by Speer, Flora
It was over too quickly.
“I never get enough of you,” she whispered, nuzzling at his neck, satisfied but still longing for something else. She did not know what it was, yet a strange wanting gnawed at her.
“You will get more than enough of me tonight.” He laughed. “How glad I am that Basil gave Maura her own room.”
It was only now, with the passion between them in momentary abeyance, that he finally removed his clothing and slipped Lenora’s crumpled nightgown over her head, letting his hands slide along the soft, curving length of her body as he did so.
He stretched out beside her, playing idly with one of her full, rounded breasts, rubbing it gently until the nipple stood up proud and hard. He leaned over, teasing it with his tongue, then sucking boldly, drawing more and more of the tender flesh into his mouth. She moaned, gritting her teeth. He raised his head.
“Shall I stop?” he asked.
For answer, she pulled his head back, to the other breast this time, and he served it as he had the first. Her breath came more quickly as her volatile emotions were rekindled.
As he bent over her, she ran her flattened palms along the firm muscles of his shoulders and upper arms, then briefly tangled her fingers in the silky black hair on his chest before her hands slid around to cup his smooth, tight buttocks.
He moved lower to concentrate on her softly rounded belly, stroking and caressing. Her warming flesh seemed to rise to meet his hands and lips.
Then his hands slipped down over hips and thighs, lingering on their silky smoothness. He kissed and gently teased at the backs of her knees before moving upward again, this time along her inner thighs, separating her legs as he went, until he reached the red-brown hair of the soft-curving mound between them. And there he lingered, exploring with slow, gentle, but determined probing, tracing concentric circles with one finger, round and round, moving ever closer to the pulsating, painfully sensitive spot now aching for his touch.
She felt his mouth on her and she cried out at the hot, moist pressure of his tongue. At first she tried to wriggle away, but, as he continued, she caught his head and held it there, reveling in the exquisite new sensations that spread, pulsing deliriously, throughout her body. With hands and lips and tongue he drove her to near-frenzy. When finally he pulled away from her she cried out and tried to draw him back. She saw his manhood, hard and throbbing with barely contained eagerness, and the sight nearly drove her mad with longing to hold him within her.
Now he was covering her breasts and throat and face with hurried, burning kisses, while that place between her thighs where lately he had lingered tormented her with an unbearable need.
At last, at long, long last, when she was nearly screaming in an agony of frantic, clamoring erotic hunger, he took pity on her. Slowly, deliberately, he moved deeply into her eager, welcoming warmth.
A long sigh of pleasure escaped her parted lips as she wrapped her arms about him, her eyes half-closed in ecstasy. When he moved deeper still, a warm sweetness overpowered her, spreading outward in waves from the taut center of her body to her fingers and toes and to the very hair on her head. She was intensely aware of the full length of his body against hers, from his hard, demanding mouth covering her own and his tongue thrusting against hers in a sensual rhythm to his hair-covered chest bruising her tender, sensitive breasts to his firm-muscled thighs, scratchy with hair, that rubbed against her own smoother flesh. At the center of his being was the part of his body that now gave her such intense, exquisite pleasure, surging into her and withdrawing, then returning again, generating unbearable heat with each movement, sucking her into a whirlpool, holding her captive, leaving her empty and yearning for more, then filling her with joy and lifting her up into the heavens.
On and on it went, unending, hot, honey-sweet and head-spinning as the strongest mead, until he gathered her even more closely into his arms, and blindly she clutched at him to pull him even farther into her. At the same instant they both whirled into another plane of existence where together they became one whole and complete being in a passionate culmination that united them with a life-generating force that shook them to their very souls.
When at last Lenora came back to herself Erik was kissing her reverently. He began with her forehead and her eyes and continued until he had kissed every inch of her body. He lingered on her lips, and at that place where their bodies had joined, and ended at the tips of her toes. Then he stared at her face as though she were something more than human, something miraculous, until she pulled him down into her arms again, and their lips met in a deep kiss of infinite tenderness.
