All the Sweet Tomorrows (52 page)

She heard a horse whinny near her, and then Zada gasped. Turning her head just slightly for a moment, Skye saw Kedar mounted upon her servant, pounding hard into her. Zada’s face was a study in pure bliss, and Skye turned away, ashamed that women could be driven to welcome such degradation. With a moan that could only be described as rapturous Zada collapsed into the lawn, and Kedar moved on to enjoy Talitha. A small boy eunuch hurried along with the master, wiping the spendings from his encounter away with a soft cloth moistened in rosewater, finishing just as they reached Talitha. Kedar circled the kneeling woman, snorting and pawing. Talitha responded by pretending to shy away with a nervous little nicker. With a grin Kedar pounced upon her, thrusting quickly back and forth until she too collapsed with a little shriek. The little eunuch swiftly refreshed his master, and then Kedar’s eyes swept to Skye.

She braced herself discreetly for his assault. As with Talitha,
he first circled her, and unable to help herself, Skye shifted nervously on the grass. Kedar snorted an equine warning and moved closer, nuzzling at her bottom, causing her to start warily. His big hands now closed over her hips, and she felt his hardness beginning to prod at her. She tensed, remembering her first husband, who had punished her when it pleased him by forcing her in the Greek fashion, but Kedar was not interested in loving her as he might a boy. With unerring skill he found her woman’s passage, and drove deeply into her. Slowly he began to move back and forth within her, growing more excited as the moments passed. She knew she could not remain passive and please him, and so she began to tighten her vaginal muscles about him, teasingly nipping at him with the devil’s bite. With a growl he pushed her down upon the grass, and bit at her neck. “Vixen,” he murmured, and then his passion burst within her.

They lay sandwiched together for some moments, and then he whispered in her ear, “I waited all afternoon for you to return so I might have you, my jewel. You have spoiled me for the others, you beautiful bitch. I am only satisfied by you.”

Her heart was still hammering wildly, but she knew that she was expected to respond to such ardor. “What a wonderful day you have given me, my lord. First the bazaars, and now your loving. I am the most fortunate of women!”

“You do not mind that I have taken you before the others?”

“I prefer that our love be between us alone, my lord, but I am not ashamed to show it before the others. You will, however, make them even more envious of me than they already are.”

He rolled off of her and, standing up, pulled her up with him. His arm was wrapped tightly about her waist, her breasts pushing against his side. She looked up at him, her sapphire eyes never wavering, and Kedar wanted to ravish her once more where they stood, she excited him so. “The day is not yet ended, my jewel,” he murmured, and bent to kiss her slowly and tenderly. “I adore you, my fair Muna,” he said low, and then, releasing her, called to the others, “The games are ended, my pets. Return to the harem, all of you but Talitha and Muna.”

The women began trooping back into the house while the young eunuch sponged down his master with rosewater, and Dagan and Min’da removed the trappings of the games from Talitha and Muna. They then loosed the women’s hair, and after brushing it out, took a small portion of it from the center of their heads and braided it with a strand of small pearls. Kedar put an arm around both of his favorites, and they began to walk slowly
back to his quarters. It seemed not to bother him that they were all nude.

“You have both pleased me greatly of late,” he said expansively, “and so I have a special treat for you. Today while you shopped in the bazaars I had a visit from my brother, Hamal. He brought with him an invitation to dinner at Princess Turkhan’s palace. The princess, it seems, has become interested in expanding her own trading empire. Right now she sends her goods to the coast via the services of others, but Hamal has convinced her that she should save a great deal of money if she had her own caravans. I would not have thought that my brother had a head for business, but it seems that he may. He has told her that if she would send her own people to the coast to buy and sell then I am the best man to speak with about it.

“Two days from now I am invited, and of course if I go for the evening meal then I am also invited to remain the night, for it would be too dangerous to travel the streets after dark. The invitation allows that I may bring two of my favorites with me to make my night a pleasant and happy one. I have chosen you two, Talitha and Muna.”

“My lord Kedar,” Talitha quickly spoke up. “How generous you are!”

Skye’s heart was pounding wildly, but she controlled herself so she might speak her gratitude also. “My lord Kedar, we are unworthy of such pleasure. How can we thank you?”

He stopped and, smiling down into her upturned face, said, “By giving me a preview tonight of the pleasures you will give me two nights from now. You and Talitha are perfectly matched with your white and gold skins. It would give me great pleasure to see you make love to each other before I take you both.”

For a moment Skye thought she had not heard him right, and then realizing that she had, the world began to crumble about her. She was tumbling back through the years to a time when she had surprised her first husband in an incestuous act with his sister Claire; and they had seen her; caught her and raped her. She had had a horror of any intimacy with a woman since then. It had been months in fact before she could even let her maid touch her. Now she was being faced with the thing in the world she feared most.

Talitha saw her turn her white face, and sensed instantly that something was very wrong. “My lord Kedar,” she said, “you know that I would not spoil your pleasure for the world, but I do not believe that Muna has ever made love with another woman.
She is apt to be clumsy at first, unless, of course, you will excuse us for the next two days so I may school her to please you. It will be well worth the wait, I promise you,” she tempted him, and then bent and bit at his shoulder in a provocative manner, looking up teasingly at him from beneath her thick lashes. “Did the girl you took before you delighted me this afternoon please you? She is Muna’s maidservant, and really quite mad for you, my lord. She would keep you amused this night, I vow.”

Kedar licked his lips in anticipation. He was disappointed, but he knew that Talitha was right. It would be better if Muna had some knowledge of what would be required of her, and the little Berber savage had been a hot piece. She might prove an enjoyable one-night diversion. “Very well,” he growled, “but see you teach her well, Talitha.” He gave them each an affectionate pat on their bare bottoms. “Go to your own quarters, and send the Berber girl to me.”

