Catherine moved down, taking a nipple in her mouth and sucking at it gently before moving to the other one. Her hand reached down and out of the corner of her eye she saw the Sultan watching her movements.
Rubbing Alena’s clitoris soon produced results, her now experienced fingers finding the spot that made the young woman shake before following it with a trail of kisses down her stomach, through the silky blond hair just above her legs. Her tongue hit the spot and Alena gasped as she worked her clit rolling it in her tongue and sucking gently.
When she came Catherine lapped at her, her lips and face covered with Alena’s juices. The Sultan pulled Catherine up until they looked each other in the eye and licked around her mouth, tasting Alena for the first time through Catherine.
‘To celebrate your birth,’ he murmured, moving behind Catherine and pushing her back down to she could continue to lick and suckle at Alena. Slowly he pushed into her and watched over her shoulder while she tormented the young woman with her tongue.
When she heard the familiar groan and felt him spill into her she turned and licked his cock, tasting herself on it and making him groan louder. ‘Oh my love what a wonder you are now,’ he said as she took his length in her mouth and pumped him until he was hard again.
‘Now you are both ready,’ she whispered. He kissed her again and put her hand back on his cock to help guide him into Alena’s waiting wetness. Alena cried out as she was taken for the first time.
His hand reached out, between Catherine’s legs and his fingers found her clit, rubbing it and making her writhe with pleasure. Alena reached up and stroked Catherine’s breast nearest her, and Catherine bent to kiss Alena again.
The Sultan’s senses reeled from the sights and feel of what was happening and he groaned as he found his release into Alena. Panting he pulled Catherine away from Alena and pushed her to the bed, kissing her and kneading at her breasts. ‘I have missed you wife, what a wonderful gift you have given me.’
‘It was my pleasure my love, I hope your new wife serves you better than I have.’
He laid his head on her chest. ‘You have served me well,’ he said, ‘Perhaps better than I deserve.’ When she moved to go back to the harem he stopped her. ‘Stay here, with us for the night. Once the marriage and consummation is over tomorrow take Alena to the harem and make her welcome. Maybe tomorrow I will send for you.’
His moment of tenderness for her pained her heart. She had to deceive him, if he found out the truth about the baby then he would have her punished, perhaps even killed. She stroked his head and he cuddled into her like a child. Reaching over him she touched Alena’s cheek and smiled at her, she would not have a first night like Catherine did, feeling sore and pained the following day.
He slept all night and in the morning kissed Catherine again before taking her slowly and tenderly. ‘Thank you my love,’ he said, ‘Last night gave me more than you will ever know.’
The councillors arrived and Alena was dressed for the ceremony while Catherine waited to one side. The marriage done and consummated he let Alena go with her and they went to the harem where she handed Alena over to some of the other women. ‘Thank you,’ Alena whispered, ‘I was so scared and not sure of what the Sultan wanted from me, you made it easier.’
Catherine smiled and kissed the young woman on the cheek. ‘Perhaps we will have our own times together Alena.’
‘I would like that,’ she said shyly.
Once they were gone to the bathing pools Irina took Catherine aside. ‘He has another new wife?’
‘Yes but he also took me to his bed.’
Irina smiled. ‘Good, now everything is safe.’
Chapter 18
One month and many visits to the Sultans bed later Catherine told him the news he had wanted to hear. She had requested a private audience and when it was granted he grabbed her before she could even tell him and kissed her, scooping her up in his arms and taking her to his bed.
‘You are not so tender usually husband,’ she whispered.
‘I have been counting and I know you have missed your bleeding,’ he said.
Catherine smiled. ‘That is what I wished to tell you.’ He kissed her softly and pressed his nose into her neck covering her with little kisses.
She laughed. ‘This is not like you.’
He looked up at her. ‘I have had a lot of wives but you are the one who has become the most special. I love you Catherine.’
‘I love you too my husband and I am very happy to be carrying your child at long last.’
‘I have been thinking to set you up in a room of your own, at least while you are with child. Somewhere only I can visit you and we can be alone.’
‘We can be alone in here. I think I would miss the others in the harem too much.’
He frowned. ‘It would not be appropriate for you to move in here while you are pregnant, I want you near but this room is so much more than the room I sleep in.’
Catherine nodded. ‘I understand, perhaps some compromise can be reached.’
She paled, thinking she had pushed him too far. He was the Sultan and used to getting his own way, in the months she had been coming to his bed she had never seen him like this. All he did was shrug. ‘I’d like you to have the same status as Irina, able to come and go from the harem as you please, to elevate your status would require some work…’ his voice trailed off.
‘You need not do that my love, whatever you want I will do,’ she said, scared at his strange uncertainty.
He looked at her. ‘You are thinking that I am behaving oddly are you not?’ he asked.
She nodded. ‘I have not seen you so quiet and introspective.’
Laughing he kissed her again. ‘You know me to be authoritative and demanding, I know what I am. I also know that the women who come to my bed are not always willing bed partners as you were not the first night we were together, you had no choice.’
