against my ribs like a battering ram.

She held herself a scant hands breadth from me; letting me feast on the sight of her. Her center was a lush seem of curling velvet; soft, where the rest of her was so tight. Her pubic hair, dark and gleaming with moisture, was verdant. A forest of curls that was as wild as the cypress green of her eyes.

Helena's knees shifted a fraction, and in some distant corner of my mind I felt her fingers pulling at the cloth wrapping my waist. But I was frozen, breathing in the heady scent of the sweat that still clung to her sex. That movement, that minute adjustment, had opened her. She was spread wide before me; her silken lips parting to reveal the gleaming, dew-drenched warmth within her.

My mouth flooded with saliva; my eyes watering as I refused to blink away the sight of the her. I felt a small sound escape me. A moan? A whimper? I wasn't sure. But in that moment, I thought of it as a prayer; an exhortation to God and this, the most perfect of His creations.

"You promised to make love to me," she said.

Her breasts pressed against my navel. I groaned, as suddenly, the tightness between my legs disappeared. Helena had pulled away my loincloth, I realized, freeing my cock. She made a small sound of pleasure in her throat; the warmth of her palm wrapping around the shaft of my spear.

Her hand started to stroke me; working my still damp member up and down. I felt her inhale my scent; the dripping folds of her pussy quivering with her airy sigh of anticipation.

"So, kiss me, my shield mate," she murmured, her breath tickling my tip. "Speak your oath into my body."

A groan rumbled out from me as, a moment later, Helena's tongue flicked out taste my cock. Her hand continued to work, pulling my skin down from around my bulbous head. She spread her saliva over that too; wrapping her tongue around me in languid swirls.

The sensuous sensation freed me from my paralysis. The embers within me, coming together into a veritable flame.

My hands came up and I dug my fingers into the flesh her ass, spreading her even wider before plunging in.

Her luscious slit was a steaming jungle; a rolling ocean. Her soft, moisture beaded pubic hair tickled my face as I dove through her dewy folds. I closed my eyes, melting into her, into the taste that flowed from between her legs. I felt Helena pull me into the satiny dampness of her mouth, and I luxuriated in her liquid serenity.

Where the Empress and Antonina had scalded me with their heat; Helena soaked into me with a soothing coolness. She was the rain-drenched forest, the salty spray of the sea. She was more sour than sweet; tasting of the scent that drifted from her body when we trained. She was movement, sweat and the sun on tired muscles.

Helena's taste was rich; musky and wild. It was wonderfully hers. And it was utterly, intoxicatingly, head-swimmingly feminine.

I ran my tongue through to her depths; feeling her every little gasp and quiver. She settled herself more fully onto my face; her head bobbing slowly up and down on my cock. I explored her fully, carefully. And, remembering my promise, I used my lips and tongue to speak to her of my devotion.

After a while, I felt her mouth come up from me. She let out a breathy moan; arching her body upward. Her weight pressed down on me, her ass slipping from my grasp and closing over my face. I was suddenly smothered in the dark of her; drowning in her taste and her scent.

God, she was so wet. Her moisture slickened folds sliding over me; coating my beard and face as her hips started to roll. I helped the motion of her hips, rocking her with my arms. I couldn't breathe, couldn't see; but I didn't care. I lost myself within the deepest parts of her.

And when it felt like my lungs would burst, she lifted herself off of me.

I let her go; my chest heaving. I pushed myself onto my elbows as Helena spun to face me. Her lips were parted, her breath as ragged as my own. She smiled, a curling, pleasure softened expression as she met my gaze.

I reached up, running my palm along her cheek. I pulled her smile down to my own, kissing her deeply. Her body slid into place against me; the falling curtain of her hair shielding us from the world beyond.

"There," I said once she had pulled away. "Now, its doubly official."

She laughed low in her throat, her eyes shining. "Make love to me then, my shield mate."

With that she lowered herself down onto me; sheathing my spit-gleaming cock within her.

Her body swallowed me whole.