“Of course, my lord, immediately,” Talitha murmured soothingly, and grasping Skye’s hand firmly, she hurried her off before Kedar could change his mind.

“I can’t do it,” Skye protested as they re-entered the harem. “I simply cannot do it!”

“You do not have a choice, Muna. I saw how horrified you were, and so I rescued you before you did something foolish like refuse Kedar. I know it still chafes at you, having once been a free woman, but you are no longer free. Kedar has the power of life and death over you, and you know that he is not an easy man. If he desires that we make love together for his amusement, then you have no choice but to obey him. Do not worry. I will show you what to do, and it will not be so terrible, I promise you.”

“No,” Skye said. “I would rather die.”

They had reached Skye’s chamber, and Talitha pulled her into the room, commanding Zada as she did so, “The master desires your company, fortunate one. Hurry lest you keep him waiting and displease him.” With a little cry of delight Zada ran from the room, and Talitha turned back to Skye. “Have you gone mad?” she snapped at her. “If it pleased Kedar to kill you he would do it so painfully that your last hours would seem like years. Are your childish scruples worth that, Muna?”

“Once,” Skye said in a small, tight voice, “once long ago, a woman forced me, and I wanted to die for the shame.”

Talitha sighed. So that was it. Muna had been raped by a woman at one time in her life. “It won’t be rape between us,
Muna. It will be two friends seeking to give each other gentle pleasures, and nothing more. We are friends, aren’t we?”

“I cannot do it,” Skye whispered.

“You have to,” was the equally adamant reply. “Come.” Talitha put an arm about Skye, who instantly stiffened with alarm. “You will have to overcome your fears, at least to Kedar’s eye. What we do means nothing, Muna. Please try.”

“What will it be?” Skye asked.

“No more than a little kissing and caressing, Muna. Not really so awful. Let us sit down, and I will show you what is expected of us.” She drew Skye over to a low divan, and together they sat down amid the brightly colored cushions. Gently Talitha began to caress Skye, and it was all Skye could do not to scream with her revulsion. It was not that she disliked Talitha, but the memory of Claire O’Flaherty’s bestial abuse of her kept leaping to mind. She began to weep soundlessly, and seeing her tears, Talitha kissed them tenderly away. “There, my lovely friend, don’t weep. It is not so awful, is it? Women are far more considerate lovers than men, Muna.” She continued to speak gently to Skye for some minutes, all the while kissing and caressing her. Skye steeled herself against her embarrassment and distaste, finally admitting to herself that there simply was no other way. If she was to survive, if she and Niall were to escape safely from Fez, she must accept even this.

Talitha now began to instruct her as to what she must do, and without further protest Skye obeyed her friend. Only when they lay stretched out together on the cushions and Talitha lowered her head to kiss Skye’s Venus mont did Skye resist once more. “Oh, no, Talitha! Please not there!” Talitha pushed Skye’s hands away, and with a sigh Skye ceased her outcry, forcing her mind to think only of Niall Burke.

Finally Talitha said, “There! Now that was not so awful, and you were fine, Muna. Tomorrow we will practice a little more, and you must participate fully then.”

“Talitha, I can force myself to stay still when you kiss and touch me intimately; but I will not be aggressive with you. I cannot; it is not my nature. I think women loving women is an unnatural thing.”

“For some women it is the preferred way, Muna.”

“Not for me,” Skye replied. “Not ever!”

“You prefer Kedar?”

“I prefer a man’s touch.”

Talitha laughed at the way Skye had avoided her question, but
held her peace. “Let us eat the evening meal together after we visit the baths,” she said. “From the look in Kedar’s eye your Zada will not be back until morning, and I will wager he shortly sends for others, too. You would think that his little games in the mares’ meadow would exhaust him, but such things seem to increase his appetite rather than diminish it.”

It was a relief to Skye that after their initial session of lovemaking Talitha returned to her normal self. Uncomfortable as she was, she believed that now she had met and identified herself to young Hamal her stay in Fez would soon be at an end. Then she and Niall would be free, and returning to Ireland, to their children and a normal life. She wondered if she would see Niall when she visited Princess Turkhan’s palace in two days. More than likely, he would remain incarcerated behind the harem walls, and she would be kept locked with Talitha in a guest apartment. They would be so close, and yet separated. “But not for long,” Skye whispered to herself. “Not for long, my love.”

“What is it you say, Muna?” Talitha inquired of her.

“What?” Skye was drawn sharply from her reverie.

“You said something just now,” Talitha repeated.

“I did?” Skye shook her head. “I cannot remember,” she said, “and so obviously it was not important. Not important at all.”

H
AMAL
led Niall Burke into the large gardens that were a part of Princess Turkhan’s estate in Fez. The gardens were the only place where the two men might speak without being overheard. No one followed them to listen, for Hamal was the most trusted of the princess’s slaves, and of late his companion had been far easier to manage. They strolled along a path of carefully raked marble chips, lined by tall, fragrant cedar trees. Ahead of them was a rose garden filled with brightly colored flowers. The sight of it reminded Niall of Skye, a thought he pushed from his mind. He could not afford to weaken now.

“Did your wife ever speak of her friend in Algiers, Osman the astrologer?” Hamal asked him suddenly, and Niall stopped in midstride.

“Yes,” he said hesitantly. “Why do you ask me?”

“Osman is my uncle, Ashur. Last year he came to Fez, which is his native city, in order to teach for a few months at the university. We spoke of you, and my uncle recognized who you were immediately. We decided then that you must be helped to escape. Do not cry out, my friend, but your wife is here in Fez. She is a brave woman, and from the moment she learned that you lived nothing would do but that she free you.”