She said nothing, so he continued. ‘When you came to my bed the night Alena was here for the first time I felt your sincerity at wanting to be there. It made me love you all the more. For the first time in my life Catherine, I feel like I’m in love.’
‘But Irina…’ she started.
‘Irina was an arranged marriage; my father arranged it as you were to be wed to Arif. My desire for you stopped that though, when I saw you in the palace grounds, young, beautiful, alluring even when you weren’t trying to be. I just had to have you.’
Tears rolled down her cheeks. ‘Whenever I’ve taken a new wife our first time together has been brief. I’ve not ever wanted to hurt any woman, just show her who is in charge but you, I couldn’t stay away, I couldn’t stop touching you. Our first night together was painful for you I know because all I wanted was you.’
Catherine’s heart ached for him and she clung to him like never before. ‘Despite my threats I would never have let anyone else lie with you Catherine. You are mine and mine alone.’ She nodded. ‘You will spend tonight in here and for the moment go back to the harem. I promise I will be the loving husband you deserve.’
Then he kissed her again and she sighed, for the first time truly happy to be sharing his bed. He removed her shift and buried his face between her breasts. ‘Soon our child will suckle from you; once he is born I will take you into seclusion so we can all be together for a time.’
‘I think I would like that my love, what if we have a girl?’
He ran his hand down her body until it rested on her stomach. ‘It is a boy, I can feel it. Arif is the only other child I have. I need another boy in case something ever happens to him. None of my other wives ever quickened with child. We are truly blessed.’
His hand continued down her body, gently rubbing her clit until she cried out. Rolling her onto her side he entered her from behind, his hand still rubbing her. ‘I will be gentle my love, you will get the very best of care from now on.’
In the morning when she returned to the harem, she went straight to Irina’s arms and wept.<
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Chapter 19
As the months went past, the Sultan was as good as his word. The nights spent together were tender and loving and Catherine regretted the deception. Arif didn’t know the child was his, as far as he knew his father had asked her back to his bed and she had conceived. She thought it best that he not know, as did Irina.
The time came when he was too concerned for the baby to take her to his bed so he put her in a room near his with Alena for company. Catherine was fond of Alena. They had spent several nights in bed together with the Sultan and had bonded. She was good company and pleased that she wasn’t summoned to the Sultans bed while she stayed with Catherine either.
Catherine was also reunited with her beloved books. When she had entered the harem nothing like that was allowed in or out. The only exception had been when Irina made sure she had reading material during her times of seclusion but now the Sultan indulged his pregnant wife and it helped fill the time while she awaited the birth of her child.
Life returned almost to how it had been before she had been married to him, although she was restricted to her room her relationship with the Sultan now took a different turn and they now enjoyed evenings together talking the way they used to.
Catherine decided to push back the knowledge that the baby was Arif’s to the back of her mind. For the first time she felt truly happy in her marriage, and she hoped the Sultan felt the same way.
For the nights the Sultan showed favour to several of his other wives but Irina was always left. She felt the sting of her husband’s rejection far more than she let show and had already begun to plot his downfall. Having requested a private audience with her husband she waited for him to accept which he finally did when Catherine no longer visited his bed.
Nervously she waited until she was told to go in and he sat on the bed, he had not requested anyone that night and he told her he looked forward to talking the way they had done before the harem.
‘You have changed husband,’ she said.
‘For the better I hope,’ he said with a smile.
‘I see you are taking good care of Catherine and the child, which is a pleasure to see.’
‘It is as it was once I took care of you,’ he replied, ‘all those years ago when you were with child.’
She nodded. ‘They were good times.’
Sitting on the bed beside him she reached out and touched his face. ‘I miss you sometimes husband, being with the women in the harem is enjoyable but your touch is sorely missed.’
‘I am sorry Irina, sorry for not being a better husband and appreciating you more. Catherine has taught me so much in the short time she has been my wife, how to love is one of many things.’
‘She is a good girl but while she is heavily pregnant I would think that you were lonely.’ She reached down and stroked his cock under his robe. ‘That this would be lonely.’ At the attention she felt him move, stiffen. He put up no fight as she freed him and took his cock in her mouth, lovingly tonguing the end, sliding her lips up and down the shaft. Groaning he pulled her up to kiss her and she pushed him back onto the bed, onto his back.
‘This is very forward of you wife,’ he murmured. Slowly she lowered herself onto him, impaling herself.
‘It has been a very long time since I had you inside me,’ she said. Rocking gently they moved together, moaned together and he pulled her down to kiss her.
‘That was nice,’ he said.
‘It was,’ she whispered, ‘a nice way to say goodbye.’
‘What do you mean…’ he started and flinched when she pulled the knife out.
‘You let me back into your bed but only because Catherine is too pregnant for you to sleep with. For years you’ve rejected me, ever since I had Arif but your affection for Catherine has made you vulnerable husband.’
The first blow went deep and he struggled against her but being on top she pushed all her weight down and she was no longer the small woman he had married. He coughed up blood at the second blow. ‘Please,’ he said.
‘Something else you should know,’ she whispered, ‘Arif is not your son; he is Omar’s. I had to find another man to father my child because you were not man enough to do it.’
