by Andromeda
"Who are they?" she asks.
"People from the Far East," he explains. "They are like...Eastern Greeks, their Empire is massive and controlled by a man named Xerxes."
"Have you met this Xerxes?"
"No, but I've heard of him and my soldiers have been causing him some...problems."
"Why?"
"He has been moving in on Greek territory. I have heard from several other kings that he is going places he does not belong. He belongs in Persia and if he doesn't figure this out soon...then we might have to force him to go back."
She thinks on his words. "So does this mean you will be going to war?"
"Perhaps, if there isn't a peaceful solution soon,” he says. “But that's not what I wanted you here to talk about." He pushes his chair back and walks over, taking the seat next to her; he cups her face in his palm. "I am so sorry, Zenobia. I was wrong...and I accused you without any real evidence."
She is taken aback; he is approaching the matter that she thought to leave alone. "Alexander..." she whispers softly.
He covers her lips with his finger. "No, let me finish. I was a stupid, a stupid, stupid king. I thought that I was in love with Iraia, but I was wrong. The woman was nothing more than a lying bitch who was using me."
"How did you find out... Speaking of Iraia, where is she?" she asks. She’s wondered that, as she hasn’t seen her at the Court meeting nor is she walking around with a new baby on her hip.
"She is dead," he says simply. "Her and Eridian. He was a man, my half-uncle, who were working together to dispose me and I found out the truth. They got tried for treason and you can imagine what happened."
"You executed them," she whispers, still in shock from all this new information.
"I was wrong, Zenobia," he says. "I was so wrong in all that I've done and I will bow before you to get you to understand how I feel. I thought love would make me weak. I swore that I'd never love because my father loved my mother and after she died, he went mad. I didn't want that to happen to me, but...I can't help it. I've been stuck by Eros' arrow and I can't stop thinking about the one woman that I have had feelings for since I first saw her in a cage so long ago."
With every word he speaks, chips at the ice around her heart, the shield that she had built up, begins to slowly crack until it's completely exposed and is soaking up his praise like a sponge.
"Alexander..." she whispers. "I've loved you...or I mean I thought I loved you. I mean...I began to have feelings not long ago and yet...every time I tried to let you in, you broke me. What is stopping you now from doing the same thing?"
He clasps her hands. "Our children. You bringing them into this world, rather than killing them shows me that you still care for me. I want to be in their life. I want you to be here with me. Zenobia...I want you to be my queen and my wife. And I will keep asking, and begging you until you accept to be my mine until we meet Hades in the underworld.
His arm snakes around her waist, pulling her close. "And right now...I am going to make love to you. I am going to make you feel as if you are Queen Hera on Olympus with my tongue and fingers and only when I believe you are ready, will I enter you. I will claim your body as mine, I will claim your body and soul as mine. As my queen and as my goddess. But I have one question: will you let me?"
Zenobia bites her lip. All these words, all these promises make her head spin, but...it's been so long. At night, she would dream about their coupling, how no matter how many times she tried to turn away, she always ended up with him and only him. Looking into his emerald green eyes, she can see that he means it, he means every word he is saying and slowly, she gives him a soft nod.
*************
Alexander looks down at her naked form, his beautiful and perfect goddess. Her body is the same, but different in his eyes and he looks over every part of her, wanting to memorize everything. The blue-black ebony skin, the full melon breasts topped with lumps of brown sugar. Her perfectly flat stomach with light muscles, the muscular thighs and the curls of black hair above her sacred temple. His mouth waters as he looks at it and then he looks back into her eyes.
"I promise I’ll make you feel like a goddess," he whispers huskily.
Zenobia nods softly and slowly, he leans down, pressing his lips gently to hers. He can taste the honeyed wine from their meal on them, and gently, he sucks, nibbling on her lip to ask for permission. She slowly parts her teeth and when their tongues meet, a spark shoots through their bodies.
