Prisoner
of the Seraglio
A
Cordelia Delacourt Adventure
Chapter
13
Menelik
Menelik XXVII, Emperor of Aksum, Son of the Lion, Exalted Protector of the True Faith, and Guardian of the Lord’s Chalice, watched the two women bathe from his place of hiding. In all of his thirty-eight years he had never seen anything quite like them.
Both were heavily tanned about the face, neck shoulders, and
forearms. The darker skin contrasted
sharply with the ivory of the rest of their
bodies. On occasion he had seen
pale-skinned women before; Bedouin girls from the northernmost reaches of
the
Both had a special kind of beauty. The smaller, and he judged, slightly older of the two was perfectly formed, with round, generous breasts crowned with nipples the colour of pink roses. Her waist was narrow, her hips full and strong, curving down to long graceful legs. Her shoulder-length hair was a deep brown like the colour of cloves, and dark-brown eyes set off a face that was perfect in symmetry.
But for all of her beauty, his gaze was drawn again and again to the younger girl. She was very tall; probably only a hand width’s shorter than he was, and he was considered a tall man. Her hair was a cinnamon brown with red highlights and it swept down to the small of her back.
Her eyes were an intense violet that shifted into indigo when the light stuck them just right; and they gave her face an intensity that the shorter woman lacked. Her nose was small and straight; set between classic high cheekbones and above bow-shaped pouting lips. A string chin; shell-like ears; and a graceful neck that swept down to strong yet feminine shoulders completed her upper features.
Like the smaller women, her breasts were round and firm, but somewhat larger and tipped with nipples that shone like copper medallions as the light from outside struck them. Her slender torso narrowed to a tiny waist that flared out into hips that promised good child-bearing potential. He noted with interest that she was almost entirely hairless and wondered a bit at that. Only a tiny sculpted patch of hair set just above her womanhood remained, pointing the way to her gates of pleasure.
Her legs were as slender and powerful of those of a gazelle, with smooth, rounded thighs and long muscles that promised to intensify the enjoyment of any man who lay between them.
Melelik’s loins stirred. It was unfortunate that neither woman was unblemished. He would have liked to take one of them to wife, especially to taller one, but the restrictions of his religion forbade marriage with any woman who was not a maiden. However, he consoled himself with the thought that both of them would no doubt give him long hours of pleasure.
He stirred from his hiding place and stepped back into the royal apartments. “Tonight,” he thought. Tonight he would take both of them. He motioned to the nearest female servant. “Send for Penha,” he ordered. “I wish to know a bit about these women.”
Cordelia looked up from her bath. A dark-skinned African girl was approaching. Cordelia knew her from before. When she had recovered from her faint she had been one of the women attending her.
The room was small, but private. An elaborate marble grill let in light and sound and outside the room she could hear the calming sound of running water.
Cordelia, however, was far from calm. She sat up and attempted to rise from the bed of cushions she found herself on. Quickly, but gently one of the women with her pushed her back down and said something in the Aksumi tongue.
Cordelia shook her head showing her ignorance of the language, but just on the off chance she tried a few words of Swahili. One of the women shrugged, showing her ignorance of the East African lingua franca, but the other raised her eyebrows. She made a motion with her hands as if to say “wait here,” and darted off. A few minutes later she returned with a very dark-skinned black girl.
Cordelia tried again and the black girl smiled. “I am Penha,” she said. “It is good to hear my language spoken again.”
Cordelia smiled back. During
the months she and Liz had traveled with
“What has become of my friend?” she asked. Liz’s whereabouts had been foremost in her mind ever since she woke up.
“She is with the other women of the harem. You may see her as soon as you are well.”
“I am well now,” Cordelia said, once again attempting to rise.
Immediately the other women moved to stop her. Penha smiled sympathetically. “Rest first, your friend will still be here. I will tell her you are awake and asking for her.”
“Thank you,” Cordelia replied, complying with the woman’s wishes, and lying back down.
A few minutes after Penha had left there was a slight noise at the door and
Liz entered. She was dressed
identically to the women in the room, the sheer garment hiding very little
of her luscious curves.
“Well, we’re in it again aren’t we,
luv? If I ever come across that
bastard
“This is no place for either of us, Liz. We have to find a way to escape, otherwise we’ll be stuck here for the rest of our lives.”
“It’s not as bad as the last place,” Liz remarked. “But I’d just as soon not be here until I die. I expect we will only be welcome as long as we’re young and pretty.”