‘But Catherine,’ he struggled to spit out the words.
‘Catherine’s child is Arif’s, not yours.’ She smiled with glee before the fatal blow to his chest. Covered in blood she cried to the skies. ‘Forgive me for what I’ve done,’ before slashing her own wrists and lying beside him in the blood. ‘My love,’ she said, putting her hand to his face.
Chapter 20
Catherine was woken by the sound of screaming outside. Opening the door of her room to the hallway the guard told her to get back inside. ‘What is happening?’ she asked.
‘I do not know I’m sorry,’ he replied, ‘I will try to find out.’
‘Thank you,’ she said, concerned at what it could be.
Shortly afterwards there was a knock on the door, it was another guard. ‘Please do not leave your room’ he said.
‘What’s going on, what was the scream?’
‘I’m sorry Sultana, I can’t give you any details yet but you must stay safe.’
It wasn’t until the door closed that she realised what he said. ‘Why did he call you Sultana?’ asked Alena.
‘I’m not sure,’ she said, ‘just a slip of the tongue. We need to sit and wait.’ The day slipping away, servants brought their meals in as if nothing had happened and had no answers to the women’s questions.
Catherine wasn’t summoned that evening, or the next and when it came to the third evening she was frantic. ‘Something is very wrong,’ she said to Alena, ‘I can feel it.’
Suddenly there was a knock on the door. When she opened it she found one of the Sultan’s advisors, the kind man from all that time ago who had looked at her with pity on the day of her wedding.
‘My lady,’ he said with a quick bow, ‘I bring important news.’ He looked at Alena, ‘Please pack a bag, Catherine will be travelling shortly away from Ajara.’
The women both looked at him confused. ‘What is happening?’ Catherine asked.
‘Sultana, there are some things that have happened that mean you now need to leave the palace. Passage will be arranged on a ship to send you back to England to be reunited with your parents. I have already sent an envoy ahead.’
‘What? Why are you calling me Sultana? Where is Irina? The Sultan?’ Catherine asked, fear growing inside her.
‘The Sultan is dead. Irina killed him before taking her own life, now Arif will be the Sultan. He is going through the ceremonies now but until then because of the increased status the Sultan bestowed upon you, you are the Sultana. However, the harem must also be cleared to make way for the new harem of the new Sultan so all women will be sent home.’
Both women looked at him in disbelief and a sob escaped Catherine.
‘All?’ Alena asked, ‘I came here when I had no one else, I have no home to go to.’
‘You will be able to stay but as a servant.’ He looked back at Catherine, ‘We also need to get you out of here as you carry the Sultan’s child and there will be people who see you as a threat to Arif.’
‘What do you mean?’ she asked. At six months pregnant she was already carrying large and felt uncomfortable walking let alone doing anything threatening.
‘There will be concerns that with you carrying the former Sultan’s child that you will be looking for opportunities to get Arif off the throne and elevate your own child. I would rather we get you out of Ajara safely now than have anyone come after you.’
Omar entered the room. ‘We must move, there is already talk of some of the men coming to interrogate Catherine as to her intentions, it is inevitable that they will decide she is a threat.’
‘Won’t Arif protect me?’ she said, gasping.
‘Arif is just a child,’ Omar snapped, ‘he has neither the knowledge or the skills to be the Sultan. Irina struck so early. He will be led around b
y his father’s friends who will convince him what is right and wrong and they will not care for you.’
‘Can I see Arif before I go? I must say goodbye, I must tell him…’ her voice trailed off.
‘I can arrange it but we’ll have to go through one of the passages,’ Omar said, ‘And we must be quick, I have a carriage waiting to take you from the palace.’
He moved closer to Catherine taking her hands in his. ‘A long time ago I knew your parents and I swore when you came here that I would do what I could to return you to them, now I will fulfil that promise even if it risks my life. We must do this quickly and get you on your way.’
Omar led Catherine through the passageway until he got to the room he was looking for, inside was Arif. He checked that Arif was alone before ushering Catherine in. ‘I’ll just stay in the passageway, just a few minutes,’ he said.
‘Catherine,’ Arif said, rushing to her and kissing her tenderly. ‘Mother killed father, now I will be Sultan.’ He was so excited and she suddenly realised he really had no idea what it all meant. ‘Once the ceremonies are completed I will take you as my wife and you will be my Sultana. I will treat the baby as my own.’
Tears streamed down her face. ‘The baby is yours Arif, I had to make your father think it was his so that he wouldn’t do anything to hurt either of us.’
He looked into her eyes. ‘Oh my Catherine, this is more wonderful than I could ever have imagined. Time is short my love, return to your room and I will summon you later.’
‘Goodbye Arif,’ she said through her tears. In the cramped corridor Omar took her into his arms and held her while she sobbed.
‘It’s for the best Catherine,’ he whispered, ‘now you can return to Sarah.’
Wrapping a cloak around her he helped her into the carriage. It would be a long trip to the sea. The carriage ride was uncomfortable, in her state of pregnancy she felt every bump and the road was not very good. Finally, exhausted from the travelling and from crying she fell asleep.
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