Slowly, he trails his kisses down her neck, nibbling the tender skin before moving to a breast. Gently, he flicks the nipple with his tongue, a satisfied grin spreading over his face when she softly moans. Latching on like a newborn babe, he sucks gently while his free hand gently massages the other one. Slowly, he begins to slide his tongue down her body, licking her navel before showering kisses on her stomach. The sacred place that held their children, which protected their children for those nine months.
He can’t help but smile as she giggles softly and then gasps as she feels his hands sliding down and slowly parting her thighs. Slowly, he slides his head down further until he reaches her womanhood. He inhales deeply, his mouth watering at the scent of her sex and then he locks eyes with her. Gently, he opens his mouth and slides his tongue over her lips. Her back arches, a deep groan rolling off her tongue as he does exactly as he promised.
Using his tongue and his fingers, he makes her feel like the goddess she is. He sucks and rubs on her love pearl, smiling as she squirms, her moans getting louder and louder. She is so tight, so wet that he has to force himself to slow down. His manhood stirs, wanting to be buried inside her up to the hilt, but he must take this slow.
She is not my whore, he tells himself. She is my future queen. My future wife.
When she throws her head back and screams in release, her sweet nectar flows from her womb and coats his tongue. He licks and sucks everything dry, then kisses himself back up her body.
"Are you ready for me?" he whispers softly. "Do you want me, Zenobia?"
She nods. "Yes, I do."
*************
He parts her thighs and settles himself between them. Grasping his shaft, he gently rubs hers slit, lubricating it and also smiling as she softly moans. Gently, he begins to push himself inside, groaning at how tight she is. The feel of her warmth engulfing him almost made him spill his seed into her instantly, but he held himself back. She is the one he is pleasuring, not himself. Right now, this is all about her, not him.
Slowly, he begins to move his hips, watching as her face twists up with pleasure. She rolls her hips to meet his thrusts and he smirks. "You remember," he whispers huskily, increasing his pace a bit.
"H... Hard not to..." she moans. "You had me twice a day when I was a slave, remember?"
He frowns, a wave of shame washing over him at the memory of what he’s done. "Forget that," he whispers, moving faster. "Forget all of that. We are starting new, OK?"
She nods and then he flashes her a wicked grin; putting her legs over his shoulders and moving faster and faster, basically pounding into her now. Her breasts bounce, she pants in the rhythm of his thrusts as he feels his release getting closer and closer. The only sounds in the room are her moans, his groans and the wet slapping of their skin.
Suddenly, her face tightens up and she arches her back, crying out as her nails dig into his shoulders. Alexander feels her warm folds clamp tightly around his shaft, pulling him in deeply and he can't take it anymore. Throwing his head back, he unleashes an animalistic roar as he pours into her. With a groan, he falls limp on top of her, their limbs tangled, their sweaty chests heaving. With a grunt, she playfully pushes him off her and he chuckles softly.
Sitting up on his elbow, he looks down at her, her grey eyes look molten silver in the candle light. "Did I fulfill my promise?" he asks, stroking her cheek.
"You did," she pants softly. "And more..."
He smiles and then his face grows serious. "I hope...this wouldn't be a one-tim
e thing for us, Zenobia..."
"I don't think it will be," she whispers. "But...it will be the only time for a long while. I... I need to regain my trust in you, Alexander."
"And I will try as long as it takes to gain it back," he says firmly. "I won't stop until you are my Queen Zenobia. My...my little wolf." Her grey eyes remind him of a wolf's pelt and she is as fierce as a she-wolf.
She smiles softly and then yawns.
Alexander raise an eyebrow. "You are going to sleep after that?"
"I'm tired—" she begins, but he cut her off with a kiss.
"Oh no," he says smugly. "You are staying here and you said it was the last time for a long time...and I'm going to make love to you all night long to make up for some lost time. When the sun rises tomorrow, then we can stop."
Zenobia laughs as he straddles her. “Alexander!”
He grins and grasps his shaft, pushing within her. "I want you...and the twins to move into the palace..."
