by C. N. Bird
I scowled. “What are you doing?”
“I am going to sit here with you under this tree and watch the showers with you, and there’s nothing you can say or do about it. I also don’t want to hear any more nonsense about me going to find a girl. As far as I am concerned, there need not be anything more said about this. I want to spend the night with you.”
I pursed my lips together and bit my tongue to prevent me from saying anything. Pulling the cloak around me, I sat down on the ground with my knees crossed and Victus followed suit. We didn’t speak for a long while, just sat in silence, but it was comfortable. We listened to the crowd in front of us talk about things and as the night grew darker, a few oil lamps were lit to light certain paths and everybody’s gazes turned skyward.
“I remember coming out here with my pater when he was still alive,” I said softly.
“You haven’t been to one of these since, have you?”
“No, not even with my mater and frater.”
“Why choose now?”
“You asked me to.”
He grasped my hand, a move I was familiar with and unfamiliar with at this very moment. The warmth radiated through my hand and up my arm; a small zing of excitement whizzed through me. He took it further than in times past and intertwined our fingers, his thumb rubbing small circles on the top of my hand. I could feel his gaze on me and I turned my head to the right and to meet it.
“It’s not polite to stare,” I said, trying to keep the tremor out of my voice.
“I feel that it’s time to openly stare at you and not hide it anymore.”
Releasing my hand, he raised up on his arm and hovered over me. With his free hand he smoothed my hair further from my face and cupped it.
“I refuse to believe this is happening. Please, stop with this joke.”
His face lowered to mine and I stiffened thinking he was about to kiss me; rather, he whispered into my ear.
“Hadriana, this is not a joke I am playing on you. You told me to come out here and be with the one I long for, and that is exactly what I am doing.”
He placed a kiss under my ear on my neck, followed by another on my jaw, my chin. His face hovered millimeters from mine, his dark gaze piercing mine in the light of the oil lamps. He kissed my bottom lip, pulling the soft flesh between his. Shakily I reacted, bringing my top lip down around his. Gazes still locked, he shifted so he was over me and our lips continued in an uncoordinated dance for a moment. Then, shifting his head to the side, he introduced his tongue, and with a moan I followed suit and closed my eyes to savor the feeling of the kiss.
The rhythm of the kiss intensified as it went on. He put his weight on one arm as he moved the other down my body, over my ribs and hips. The movement felt incredible and I moaned into the kiss, raising my arms finally to his sides and running them along the length of his chest. From there things became a blur. His and my hands were everywhere, the kissing made my head swim, and I had to pull back momentarily to breathe and think straight. It was then I realized his hand had moved up to my breast and was cupping it and my hands were nearly touching over a prominent bulge.
Taking a quick look around, I saw that the crowd had diminished a great deal, and what remained were a distance away closer to the water. I looked back at Victus, who too was breathing heavily, and wore a look of pleasure on his face. Without speaking, he shifted his lower half closer to my hands until his hardness rested in my palms. Feeling adventurous, I grasped it and gave it an experimental squeeze. He shuddered above me and let out a moan. I released him and dug through the layers of fabric until I met skin. I moved my hand up his leg and met thick hair and his heavy sack that was drawn close to his body and moved those last few centimeters until I met his shaft. Taking it in hand once more I felt it jerk and pulsate at the touch. Never having done this before I gave an experimental stroke, the foreskin moving with my hand. I must have done it right because he moaned and closed his eyes.
I continued my ministrations and watched his face contort in pleasure in the dim fire. In time he started to move with my hand and a faint sheen of sweat developed on his brow; he kept his noises to a minimum, but they were getting more frequent and desperate. Suddenly he went rigid and he opened his mouth, quietly crying out as my hand filled with his ejaculate.
“Move your hands.”
Without question I did as asked and he came to rest on top of me, slightly thrusting into my hip with his receding erection. He kissed me again and shifted off me. He quickly found skin and used my leg as a guide to find my apex. I gasped into the kiss at the first contact of his hand on the parts that only I had ever touched. Pulling out of the kiss, he watched my face as he spread my nether lips with two of his fingers and ran the other down to my wet hole, playing with the moisture and bringing it up to my clitoris. I gave myself over to the pleasure and soon I was panting my need into the night, not caring who was around to hear it. I was getting close, and I spread my free leg further and bent it to give him more room, which he greedily took and positioned himself between them.
He moved the layers further up my legs to give himself a better view, and also pulled his to the side releasing his cock so I could see it. He began masturbating in time with what he was doing to me, and between watching him and what his fingers were doing to me my pleasure peaked. I trembled and moaned, and he kissed me to quell the sounds escaping my mouth.
Victus moved again so his body covered mine, and once he settled, I felt his erection near my opening. A surge of panic shot through me and I broke the kiss.
“Stop, Victus. I’m not ready, not yet.”
Victus’ hands framed my face smoothing my hair away from my face. “All right, not yet.”
I pulled one of his hands from my face and slid it between us. “I want to feel you, though.”
