Bertrice Small - A Distant Tomorrow

“You two have been chattering forever,” Gaius Prospero said. “What do you speak about?”

“Politics, my lord,” Lara said. “In other words, nothing at all.”

A ripple of laughter erupted about the table, and then dessert was served.

HIS GUESTS HAD DEPARTED back to their dwellings. Anora, his second wife, clung to his arms purring deliciously lascivious and salacious suggestions into his ear. Gaius Prospero shook her off. “Not now,” he said testily. “I have other things that need attending before I come to bed.”

“What things?” Anora demanded. “I see you will need my whip on your fat bottom tonight, Gaius. You have neglected me dreadfully of late.” She slipped her arms about his neck, pressing against him, a hand reaching down to grasp his male member.

Again he pushed her away. “Anora, there are matters concerning Hetar that require my immediate attention. Go to your bed. I have no time for you.”

“Then divorce me, and send me back to my Pleasure House!” she cried. “I cannot exist without pleasures. I am not your senior wife, Vilia, content to be ignored as long as my lofty status remains intact. I need passion!”

An unpleasant smile touched Gaius Prospero’s lips. He wrapped his hand in Anora’s long hair, and yanked her to him. “I have no intention of divorcing you, my pet,” he said to her. Then he slapped her viciously several times. “And remember that I, too, know how to give pain. You have taught me well, Anora. Now leave me!” He flung the woman from him, and she fell to her knees upon the marble floor sobbing.

“I love you, Gaius,” she whimpered, looking up at him.

Her cheeks were stained with tears, and he saw the red marks his hand had made upon her cheeks. He felt the strange satisfaction that punishing her always brought him. Then getting to her feet Anora ran from the room. She would, he knew, be waiting with her whip to punish him when he was ready for her. And then they would experience glorious pleasures together until they were too weak even to rise from the bed.

“Jonah!” the emperor called to his assistant.

“I am here, my lord,” Jonah said appearing from the shadows.

“Come,” Gaius Prospero beckoned. “Let us have some more wine and discuss the evening.” He sat down in a thronelike chair while Jonah poured two goblets of wine for them, handing his master one as he stood by his side. “Now tell me what you thought of the beautiful Lara and this husband of hers. Shall I have him killed before they depart the City? Tonight? Then I might console the widow personally.”

“Too obvious, my lord, but then you knew that before I even spoke,” Jonah said.

“You know I have always desired her,” the emperor continued. “Would she not make me a fine empress? How old do you think she is now? Twenty-one? Twenty-two?” He licked his lips. “To take pleasures with her would be as close to divinity as a man might come, I think.”

“The ladies Vilia and Anora might not approve of such plans,” Jonah said dryly.

“They argue over who should be my empress, which is why neither one of them shall ever be,” Gaius Prospero said.

“The woman you entertained tonight, my lord, was hardly the girl you sent off to be sold into slavery eight years ago,” Jonah reminded his master. “That girl had no magic. But this woman does have magic, and it is great magic.”

“All the more reason I should have her for my empress,” Gaius Prospero said. “Imagine the power that would be mine with a faerie wife, Jonah!”

“Indeed, my lord, the thought is staggering. Unfortunately the lady would not be willing, I fear. Even if you murdered this new husband as you did the last, she would not, I believe, be willingly yours.”

“But soon we will enter the Outlands, and I shall find the children she gave to Vartan. I will use them to force her compliance to my will,” Gaius Prospero said.

“Would not her children be with her?” Jonah asked.

“Nay, they are not. After Vartan’s death, when she went to the Coastal Kingdom to visit Archeron she left them behind with their Fiacre clan family, Vartan’s people,” the emperor said. “Arcas told me.”

“Arcas lies,” Jonah noted. “First he claimed he had sold Lara into slavery. Then he said she was dead, fallen overboard from his vessel. Yet, my lord, here she was tonight, the wife of a man who claims to rule in another land. I attempted to solicit certain information from the lady Lara about this Terah, but she was not at all forthcoming, other than to say it was many weeks’ travel from Hetar’s farthest borders.”

“Then for now Terah would not appear to be a threat to Hetar,” Gaius Prospero said thoughtfully. “But where is it? And why is this Dominus not interested in being Hetar’s ally? Yet he was interested enough in Hetar to make his clandestine visit.”