She groans softly. "A…Alex…no…”
Alexander wants her and the twins to move into the palace so he can be in their lives: both the twins and hers. Not only that, but with the Persians, he wants them under his gaze at all times. "Say yes..." he says devilishly, bending down to suck her breasts.
She sets her jaw playfully and he takes up the challenge. Let's just say that by the time he got done with her, she was more than willing to move into the palace and wouldn't even think about leaving.
Chapter Nineteen
Zenobia slowly runs her hands down the polished marble walls as she walks down the halls of the royal palace, smiling to herself. It feels so strange to be back in my old rooms, though they look completely new to me now. I remember when I was first put in here all those years ago when I was a slave. Now look at me.
Her hand goes to her neck, where her mother's necklace proudly sits, a gift from Alexander the morning that she had left from his bed. She blushed crimson when she thinks of that night; how much noise they no doubt made and how messed up they left the room. He gave her the necklace as an 'engagement' present, saying that he wants her to wear it to show her royal heritage as well as her rightful place as his queen.
Sighing softly, she walks over to the massive white oak and gold bed, and takes a seat, pondering over how many things have happened here. It was here her wonderful twins were conceived that night of the Pre-Trial Feast. She wonders if Anthea knows that she knows that she put that weird drug in her wine? Most likely not. Her thoughts are interrupted by a knock on her door, and when a brown-haired woman pokes her head in, Zenobia gasps.
"Adria?" she whispers in awe.
Her friend from when she was slave smiles, "Welcome back, My Lady."
"Adria, don't call me that," Zenobia says smiling. "Come here."
Adria walks in and Zenobia’s jaw drops, her stomach is rounded, she is with child! When she sees Zenobia eyeing her belly, she laughs. "You've been gone a long time, My Lady."
Zenobia rushes over and wraps her arms around her tightly, but not so tight to crush the child. "Who is the father?" she asks.
"A solider in the King’s army," Adria answers, taking a seat on the edge of the bed. "And he loves me so much."
"And he's OK with you being a slave?" Zenobia asks.
"He is more than fine with it; he is even saving up to buy my freedom, My Lady," she says.
Zenobia frowns slightly. "Why do you call me that?"
"Don't you know?" she says. "The king has made it more than clear that you are to be queen."
Zenobia blushes and nervously tucks some hair behind her ear. "I... I have heard whisperings..."
She isn’t lying; she’s only been in the palace for less than a day and gossip is already spreading. She thinks they all kind of knew the morning that she had left Alexander’s chambers early that morning after the Persian Ambassador meeting. Or maybe it's the gifts he hasn't ceased to stop giving her…
"Do you want to be queen?" Adria asks.
Zenobia sighs. "I don't know...I mean being queen is what I was born to be, but...the pressure is so much."
"Well do you love the king?" she asks.
"I do..." Zenobia answers slowly. "But, it's…complicated, Adria."
The sounds of children's giggles cut off any response she was going to say and the door bursts open, the children running into their mother’s arms.
"Mama!" Philomena chirps. "Mama, Matt is cheating!"
Zenobia looks to Matthias, "Is this true?"
"Not really," her son says. "I just didn't agree with her tagging me when I slipped and fell!"
Adria looks at the twins with wide eyes, no doubt seeing how close they resemble their father.
"Well, then, maybe it shouldn't count, Mena," Zenobia says. "Maybe you should race him."
Philomena smirks at Matthias who narrows his eyes. Out of the two, Philomena is the swiftest and the smartest, traits that Matthias envies. Zenobia honestly doesn’t know why; he is the strongest as well the most skilled with weapons. They fit together and make up for the other's weaknesses.
"Or better yet, Adria, can you go show them the gardens?" Zenobia asks. "They should like that."
Like their mother, the twins love nature and they both grin, nodding eagerly and rush over to Adria, taking her hands and pulling her from the room. Zenobia smiles at them, maybe...just maybe this won't be so bad here.
*************
“The Persians have strong holds here, here and here," Titus says to Alexander.