Victus, again, played with me and tried inserting two fingers inside of me; he got a little way in, but my yelp stopped him.
“Is all well?”
“I’ve never…”
“Don’t say pleasure yourself before, I know that’s not true.”
“You heard me then that day?” I could feel the heat of my blush in my cheeks at his declaration.
“Yes, and ever since I’ve wanted to come to you. Now, you’ve never what?”
“I’ve never penetrated myself before.”
“Just because you haven’t doesn’t mean—”
I shook my head and cut him off. “Nothing has before.”
“You’re pure then?”
I nodded.
He lowered himself to me again and enveloped me in his arms and kissed me. “Then I shall make your first time truly special.”
I rose up and kissed him, cupping his face in my hands. “I don’t doubt it, Victus, just not tonight. Everything is too new.”
Victus rolled off me and we looked to the heavens and watched the showers for a little while longer and eventually went home, where we separated at the front door and went to our own sleeping quarters.
The weeks leading up to the final culmination of our relationship were sweet. He would take me walking along the shoreline, and rub my feet and shoulders after long days of kneading and picking. Then, almost as if he’d asked ahead of time, his mother and my brother left for the night. He set up wine and fruits in front of the fire that heated the small room. He’d laid out a sheepskin rug that we sat atop.
During our second glass of wine, he kissed me. It didn’t take long before we were wrapped around one another. Sitting up, he shifted the cloth of my drape down around my shoulders, and I blushed at being exposed in front of him.
“Beautiful, Hadriana.” He bent his head down and took one of my nipples in his mouth; releasing it with a pop, he laved the other nipple. Soon I was divested of my clothing, as was he. He kissed his way across my chest and down my stomach until his warm, moist tongue licked at my center. My hands went to his head of their own accord and rode his face as he brought me close to my peak. When I let out a long moan, I
felt him penetrate me—this time easier with just one finger—and leave it in there. He further relaxed me by continuing to kiss me between my legs and moving his finger slowly in and out of me. Gently, he pushed a second into me, and, knuckle by knuckle, he eased them into me. Once sheathed, he moved them apart, stretching me. This time I cried out and he stopped, but I told him to keep going.
“I think I’m ready.”
Victus sat up and pulled me to my knees. Running his hands over my body, he kissed me and pulled me on top of him as he lay down on the rug. “Get on top of me. I don’t want to hurt you any more than necessary and this way you can control what happens.”
I straddled his waist and he angled his cock upwards to position it at my opening. I sat atop of it, spreading my lips to get the head positioned correctly. Victus gripped my waist to help steady me, and when one of his hands went up my body and cupped a breast, I lowered myself. A stinging sensation began, but I fought through it and continued to lower myself. Once I hit a certain point, I raised up and rode the small amount that entered me. Slowly I worked more and more into me, until I felt his testicles against my rear.
I opened my eyes to see his mouth wide in shock.
“What?”
He shook his head. “Perfect.”
Without lifting up I swiveled my hips, and watched as his head dropped back down to the rug when he moaned and his eyes rolled back into his head.
I moved then, and started a slow up and down motion on his cock. When the ache lessened, I found myself raising almost all the way off and falling back down, and every time it sounded like he was dying.
“Stop,” Victus cried out while stopping my movements on top of him. “It’s time for me to make love to you.”
Victus rolled me over and pressed my hips into the rug as he thrust deeply inside of me. I could tell he wanted to have me fast from the way his neck was straining and his movements were so controlled. He kissed me as he moved inside of me, and whispered things I never thought someone could feel toward me.
There was desperation coming from his words and sounds. I wrapped my legs around his waist, one arm went around his chest and the other caressed his face and head and I said, “Make love to me, Victus. We’ve been denying our feelings for one another for far too long. I’m yours, truly and fully, so make it so. Fill me with your life and your love, and let’s embark on this new journey together.”
Moving his face to look me in the eyes, he let his body take over, doing what came naturally, and soon enough, I felt him further harden inside of me and the tremors began. He kissed me through his climax, wave after wave of semen pumping inside of me.
“Te amo,” Victus said to me.
I was shocked at such a strong sentiment, but knew it to be true. “Te amo, Victus.”
We didn’t make love again that night, but we did learn some more about one another.
***
In the months that followed, things in my life started to look up. My brother was working with Victus full time now, and when they weren’t on the boats, he was learning to shave sheep and other trades.
When January came, something seemed wrong with me, and I voiced my concern with Victus’ mother.
“I haven’t been feeling too well. Do we have any herbs to make something?”
“My dear, I don’t believe what ails you is what you think.”
“How so?”
She came around to me and stood me up. She cupped my breasts and my immediate reaction was to pull away.
“They hurt, don’t they?”
“Yes, they do,” I said, as I pulled away and protectively wrapped my arms across my breasts.
“Are you late on your cycle?” She indicated what she meant with a look towards my belly.
“My menstrual?”
“Yes, what other cycle do you have?” She smiled as she spoke with a hint of laughter
“It’s January, so—”
“Yes, it’s absent. I didn’t see any cotton and you never washed any did you?”