Finally he slept, and Lenora lay beneath his protective arm in a contented daze, still too sensitively alert to his presence to be able to sleep. In the deep fulfillment she now felt, Lenora had found the elusive something for which she had been longing. She knew, although how she could not have said, that from the sublime act of love just completed she and Erik had conceived a child.
“It will be a son,” she told herself, “and he will have black hair and sea-green eyes.”
Chapter 27
Lenora was brushing her hair in a peaceful, deeply satisfied mood when Eirena swept into her room without knocking.
“You disgusting creature,” Eirena hissed. “I gave you shelter and food and clothing – my own beautiful clothes – and how have you repaid me?”
Lenora put down the hairbrush and faced her visitor. Her movements were slow and languorous, in contrast to Eirena’s rapid, nervous pacing as she prowled about the room.
“What are you talking about, Eirena? I have done nothing to harm you.”
“Nothing?” Eirena stared at her from hate-filled eyes. “Nothing? My serving woman tells me Erik spent last night in this room. How dare you say you have done nothing to me?”
Lenora realized there was no point in denying what was undoubtedly household gossip by now. She tried to speak calmly. “Erik came to me because he wanted me. You know perfectly well that we have lived together.”
“You vile, filthy woman!” Vainly Eirena struggled to regain her self-control. “You will not see Erik again. He has gone out, and you will be taken from this house today, before he returns. I know just the place for you, and it is far enough away to keep you from ever returning to Constantinople. There is a strict convent outside Alexandroupolis. Once you are locked inside, out of his sight, Erik will soon forget all about you.”
Lenora felt a chill settle about her heart. For the first time she was really afraid of Eirena. She knew the jealous, violently angry woman before her would find the means to do what she threatened, and to keep Erik from learning what had happened until it was too late. If she were taken from Basil’s house and Erik could not find her, what would happen to her? And what would happen to the babe that, illogical though the idea was, she felt certain sheltered even now within her womb?
Eirena continued her tirade, scarcely pausing for breath.
“Erik and I will be married soon,” Eirena said. “I have waited for his return for five years. He belongs to me, not you. My guard will remain outside your door. You will see no one, nor will you leave this room until I have completed the arrangements for you.” With this, Eirena tried to leave the bedchamber. She found Maura blocking her exit.
“Get out of my way,” Eirena screeched, losing her self-control for a second time. “You stupid nonentity, let me pass.”
“Certainly.” Maura moved aside. As Eirena whisked past her, nose in the air, Maura spoke again. “If you send Lenora to the convent of which you were just speaking, I will go with her.”
“That is perfectly agreeable to me,” Eirena commented acidly. She would have continued on her way, but Maura’s next words stopped her.
“I don’t think you are aware of it, Eirena, but Basil has become extremely fond of me. I think, were I to enter a convent, he would miss me terribly. Unlike Erik, who is a stranger in this country, Basil would have the means to quickly discover where I had gone. He might ev
en follow me to inquire why I had done such an odd thing. I would naturally feel obligated to tell him the truth, how I would not leave my friend Lenora, who was being forcibly detained at your order. I don’t think Basil would care much for that news, do you?”
“You – !” Eirena raised a small, heavily be-ringed hand as if to strike Maura.
“Do be careful,” Maura said calmly. “I have such fair skin that any injury leaves a clear imprint for all to see. I would hate to have to explain a bruise in the shape of your hand to Basil.”
Lenora thought Eirena would fling herself upon Maura and tear her to pieces. She could almost feel the strength of will Eirena was exerting to control herself.
“There will be another time,” Eirena said at last, between clenched teeth, “and I will not forget you, Maura.” With a last, baleful glare, Eirena left the room.
The two friends fell into each others’ arms in relief.
“Thank you,” Lenora said, half laughing, half crying. “I thought you claimed once or twice in the past to have no courage.”