Alexander stands over a map of Greece and Asia Minor; his war council stands with him, looking over the map. Not long ago, another city in Greece fell to the Persians and many of the Kings are sending messengers out, asking for help and defense, but everyone knows what is truly going on: war. The air is thick with it.
"We have to think of a way to fight them," he murmurs, stroking his beard. "They are getting too close to us. There are what, only four more kingdoms until they reach Athens?"
"If Athens falls, then the rest of our great civilization falls to these savages," one of the councilors spits.
Alexander smiles bitterly. "The same thing could be said about us. Titus, look into this more and then come back to me when you have more information."
Titus nods and everyone bows as Alexander leaves, his cloak snapping behind him in the breeze. He smiles as he walks; it's half past noon and he knows that Zenobia will be at the gardens at this time. Rushing to his chambers to get another gift for her, he then walks the long cobbled paths, looking for her.
Ever since she agreed to come here, to live in the palace, his heart has gotten higher and brighter. He doesn’t feel as if he’s just going through the motions of life anymore; he has something to fight for: to make her his queen. Before she left his bed the morning after their all night lovemaking, he did ask her to marry him and it was no surprise that she said no. But he gave her her mother's necklace as an engagement gift; a promise that says she will soon wear his ring on her finger, and her place as his wife from now and forever.
The sound of giggles by the fountain catches his attention and when he looks, he sees its Zenobia...and two young children. He freezes in his steps and then moves to hide behind some bushes to watch them.
A boy and a girl. He smiles to himself as the girl holds up a flower and hands it to her mother, who smiles back. The boy snatches the flower and then stomps on it. Zenobia frowns, a look that Alexander’s known to be scared to hell of, and begins to scold the boy harshly in her mother tongue. The boy hangs his head and then looks to his sister, apologizing.
Alexander chuckles deeply at that; he is so much like him. However, his laughter is heard by Zenobia’s sharp ears and she looks up quickly, her silver eyes locking to his and then she bites her lip. Slowly standing up, she brushes the dirt from her gown and takes the children's hands. Walking over, he sees her take a deep breath to steady herself before she speaks. "Hello...Alexander."
"Hello, Zenobia," Alexander says coolly. He looks to the
twins, hiding behind her skirts and who are looking at him with wide eyes. "Who are they?"
"This is Philomena and Matthias," she answers.
Alexander looks closely at the children and feels as if the air has been snatched from his lungs. They booth look like him, the girl, Philomena, could pass as his twin. Slowly, he bends down. "Hello there."
Philomena and Matthias look at each other and then him, staying silent.
Alexander glances to Zenobia. "Do they speak Greek?"
"That and my language," she says nodding. "They...are...just nervous around you."
Philomena is the first to speak. "Who are you?" she asks. Her voice is high and Alexander can’t help but curve his lips at her.
"Well...my name is Alexander," he says slowly. Glancing to Zenobia, he decides to take the arrow in the heart. "And I'm your father."
*************
"I'm going to get you! I'm the terrible Minotaur!" Alexander growls playfully.
Philomena and Matthias shriek as he chases after them in the gardens, watched over by their nursemaids who smile at their king, who seems to have turned into a little child himself with his children. Zenobia, herself, sits in her chambers, overlooking her herbs that several young women have asked her for.
Over the last couple of weeks, Alexander has been trying to win over the twins and he has succeeded successfully. He truly loves them, playing with them whenever they ask, making them want for naught, dining with them. He even has talked to Zenobia of inviting them to his council meetings so that they will know what is going on. He wants to take them on progression so that they will know their kingdom. He has proclaimed them in everything but name, Prince and Princess of Sparta.
He also spends time with their mother. When he does have quiet time, or when the twins are with their tutors, he is with Zenobia. Asking her opinion on things the council has told him, dining with her privately in her rooms and of course, giving her gifts. She has so much gold, silver, silk, furs and jewels; she doesn’t know what to do with it all. Some days, she walks through the streets with Adria to hear what the people are saying. Most of it is good; they say that their king has never been happier or more generous than he is now and it's all because of her.