Realization was setting in. “No, I didn’t…”
She came around to my side and placed a hand on my stomach. “There’s life in there, Hardiana. You’re not showing here, but I have been noticing your hips lately. Your body is preparing itself for this.”
It was several days later when I finally told Victus.
“Have you noticed any changes in my body?”
“Just that your womanly curves are finally starting to show more, and your breasts filling out even more.”
“I didn’t have a cycle last month, Victus.”
He looked at me and thought about it for a moment. “What are you saying?”
I stood in front of him, and took my clothing off, showing him my changing body, and turning to the side.
“Are you saying…?”
“Yes, there’s a baby growing inside of me.”
He smiled, moved closer to me, and rested his head against my belly. “In some months we’re going to have a little Hadriana?”
I laughed. “Yes, or a little Victus.”
We went to the living quarters, and he told his mother who congratulated us. Soon enough the news spread throughout our little community and a small feast was held in our names.
The months passed by in a blur, and I learned to love my body and the baby growing inside if it. Victus also became more protective of me, as did his mother and my brother. I was barely allowed to use the latrine without someone fussing over me.
Toward the end of the seventh month, a murmur started around town. Sheep and other livestock were turning up dead in mass numbers outside the city, close to Mount Vesuvius. These unexplained deaths only grew and become more troublesome.
In the eighth month of my pregnancy, around late August, the first tremor shook our city. We hadn’t experienced quakes for some time, and the city itself was still recovering from the earlier ones that killed my father. Throughout the night and day, the earth shook periodically, nothing too extreme, but enough to cause alarm in some of the people throughout the city.
Two days later, smoke was seen coming from the mountain our little city sat beneath.
Instinct was telling me to leave, and leave fast.
On the dawn of the third day, we experienced the most violent quake yet.
“Victus, Vesuvius is smoking, animals are turning up dead, and the earth is quaking again. I don’t want to stay here.”
He knew my fear, but being eight months pregnant made things difficult. “You shouldn’t be traveling right now; you should be resting. Your body is swollen with our child and you could deliver at any time.”
I walked outside and looked toward the mountain in the distance. “She seems to be coming to life. Every instinct in me is telling me to run, run far and fast and leave this place for some time. I don’t feel safe here, Victus.”
Through much debate with his mother and my brother, we all decided it would be wise to leave, and I wanted to go sooner rather than later. It was decided I would leave with Marcus, and Victus and his mother would leave the following morning, gathering essentials. Marcus and I were to travel northeast to Neapolis and seek shelter there and birth the baby when the time came.
As my brother and I gathered small things to take with us, like water and food, several other people noticed and questioned what we were doing. When we told them my fears, a few of them decided to leave with us. Late afternoon that day, we left with a group of fifteen people, with a couple of others leaving in the morning with Victus.
“Promise me you’ll leave in the morning.”
“I promise. We’ll leave at first morning light. We shouldn’t be but half a day behind you. Te amo.”
“Te amo, Victus.”
We kissed briefly, and I wanted to get as much distance between us and the city that night as we could.
In the end, we grabbed a flat carriage used for transporting goods from the field to put supplies on, as well as to carry me when I needed to sleep. Three hours into
our journey, we passed through Herculaneum and traded a bit of wine for bread and a few other things. Some of the people decided to stay there for the night in one of the traveling apartments; we however, traveled about an hour more and stopped near the water to fish and eat dinner. The day’s events and the walking had worn me down and Marcus had to wake me up to eat. In agreement, everyone thought that the place was good to stop for the night, and I felt comfortable enough to stay as well.
“Perhaps we can wait here in the morning for Victus and the others,” my brother stated.
Vesuvius still loomed in the distance, but I hadn’t felt a quake in a while. “Yes, I think we can wait for them here.”
I felt good about where we were and spent the rest of the night by the small fire we made. When it was time for me to sleep, I rested in the embrace of my younger brother.
In the morning, we packed our things and bathed in the river. When the sun reached the highest point in the sky, we all started looking for the other group that would be arriving soon. My gaze kept being drawn though to Vesuvius, whose smoke was billowing out more so now in white plumes.
Another hour passed and still nobody came. Two of the men accompanying us decided to head back to Herculaneum to see if they were there.
From the stress I was undergoing, my baby seemed more active. A small pain coursed through my stomach area, my belly contracted, and a wetness started to seep from my body down my legs.
“Marcus!” I called for my brother.
He was there within a second. “What’s wrong?”
“The baby, I think it’s coming.”
We hurried to the water to clean me, and that’s when I noticed the receding water. Looking back to the mountain, the white plume was now almost black in color and the side of it glowed orange.
I started to pray, something I hadn’t done in years, to whatever deities would listen and hear me.
That’s when the most violent quake I’d ever felt happened. I knew my instincts to be true, and I was glad I left, but I was stupid to have left without Victus and everybody I cared about and loved.
We all watched the mountain as the dark plume traveled toward the river, missing us but surely hitting the small town we’d traveled through hours ago.