“It is Basil’s doing,” Maura replied. “He gives me strength. I will tell him what Eirena threatened. He’ll see to it that she doesn’t harm you. Now, I have something much nicer than Eirena to talk about. Basil has agreed you shall have a new dress, too. Come to my room; the seamstress is waiting.”
In the manner Lenora had learned was characteristic of this peculiar household that Eirena ruled, no further mention was made of the morning’s threats. It was as if the confrontation between Eirena and Lenora, and the shorter altercation between Eirena and Maura, had never occurred. Eirena showed no trace of dislike or anger when they met the men for the evening meal. She was perfectly polite and apparently eager to attend to her guests’ needs and slightest desires. Lenora, knowing Eirena’s kindness was false, felt certain she was plotting something new.
“Erik and I have some final arrangements to make with his friend Harald the merchant,” Basil said over honey tarts and dried fruits. “We will go to our villa on the Bosporus and meet with him there.”
“How long will you be gone?” asked Eirena with sudden intense interest.
“Only a few days. Why do you ask?”
“I have an idea,” Erik said, speaking into the silence while Eirena fumbled for an answer. “Why don’t we all go? I have talked about your lovely house so much, I’m sure Lenora would like to see it, especially the gardens.”
“No, no,” said Eirena, too quickly. “In mid-autumn? It is much too chilly at this time of year. We women will all stay here, where it is warm and comfortable.”
“I would love to see the gardens.” Lenora was suddenly anxious not to spend time in Basil’s house with the men gone. “I don’t mind the cold. Wouldn’t you like to go, Maura? I have a feeling you will miss Basil if he goes away for even a short time.”
“I would miss him,” Maura agreed, “but I’m not sure I want to go outside the city walls.”
“Very wise of you.” Eirena shot a triumphant look at Lenora. “We will remain here at home.”
“But this is a splendid idea of Erik’s.” Basil was enthusiastic. “We will go tomorrow. You will enjoy my villa, Maura. I’ll make it warm enough for you. We will have charcoal braziers lit in every room. We can take long walks in the gardens. Your new cloak is ready, isn’t it?”
“Yes, but I’m not sure I should go.” Maura hesitated, torn between fear and her desire to please Basil. “Are you certain we will be safe?”
Basil reached across the table to take her thin hand. Eirena looked away in disgust at this open sign of emotion.
“There is nothing to worry about, my dear little bird. Leave everything to me. I will take good care of you, I promise.”
Maura allowed herself to be won over. “If you promise, Basil, then I believe you.”
When Lenora returned to her room at bedtime she found a tall, armed man posted outside her door.
“What are you doing here?” she demanded.
“I am here on order of the lady Eirena,” the guard informed her. “She is concerned for your safety. Once you enter your bedroom, no one may go in or come out until morning.”
“I don’t need a sentry.”
The man made no reply, but opened the door and motioned her in. Lenora bolted the door on the inside and moved a low table in front of it, piling a collection of small objects on the table, so anyone trying to get in during the night would knock it over and make a warning noise.
She slept not at all that night, nor did she rest well the following night at Basil’s waterside villa, where the same guard stood outside her chamber.
It was cold, as Eirena had warned it would be, and a wind off the Euxine Sea rattled through the shuttered windows. The villa was a smaller, more open version of the Panopoulos house in Constantinople. In the hot Greek summer its constant breezes must be delightful, Lenora thought, but in mid-autumn it was distinctly uncomfortable.
Because it was outside the protection of Constantinople’s impregnable walls, the villa was guarded by Basil’s personal force of armed men. Basil took care to mention this to Maura as evidence of their safety.
Around the villa, wide, terraced gardens swept down to the water’s edge. Erik pointed out a tiny, curving beach.
“It was there Eirena found me, washed up by the sea.”
Maura, muffled in her new saffron-yellow cloak, had been walking with Lenora when Erik appeared. She shivered in the chill wind.
“You must have been terrified,” she said.
“I don’t remember a thing.” Erik laughed. “But that is where I first came to Miklagard.”