“Or until the king gets a child on us,” thought Cordelia. So far in her sexual encounters she had been lucky, if being taken against her will by three different men could be considered lucky. However, she had not conceived, but she knew that could not go on forever. Sooner or later she would be impregnated and then any chance of escape would be almost impossible.
Cordelia chatted with Liz for the next half hour and then the women waiting on her shooed the girl from the room. They then brought her food and drink. The food was quite good, consisting of a sort of flat bread, fruit, and meat. The drink to her surprise was wine. Unlike the Muslims who had first taken her prisoner, the Aksumi seemed to have no prohibition against alcohol. Then she was allowed to rest and although Cordelia really did not feel the need for it she closed her eyes and lay quietly.
She was not allowed to rest too long, however. Apparently the women judged that now that she had rested and had been given food and drink she should be strong enough to leave the room. She was escorted into a much larger chamber, one that was similar to the pool in the bey’s palace, but on a much larger scale.
It was a beautiful place, sheltered by a roof that was open in the centre to allow sunlight to reach the flowing waters of the pool. Constructed of blue and white marble, and surrounded by shrubbery; the pool seemed almost like a place out of paradise. Large fountains at either end brought in a steady supply of fresh water. Lying about the pool in various stages of undress were the women of the harem. Cordelia was almost found the sight comfortingly familiar, but always she was mindful of her reason for being there.
She was also mindful of the stares her entrance attracted. The eyes of every woman in the place were upon her and a slight murmur went from woman to woman as they remarked upon her. Cordelia noted that she was the only woman present with white skin. The only woman except for one. Cordelia smiled as she saw her.
Liz was sitting beside the pool, attended by a number of dark-skinned girls. She smiled back as Cordelia came up. “Well, we’re prisoners again,” the girl said cheerfully as she popped a date into her mouth, “but at least we’re treated like royalty.”
“More like royal whores, Liz,” Cordelia remarked. She was instantly sorry as she saw the shadow cross Liz’s face, but it was too late to take it back.
“Oh, I’m sorry Liz,” she stammered. “I didn’t mean…”
“It’s alright,” Liz answered. “It’s not for you to apologize to the likes of me.”
“It’s just that I’m so tired of being treated as nothing more than something fit to please a man,” Cordelia tried to explain. “Everywhere we go it’s the same damn thing.”
“Yes,” Liz said sympathetically. “Men are bastards, sure enough. But we’ll figure a way out of this somehow.”
Cordelia wasn’t so sure. It was going to be incredibly difficult to escape from the well-guarded harem. And even if she did, where would she go? She and Liz were hundreds of miles away from any place of refuge. And it was highly unlikely that anyone like von Jagermeister would show up to spirit them away in his balloon.
Her feeling of helplessness intensified when Penha appeared once more. The dark-skinned girl could not hide her excitement. “You have been summoned by the emperor,” she gushed. “A great honour. You must be prepared.”
“Summoned,” thought Cordelia. She had a very good idea of what “summoned” meant. Her heartbeat quickened as a dozen women approached and began to prepare her and Liz for their momentous meeting.
It was nothing she had not experienced before, although it was a bit new for Liz. Apparently DesLaurier had bedded her, but had not thought it necessary to give her body a full-scale makeover. As a result, Cordelia’s almost complete lack of body hair attracted a good deal of attention. Penha could not help running her fingers over Cordelia’s belly, stopping just short of the tiny patch of fur that the bey’s women had left her.
“You are most beautiful,” Penha breathed. “The Emperor will be pleased.”
“Yes,” Cordelia thought. “I seem to please a lot of men.” She did nothing, however, to discourage Penha’s attention. She needed at least one friend other than Liz in the harem if she was to have any chance of escape, and she was not about to turn the girl away from her through any harsh reactions. Instead, she turned the compliment back on Penha.
“And do you not please the emperor?” she asked. “You also are very young and beautiful.”
Penha smiled her pleasure at the compliment. She was indeed beautiful in a way quite different from that of Liz or herself. The girl was tall; as tall as Cordelia but with skin the colour of chocolate and dark hair wound into rope-like strands that swept over her shoulders. She moved with the grace of a gazelle, her high, pointed breasts swaying slightly.
“I have had the honour of gracing his bed on occasion,” she said, “but he has many favourites and few have the chance of pleasing him more than once or twice.”
“That was good news,” Cordelia thought. Perhaps the emperor would not call on her more than once, but at the same time she knew that with their milk-white skins, she and Liz were certainly most unusual. It was just possible that if the emperor took a fancy to them they would become permanent bedmates.