She moaned; the sound soft. I slid my hands down to grip her hips; leaning my head back as she began to move.

Helena rode me; her body a silken wave. Her hips rolled and swayed in a gentle rhythm. I fell into it, moving my body with hers.

She gasped and moaned, purring breathily into my ear. I murmured to her; running my hands up and down her body. I caressed her breasts, hips and curving buttocks; my arms rolling with the slow undulation of her hips.

I kissed her mouth, her breasts, her nipples, her cheek, her neck and then back to her lips. She was so soft. Her lips cool as falling snow. Her tongue was sweet; made more so by the tender warmth we breathed into each other.

Helena and I made love; the rest of the world fading away. There was only her; the feel of her body against mine, and the fire that was growing within me.

She felt it too, because together, our bodies soon quickened. The placid sea stirred; the silken wave of our rhythm churning faster and faster. We built upon each other; the fire roaring higher through me, while her body swayed and roiled like a storm.

Then, she stiffened. Something relaxed within her, and I felt myself slip free. She lifted herself up, and through the swinging curtain of her breasts I saw the storm of her body burst.

She squirted; the sea's spray pouring out from between her legs. Her wetness splashed onto my stomach; warmer than the air around us. I was transfixed, watching as her body clenched and trembled; her every motion sending more of her spattering onto me like rain.

Helena's face was suddenly scarlet, her expression twisting into something between horror and shame.

"God, Leo, I'm so sorry! This happens to me sometimes; I can't always control it." She was speaking quickly, shifting as if to push herself off of me. "God, why now! I'm so sorry, I know that this is so disgusting. Please, Leo, I'll clean it. Just don't..."

The flames became an inferno, searing away my every thought. My hands clamped tightly around her hips. Blood roared in my ears; a scalding heat searing the inside of my throat.

She was so fucking wet. And I burned to drown myself in the soothing fountain of her moisture drenched center.

I jerked into motion; half sliding myself, half lifting and pulling at her, until my face was once again beneath her silken lushness.

"Leo, what!? Don't--" Her voice became a breathy squeak, as I dove back into her.

I drank from her; lapping at the delicious sourness of her with long strokes of my tongue. My nose was crushed into the soft curls of her pubic hair; hardly able to breathe. But that didn't matter. My arms flexed; grinding her steaming, soaking folds harder against me.

"Leo! Stop it!" She panted. "What are you..."

Her voice trailed off into an airy moan. My tongue plumbed the depths of her with nothing of the careful exploration or calculated flicks of before. I drank from her like a man dying of thirst, feeling the fire burn hotter and hotter within me.

"Leo..."

I felt the muscles of her thighs clench around my skull. She tried to once again pull herself off of me, but my grip was iron.

"Let me go," she said. "This is so...so...ah..."

That last word became a deep, back arching, toe curling moan. I felt it thrum through her body. Her fingers wove themselves through my hair, griping me tightly. I loosened my own grip, letting her slide herself back and forth over my mouth and nose.

I took everything I could from her, desperate to ease the burning.

Helena whimpered. I felt a tremble wrack her body; her fingers tightening in my hair. She ground herself into my face, her breath ragged.

"Fuck, Leo. I can't. I--"

Her body stiffened. She cried out, throwing her head backwards. Within her, I felt something loosen. Helena was the storm once again, her scream like thunder.

And from between her legs, the clouds broke.

Her wetness flooded into me. A deluge that filled me with her sour-sweetness. I pulled my mouth from her, closing my eyes as her rain soaked my face and hair. I held my breath; letting her wetness flow around me, lest I drown in the taste of her.

The storm eased. I opened my eyes to find the soft jungle of her pubic hair a mere tongue flick away; moisture still dripping from the lush-ripeness of her steaming folds.

"My lion," Helena breathed. Her naked breasts heaved and her eyes were glazed with pleasure. "My hungry, hungry lion."

But I wasn't yet finished. A growl rumbled out of me; the dull roar of the inferno. My cock twitched; afire with the same blazing heat. It was burning; a freshly forged sword.