Double Your Pleasure Bundle (30 page)

Chapter Eight - Celebration

An acolyte led Melis and the three brothers to their places. When they arrived, Melis stared in surprise at the arrangements. Two dining couches had been pushed together to form a single, wide platform, and heaped with soft cushions, presumably so that all three brothers could recline together.

What was missing was her chair. In her village, no one did fancy things like recline at meals. That was for the rich folk, but even Melis knew that only the men reclined at meals.

Women, even concubines and
hetaera
, sat properly upright in chairs, if they were allowed to join the men for the meal at all. It was far more common for women to serve food while the men ate, and only after the men had finished eating would the women gather in a separate chamber for their own meal.

Was Melis expected to stand during the meal, and act as servant to her new lords? That wasn't entirely unexpected, but it would also mean that she would have to wait at least two or three hours more before she could eat. Or sit.

Her new sandals fit beautifully, but she had walked many miles since dawn, and had just now spent a long time standing on hard marble pavement during the auction and binding ceremony.

She moved to take the hostess's place next to the low table, which already held pitchers of wine and water, as well as a
krater
, where the wine and water would be mixed before serving.

Melis bit her lip and frowned down at the
krater
, trying to remember the proper proportions for mixing water and wine. Water was always poured in first, with the wine added to it, but would her lords prefer the usual three parts of water to one of wine, or did they drink a stronger mixture, perhaps even half-and-half?

She told herself that should be honored to serve at a feast attended by semi-divine beings.

But, thanks to the charm she now wore, she could no longer hide her true feelings from her new lords.

"Melis, what's the matter?" asked Agreus, obviously sensing her weariness and sudden disappointment.

The three men stood around her, waiting expectantly.

"I was just wondering... will I be serving your food and mixing and pouring your wine tonight? Not that I mind!" she added hastily, sensing their startled reactions despite the veils that concealed their expressions. "It's just that I wanted to know the proportions you prefer...so that I could—"

"Did someone tell you that we were going to treat you like a slave girl? Who told you that? I'll fucking rip them a new one!" exploded Phorbas.

Melis flinched a little, though she knew full well that his anger wasn't directed at her.

"No one told me anything," she explained hastily. "I just didn't see a chair here for me, so I assumed...well, I
am
your slave. You bought me, didn't you?"

"Of course you're not going to be serving us, Melis," interjected Nomios, smoothly. "That's what the temple's servants and acolytes are for.
You're
one of the guests of honor, and will be treated as such." He studied her for a long moment. "You truly think you're our servant? That we purchased you as a slave? Did no one explain the auction to you?"

She shook her head. "I arrived so late that everyone was in a hurry to get me bathed and dressed...and I guess I didn't ask the right questions."

"Indeed," said Agreus, putting his hands on her shoulders and gently turning her towards the dining couch. "We'll have more time to discuss this once we're settled and you've had some refreshment, but you are neither our slave nor our servant. Rather, you are our
philtata
, the Lady Melis of noble rank. There's no chair because our customs are a little different from what you're accustomed to. You're going to share this couch with us, and we're going to make sure that you get the best of everything."

Lady Melis...noble rank...the best of everything?
She knew she was gaping at Agreus, but she couldn't believe him. It was all too good to be true for a girl without a family, a dowry, or her virginity.

When she had set out on her journey here, Melis had hoped only for something better than working in a brothel or begging in a city street. Becoming a
philtata
, a concubine to a Child of Lilith, had seemed to her the best of all her possible options, though she had half-expected to be turned away at the temple gates. 

"Let's get you settled before they begin bringing around the food," Agreus said, and lifted her effortlessly in his arms.

He placed her squarely in the center of the couch, and Phorbas hastened to slide a cushion under her elbow.

Within moments, Melis was surrounded by drifts of shimmering blue silk as Agreus and Phorbas sandwiched her between their hard male bodies, and Nomios stretched out comfortably at her feet.

It was all very sophisticated and decadent and Melis lay rigid, uncertain of what to do next...at least until Phorbas began pulling at his robes, cursing as he freed trapped folds that restricted his movements.

The spell broken, Melis laughed and relaxed.

Phorbas rolled to face her, and put his hand on her hip. "And the worst thing about having to wear these fucking veils in public is that they get in the way of kissing pretty girls," he said conversationally, just before leaning close.

She enjoyed his efforts, anyway, the thin layer of silk separating their lips making his kiss somehow more erotic.

She couldn't hide her reaction from Agreus, who lay at her back, embracing her waist.

He kissed the back of her neck, silk sliding across the tender skin of her nape, the sensation making her inhale sharply in pleasure.

Agreus pressed his hips against her buttocks, and she felt the hard length of his erection through his garments. She
felt
his desire through their bond as he ground against her with deliberate calculation.

Someone's hand slipped down the loose neck of her gown and began to caress her breast. Fingertips traced a light, teasing spiral up from her ribs then swirled around the sensitive tip and lingered there, fanning the flames of her arousal. Her nipple stiffened under the caress and she moaned and arched when her tormentor pinched it.

The movement brought her hips forward, pressing against Phorbas, whose erection rivaled Agreus. He growled at the contact, and embraced her fiercely, letting her feel the evidence of his desire.

Oh Aphrodite, they're going to take me right here!

Her loins pulsed with wet heat at the prospect being taken in public like this. Who would go first? And with three of them ready to claim her, did it matter?