“I think the worst part of these things is the preparation,” Cordelia said to Liz. She was trying not to think at what lay ahead of her as she was made presentable for her entrance to the emperor’s bedchamber.
“I wouldn’t know,” said Liz as her finely trimmed toenails were painted bright red. “I’ve never had that pleasure.”
Cordelia reflected that it was as Liz said. The girl had always been bedded by someone of a lower rank. It was Cordelia who had been taken to the bey’s bed while Liz was given to an underling. Not that it mattered all that much she supposed. All men seemed to want the same thing and there seemed to be little to be gained by being taken to the bed of a Muslim lord or an East African king. It was all pretty much one and the same once in the bed.
She wondered which one of them the emperor would
want. Certainly Liz was by far
the more experienced, although she doubted that the emperor knew that unless
Penha or someone had managed to learn of Liz’s
past. There was always the chance
that
She still had no answer by the time the women finished their preparation. It was early evening and neither she nor Liz had been given anything to eat or drink. In addition to the tension of the waiting both their stomachs were hollow from lack of food. But there was nothing to do but wait until the emperor sent for them.
“Well, we do look nice,” Liz commented. “Just like something out of some sort of stage play, only with less clothing.”
“Yes,” Cordelia agreed, considerably less clothing.” She looked at Liz. The girl was adorned with fine gold jewellery, from thin rope chains that encircled her slender neck to a heavy belt that rested on her hips. She was clothed in a bright blue robe that was held on by a gold clasp that fastened the robe at her left shoulder. The sheer fabric was cut, however, so that every curve of the girl’s body could be clearly seen and her left breast was completely exposed.
“A nice touch this,” Liz said, cupping her breast. “I feel like the Queen of Sheba.”
Cordelia, who was dressed and ornamented identically except for the fact that her diaphanous robe was lavender rather than blue, nodded dubiously. She was getting rather tired of being captured, forced to dress like a Delilah and subjected to the sexual whims of whatever man had her under his power. Her stomach fluttering in fear and uncertainty, Cordelia sat with Liz and waited.
The summons came soon enough. Again it was Penha who accompanied their female escort. Having someone she could understand made the summons seem less threatening, but chills still ran down Cordelia’s spine as she followed her female escort.
Briefly, she considered resisting.
They were only women after all.
After what
It was early evening and flickering torches illuminated the marble halls. The emperor’s apartments were not far from the harem. It seemed to be a standard feature. Apparently most men liked to keep their harems close by.
Their female escort stopped outside the entrance to the royal apartments. Only Penha remained with them, a fact that made Cordelia feel a little better. Without the African girl she would have no way of communicating with the emperor. The doors were opened and Liz and Cordelia stepped across the threshold. They entered into palatial splendour.
Everywhere the room gleamed with an emperor’s ransom in gold. It decorated the smooth marble of the pillars that rose from the gold inlaid floor to the ceiling. It was used for the oil lamps that illuminated the room and it was woven into the fabrics that hung about the bed.
Emperor Menelik was waiting for them at an onyx table set for dinner. Cordelia’s stomach growled reminding her that she was both hungry and thirsty. Female servants stood ready to serve and they were ushered into comfortable cushions facing the emperor.
Penha sat to the Menelik’s left and translated as he spoke. “The emperor welcomes you to his apartments and complements you on your beauty. He says no two more beautiful women have ever graced his bedchamber.”
Cordelia was very conscious of her naked left breast. She glanced at Liz whose hungry eyes were staring at the food. “Tell him that I thank him for his kind compliment, but that as royalty ourselves neither I nor my companion are used to being held against our will.”
“I cannot tell him that,” Penha protested. “He will be very angry. I will only tell him the first part.”
Penha began to speak and then stopped as Menelik interrupted. Fear flickered across her face and Cordelia guessed that if it had been possible for Penha to blanch she would have. “He wishes to know what you said,” the girl stammered.
“Then tell him. Tell him that I and my companion are royal princesses and that we demand he help us to return to our country.”
Penha translated and the emperor smiled. He gestured toward the food and indicated that they should eat and drink as he spoke.
“He knows that you were no more than the hairy white man’s kept women. He purchased you fairly in trade and you are now his to do with as he wishes. It is his command that you should now accept his gracious hospitality.”
“That bastard
Cordelia felt like a trapped animal. She was in a prison from which there seemed no escape. In spite of her very brief costume her body broke out into a cold sweat. Without thinking she reached for the gold chalice nearest her and drank deeply.