“And now you are going to leave it forever, aren’t you? You and Lenora will go away.” Maura blinked back tears. “I will be sorry to see you go, but I know it’s best for you. Neither of you could live for long in that city, enclosed behind walls, with a thousand rules to tell you what to do and not do.”
“You may come with us.”
“Not I. I’m happy here. The very things that you dislike about Byzantium are the things that make me feel safe. I will marry Basil eventually. After I do, I think perhaps Eirena should retire to a convent.” Maura laughed, then looked directly at Erik. “I won’t say a word to anyone about your plans, not even to Basil.”
“We have no plans.”
“Erik, you always have a plan. Sometimes more than one.” Maura stood on tiptoe and kissed Erik on the cheek. “I have neglected to thank you properly for saving my life. I will never forget you. Or you, Lenora. I just wanted to tell you now, in case you have to leave suddenly and there is no time for good-byes.”
A rich, deep chuckle sounded behind them as Harald the merchant strode into view, followed by Basil.
“What a tender scene.” Harald laughed, even white teeth showing through his blond beard and droopy mustache. “Erik and the two prettiest women in Miklagard. What’s your secret, my friend? I never have such good luck.”
“Maura is not Erik’s woman.” Basil was plainly annoyed by Harald’s assumption.
“Oh-ho, is she yours, then?”
Basil scowled. Before he could answer, Erik intervened.
“There is no insult intended, Basil. Harald was only joking. Let us go inside where it is warmer and talk about this agreement for next year’s merchandise.”
“Erik, why don’t you travel back to Kiev with me and my friends once the agreement is signed?” Harald asked as they moved along the path, the women following close behind.
“Perhaps I should leave Constantinople,” Erik replied, as though the idea had never occurred to him before.
Basil was astonished. “Leave? You told me a few weeks ago that you wanted to live here. Why would anyone ever want to leave the Holy City? Everything a man could possibly want is here. All the merchandise of the world comes to us. The city contains all of the pleasures, and, if you want them, all of the vices known to man. It is the world’s most beautiful city. And Eirena is here. Erik is very fond of my sister Eir
ena,” Basil informed Harald.
“Is he? I didn’t know that.” Harald glanced at Lenora and raised an eyebrow. When she shook her head behind Basil’s back Harald gave her a comical look and followed the other men into Basil’s study.
It was later in the afternoon when Erik found Lenora sitting alone by a charcoal brazier in an upper room, trying to warm her hands. He bent to kiss her, then drew up a wooden chair to sit beside her.
“I’ll come to you tonight,” he murmured, taking her hands in his and holding them against his heart to warm them.
“My door is well guarded. Eirena wants to keep you away from me.”
“Nothing will keep us apart, Lenora. You belong to me.”
That was just the problem, she thought. She was his possession, and sometimes, try as she might, it was hard to trust him as he wanted her to do. She reminded herself he had not failed her yet, and then she stopped thinking as his lips met hers in a sweet, lingering kiss.
Eirena glided into the room, her stiff, ornately trimmed robes barely moving as she walked.
“Erik,” she said, her voice sharp, “I have told you I do not want you to meet with this lascivious, despicable woman. Tell her to leave.”
Erik rose and stood by Lenora, one hand on her shoulder, holding her firmly in her chair by the glowing brazier as he addressed Eirena.
“Lenora and I were speaking privately. You have no right to interrupt us. Furthermore, I insist you treat her with respect.”
Eirena’s lip curled, her eyes flashing angry fire, but she kept her voice level. “When I came in you were not speaking. When we are married I will no longer tolerate this – this – diversion.”
“I assure you, once I am wed, my only diversion will be my wife.”
“Is that a promise, Erik?”
“It is a solemn vow.”
“Then tell Lenora to go.”
“No.”
“Erik?” Lenora shook off his restraining hand and rose, looking from Erik to Eirena, with a frightened question in her eyes. Eirena had said when they were married, not if. Had something happened, something Erik had not told her?