"Very flattering, my lady." She had forgotten that they could read her mind now. Agreus chuckled softly against the nape of her neck, and continued speaking, his voice lower than usual. "But we
did
promise to feed you first. Dinner first, and then the ravishing can commence."

"Can't we fuck her and feed her at the same time?" demanded Phorbas, but she could sense he was only trying to shock her.

She laughed again, still feeling giddy from the ambrosia. "You did warn me that you were all mad, bad, and dangerous to know. But I was hoping that starvation wasn't one of those dangers." She stroked Agreus's hand on her waist, and reached forward with her lips to kiss Phorbas through his veil.

"Alas, I am in exile and neglected," Nomios said, in a piteous tone from his place at her feet.

"That's because you're doing a poor job of amusing me," she said, recklessly.

Oh, I probably shouldn't be so insolent!
Her instant of apprehension at her boldness vanished when he laughed.

"Point taken, my lady." His hand closed around her ankle, and she felt him loosening the gilded straps of her sandals and removing them.

Then he took her aching feet into his big hands and began to massage them, his thumbs pressing into her arches with just the right pressure, squeezing and stretching. 

Melis relaxed against the cushions of the dining couch and moaned with pleasure as Nomios's strong hands probed her ankles, flexing and stretching them to dissolve tension before returning to her feet to rub each of her toes with loving, lingering care.

"So, am I pleasing you now?" Nomios asked, in a teasing tone, without faltering in his wonderful, sensual massage.

"You've just become my favorite person in the whole world," she told him, sincerely.

"Hey!" protested Phorbas, in mock indignation.

"That just means we'll have to try harder to impress our new
philtata
, little brother," drawled Agreus. "I
love
a challenge like this—don't you?"

"Fuck yeah," agreed Phorbas, with a husky chuckle.

Perhaps they
were
going to ravish her on this couch, out in the middle of the courtyard, after all. As she was kissed and caressed until she was panting with desire, Melis found she no longer cared about onlookers.

She dared a glance over at the neighboring couches, and found similar scenes repeated at each.

Only at Lord Enlil's couch was the tableau strangely chaste, but the youth Rudjek looked dazed with happiness as he reclined next to his new lord. Enlil's gloved hand rested on Ramjet's tunic-clad hip, but he made no other gestures of intimacy.

Then the music of flutes, drums, and harp began, and the banquet's first course arrived. Young men and women wearing temple white circulated among the dining couches, bearing flat baskets piled high with miniature loaves of bread baked in the shape of erect phalluses.

Melis giggled as Phorbas snagged one, and offered it to her. She bit into the end of the warm, soft bread, and saw pale cheese ooze out. This only made her laugh harder. She felt intoxicated with the ambrosia she had drunk at the ceremony, and the desire that came to her through the strange bond she now shared with her three lords,

The bread stuffed with melted sheep's cheese was delicious, fed to her in small bites by Phorbas while Agreus continued to kiss the back of her neck and Nomios pampered her feet.

The next dish to appear was a thick, flavorful pottage of beans cooked with herbs and studded with slices of spiced boar sausage. Agreus fed this to her from a silver spoon as Phorbas delicately dabbed at her mouth with a fine linen napkin between spoonfuls.

She felt like a queen amidst all this unaccustomed pampering. "Aren't you going to eat anything?" she asked, when the brothers made no moves to raise their veils and partake.

"Oh, our feast comes later," Phorbas said. "This is for you."

The bean dish was followed by one of mushrooms braised with thyme and onions in a sauce flavored with sour cream. This, too, was delicious.

"Oh, good, they're starting the main courses now," said Nomios, who was still gently massaging her feet.

Melis looked at him in astonishment.
More food was coming?

The portions had been small, and she was still hungry, true, but three different dishes at a single meal was already a greater variety than she had ever seen. She had been hoping that the servers might come around with second helpings of the bean pottage and that wonderful mushroom dish.

"What we had just now was only the appetizer course," Nomios explained. "The seafood and meat dishes are still coming, and then there will be dessert before the salted nuts and wine are served."

Very shortly, a dish of vineyard snails arrived at their table. They had been baked in their shells with olive oil, parsley, salt, and garlic. Phorbas deftly handled the hooked metal skewer for pulling the mollusks from their shells, feeding each tiny, flavorful morsel to Melis by placing it between her lips.

The snails were followed by mussels cooked in a broth of white wine, garlic, and herbs, with crusty bread to sop up the delicious juices. Then came skewers of tiny broiled octopuses brushed with vinegar and sprinkled with chopped oregano. Next, a platter of fresh sardines split and broiled with salt and garlic, served on slices of toasted bread.

Agreus and Phorbas took turns feeding her, explaining the contents of each dish as it arrived at their dining couch.

And then Melis was served a dish she had never eaten before—eels braised in saffron sauce, their flesh tender and buttery.

As a fisherman's daughter, Melis was well-acquainted with sardines, eel, and octopus, of course, but they were a valuable catch and immediately sold as soon as her father's boat returned to the dock. The family ate whatever seafood remained when the fishmongers had finished picking through her father's catch of the day. Some days, they ate only thick barley porridge or shellfish gathered by Melis and sisters from the tide pools along the rocky shore.

But the eels were far from the last of the delicacies.

The next platter to emerge from the temple kitchens was piled high with duck roasted with honey and spices in the style of Khem, then minced and served on warm flatbread.

Melis had never eaten duck before, and found the meat rich and flavorful in an exotic way. Like eel, ducks and geese were food that only the rich could afford.