The wine seemed to steady her, but taken on an empty stomach it also went straight to her head. However, it did not stop her from drinking again, before beginning to eat the food set out in front of her.
Liz ate as well, although surprisingly she did not drink as heavily as Cordelia. As for the latter, the more she drank, the more she felt her apprehension diminishing. Thus she offered no resistance when the emperor took her hand and led her toward the bed.
“Now I know,” she thought. She had wondered whether it would be her or Liz the emperor would choose. And then her eyes widened as the emperor turned slightly and tock Liz’s hand as well. But he did not stop there. He spoke briefly to Penha and with a smile the girl tugged at the clasp of her robe, allowing the filmy garment to fall to the floor.
Cordelia gasped in amazement. Surely Menelik did not intend to take all three…
Her thought was interrupted by Penha. “The Lion of Aksum commands that you and your companion disrobe.”
Cordelia felt her mouth go dry. What sort of perversion was this, to bed three women at once? She stared at Liz in shock, but her companion merely smiled. “It’s alright Cordelia; I know what this mug wants.”
Cordelia realized that she had not translated Penha’s message, but Liz seemed to understand it well enough. She tugged at her clasp and her robe joined Penha’s. Cordelia’s mouth worked, but nothing came out. Trembling, her fingers went to her jeweled clasp and opened the fastening.
Menelik took her first, laying her gently on the bed and softly caressing her ivory skin with his fingertips. She gasped as his mouth found her nipples and moaned at the touch of fingers between her thighs. It was only when she realized that the fingers did not belong to the emperor that she stiffened in amazement.
A low laugh greeted her astonishment. “You have never done anything like this have you?” Penha smiled. “Lie still and let it happen.”
“It’s not natural,” Cordelia gasped. She had a hard time answering. Penha had just moved her hand to the apex of her thighs. The sensation sent ripples of pleasure through her body. “Oh no,” she gasped and then felt another touch. This one was almost familiar. “Liz,” she gasped.
“It’s alright, Luv,” Liz said. “There’s nothing wrong with touching someone you love.”
“Oh God,” Cordelia gasped. Her head was spinning from the effects of the wine, and her body was on fire from the touch of three pairs of hands. Without thought her body arched into Menelik’s, pushing her loins against his.
Menelik’s mouth descended upon hers, teasing her lower lip in a tender kiss. She responded, her lips parting, her tongue seeking his. She almost screamed as someone touched her most private region in a way she had never been touched before. Then she was conscious of Liz on one side of her and Penha on the other.
Their fingers and mouths did incredible things to her. And then she did scream as Menelik thrust into her. Cordelia spent the next hour lost in passion. Her memories of exactly what happened were somewhat hazy. She only remembered that she had never experienced such pleasure or such complete exhaustion.
She lay sexually replete, the bedclothes below her soaked with her own sweat and juices. For the first time in her life she knew what it was to fully join in the act of love. But the session was not quite over. While her chest heaved from her exertions, Liz, Menelik, and Penha continued the session. Their moans and grunts of sexual exertion continued for another two hours until finally all was silent, except for the sounds of heavy breathing.
Somewhere near morning Cordelia awoke to the touch of a tongue on her nipples. She responded without thinking, arching her body into Menelik’s and allowing him to take her once again. This time the trepidation was absent and she was not influenced by the wine. Awakened by the sounds of their rutting, Liz and Penha joined in. For the first time Cordelia experienced the pleasures of kissing another woman as first Penha and then Liz touched her lips to hers.
The kiss sent a shudder through Cordelia’s loins. “Ah, Liz,” she gasped. You’re so beautiful.” She bent her head, tasting Liz’s taut nipples, licking the sweat from the tender buds. Liz moaned in delight and then it was Cordelia who moaned, as Menelik, showing incredible powers of recovery, moved between her thighs from behind.
Caught between her best friend and the emperor, Cordelia writhed in pleasure, arching her back so sharply that her body bent like a bow. From behind her, Menelik caught hold of her arms just above each elbow and pulled her hard into him. He penetrated her fully, causing her to cry out, as for the first time Menelik gave her pain mixed with the pleasure. Beneath her, Liz fondled and kissed her breasts while at the same time being stimulated by Penha. It was all too much for Cordelia. Her loins contracted with a strength she had never before experienced. She screamed in carnal delight as her body seemed to explode with pleasure.
Beside her Liz laughed in delight. “That’s it, luv. Now you know how to make love.”
Cordelia’s only reply was a low moan, as completely drained of strength she once again lapsed into an exhausted sleep.
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