“I think Arcas may know where Terah is,” Jonah said. “The Coastal Kings have many secrets they have not shared with you, my lord. For too long we have allowed them this isolation because of the luxury goods they constantly provide us, yet from where do those goods come? We have always assumed that the coastal folk fashioned them for us. But if that were so, my lord, why do the Coastal Kings have need of vessels to sail the sea they call Sagitta? Is it possible that these luxuries come from the place Lara calls Terah? And if they do, then the Coastal Kings are no better than the Taubyl Traders. They are middlemen. If we could trade directly with Terah, would not our costs be lower and our profits higher, my lord?”

A smile wreathed Gaius Prospero’s fat face. “Jonah, my dear Jonah,” he murmured pleased, “you are a treasure. How facile your mind is, and how it twists, and ferrets out the nuggets of information that will be useful to us. And to Hetar,” he added as an afterthought. “I could not do without your counsel.”

Jonah bowed his head in appreciation of the emperor’s words. “I am grateful to serve you, my lord,” he said flatteringly.

“Now let us get back to the beautiful Lara,” Gaius Prospero said. “What am I to do about her, Jonah?”

“Nothing for now, my lord,” Jonah advised. “Patience will prove to be a virtue in this matter, I assure you. You must not confuse yourself with too many projects at once. In another week we will begin our march into the Outlands through the Coastal province. Our Mercenary army and their Crusader Knight officers are already there. Think of the riches awaiting us, my lord. Slaves to be pressed into the service of Hetar. Beautiful women for the Pleasure Houses. Villages already built, and ready to be inhabited by those you have chosen, folk who will be loyal to you first because of your generosity. There are flocks and herds of animals that will make you richer than you could ever have imagined. The fields will be ripening with their crops, which we will harvest for ourselves at the proper time. The City’s markets will be full again with cheap produce. The people will laud you for it. And the mines will again be ours to work. With such an enlarged labor force at little cost to us we will increase our returns. Your coffers will overflow, my lord.”

“It is a dream come true,” Gaius Prospero gushed. “All I need to make it perfect is Lara by my side as my empress, and in my bed to share pleasures.”

“It will be so, my lord,” Jonah assured him. “But first we take the Outlands. Then we will force their secrets from the Coastal Kings. And when we do, the road to Terah will be open to us, my lord. We must proceed slowly and carefully if we are to succeed in this endeavor. And you will have Lara’s Fiacre children in your tender care so that the faerie woman will be more amenable to your wishes. A year, or two at the most, my lord, and everything you have ever wanted will be yours.”

“Yes!” Gaius Prospero breathed. “And in the meantime I have Vilia and Anora, each of them bending over backward to please me in the hopes I will make one of them my empress.” He laughed, and nodded well pleased. “Once more you have clarified the picture for me, Jonah. You must help me continue to be patient,” the emperor said.

“I am here for you, my lord. Only for you,” Jonah assured Gaius Prospero.

“I have kept Anora waiting long enough,” the emperor said. “Good night, Jonah. May the rest of your evening be as pleasant as mine is certain to be.” And he hurried off to where his second wife was anticipating his arrival.

On her large bed lay the gold wrist cuffs lined in lamb’s wool that were connected with a silver chain, a matching collar, a small dog whip, and a hazel switch as thick as her thumb. “You are late!” Anora snapped at him as Gaius Prospero entered the chamber. “Put on your collar, and get on your knees! Beg my forgiveness for your earlier behavior, and your tardiness,” she said reaching for the switch. “Display your bottom for me immediately, Gaius,” she commanded him as he hurried to obey her, smiling as she saw him wince at the sound of the hazel rod swishing through the air. “You are going to spend until dawn being punished, husband,” Anora told him. “Your buttocks will be well burnished by the time I have finished with you.”

“Yes, my sweet precious,” Gaius Prospero whimpered, eager for her to begin. Anora’s whippings always produced the most extraordinary results for him. He performed like a bull amid a herd of heifers afterwards. Vilia no longer aroused any passion in him at all. But Lara…The thought of her set his male member stirring, and then he yelped as Anora’s hazel switch began to sting and burn his flesh.

Listening outside Anora’s chamber Lady Vilia smiled with satisfaction. She hurried through the house, and then when she had almost reached the great hall a hand reached out, pulling her into the shadows. “Jonah!” she breathed.

His mouth found hers in a hard kiss. He forced her back against the wall with his lean body, pulling her gown up as he did. Her hands fumbled eagerly to push his own gown away. Then he was raising her up. Her legs were wrapping about him. He thrust hard into her wet heat. “Vilia,” he ground out. “I thought you were not coming.” His hips worked in sharp quick rhythm with hers. “You were ready for me, you wicked bitch, weren’t you?” Jonah groaned, burying his face between her big breasts.