Magic of the Nile (7 page)

He seemed tremendously amused, clapping at the end. “I’ve never heard the like, but I enjoyed the lyrics and tune. You could have had a career as an entertainer if you’d not been a priestess.”

Uncomfortable as always with accepting too much praise, even from Sahure, Tyema glanced away. “Well, hippos don’t regularly eat anything but plants, but I thought since the bird was so annoying, the goddess might have made an exception. Shall we go have our dinner now? We’d better climb the cliff stairs before the night grows too dark.” Nerves made her light headed, giddy as if she’d been twirled in a dance but her heart beat faster in anticipation of the intimacies to come.

He followed her, stopped once they reached the bench on the heights above to retrieve the basket of food he’d brought from the village. Together they went through the gate to her exclusive area of the grounds and entered her living quarters adjacent to the old temple.

Setting the basket down next to the table where dinner awaited them, Sahure said, “A lovely, inviting setting for the most beautiful priestess in the Black Lands of Egypt.”

The flattery sounded a bit too practiced to Tyema. “I suppose you say that to all the priestesses you seduce,” she said, fussing with the plates her maid had set on the table.

Putting his hands gently on her shoulders, Sahure drew her into an embrace. “You’re not like any other woman I ever met. The words I say in your presence come straight from my heart, flying to your ears alone.”
 

Gazing into her eyes, he slowly lowered his head to kiss her, checking for a moment to scan her face before closing his eyes and kissing her.

Tyema melted into his embrace, her own eyes closed, feeling the warmth of his body igniting a fire in her own.

Breaking off the kiss, he slid her dress from her shoulders, baring her breasts. He gazed at her, heavy-lidded, his expression admiring, satisfied. Cupping her breasts with his hands, he said one word, “Beautiful.” He kissed the pillowy top of one and then the other, his thumbs circling the pebbled nipples. Tyema arched her back, pushing into the embrace, a delicious sensation thrumming deep within her. Kissing her the whole time, tongue exploring the intimacies of her mouth while his hand was busy, Sahure undid the knot of the fringed shawl cinching the dress. Tyema held him close, arms clasped around his neck, her lower body undulating against the hard rod of his cock as he undressed her. The dress slid to the floor in a pool of blue-and-green, leaving her naked.

Sahure swept her into his arms and carried her to the adjoining room, standing her on her own two feet beside the bed. “Good, it’s big enough for two to share.”

“I’ve never shared it with anyone before,” she said, shyly.
 

“I’m honored.” He ran his hands over her back, cupping her butt and squeezing gently as he resumed kissing her.

She tugged at his tunic with both hands, pulling it free of the belted kilt, breaking off the kiss to say, “Fair is fair—you’ve seen me and now I want to see you.”
 

Obligingly, he helped her work the garment up over his arms, tossing it to the floor himself. Impatient now, Tyema unfastened the leather belt cinching the kilt around his waist. The fabric fell away and Sahure stood in only his loincloth. He unwound the garment in a quick motion and Tyema smiled with pleasure as she saw him naked in her bedroom.
 

Old scars slashed across his back and abdomen, reminders of the combat he’d faced in Pharaoh’s service. The cartouche of Horus was tattooed on his upper arm. Tyema ran her fingers over the ink, but her attention was for his proud cock, jutting from his smooth-shaven loins. She cupped his sac for a moment, enjoying the weight in her hand, before stroking him root to tip. Sinking to her knees, Tyema took as much of him into her mouth as she could, so large was his endowment. Her bolder sisters and cousins talked of doing this for their men, and of the pleasure derived by both partners in the act. The idea had seemed odd to Tyema but now, running her tongue over the smooth head of his cock, enjoying the feel of holding him in her mouth, she could understand. Sahure fisted his hands through her hair, hips rocking back and forth despite his best efforts as she applied her nimble tongue. Licking and suckling with pleasure, Tyema hummed, pleased at his obvious enjoyment of her fledgling attempts to torment him with her tongue.

“Enough for the moment,” he gasped out. “Gods, woman, you drive me to the brink.”

She gave the head of his cock a last swirl with her tongue and smiled mischievously. “Do I not please you, my lord?”

“Too much, if we’re to make it into the bed together. I want to be deep within you when I come, watch you experience the pleasure I hope to give, share the passion, not be selfish. I’ll gladly give you more opportunities to work your spell.” He picked her up and laid her on the thin mattress atop the strong webbing, moving to join her.

Tyema smiled as he took her nipple into his mouth, tugging and sucking with just enough force to be arousing. His other hand slid down her abdomen, between her legs and stroked the slick, wet entrance to her aching inner core. She grabbed at the headboard of the bed and arched her body to his touch. All that time spent listening to her sisters and nieces talk of pleasing their men and being pleased hadn’t been wasted after all. What man anywhere near her renowned temple was going to risk bedding the priestess of Sobek? The men of her village were none too sure she wasn’t the consort of the god. But inexperienced didn’t have to mean ignorant and she was glad she’d surprised him with her attentions to his cock.
 

Sahure’s focus now was all about her pleasure, what felt good to her, although he was clearly enjoying himself, as his hard cock pressing against her thigh attested.

“Your skin is soft, so warm,” he said with pleasure, kissing the sensitive area where her neck met her shoulders.

“I’ve been thinking of nothing else all day but lying with you,” she said, arching as he inserted first one and then two fingers into her, rubbing and teasing.

“Very flattering for a man to hear but we’re doing too much talking, don’t you think?” He captured her lips, his tongue making its entry into her eager mouth.

He brought her to climax with just his skillful fingers and caresses. Tyema clutched at his shoulders, her body convulsing in waves of unstoppable pleasure as she came, head thrown back. She felt as if she was trying to catch every last particle of the amazing feelings, clenching herself around his questing fingers. Pleasuring herself, even lately as she’d fantasized about him, had never been this intense.
 

Sahure held her close as the final shivers of pleasure faded, working their way outward from her overheated core, like the ripples on a pond, leaving her langorous. “Beautiful as that was to watch, sweetheart, next time, I plan to be buried deep inside you, with your limbs wrapped around me,” he whispered. “If you’re ready for such enjoyment? I’ve no desire to rush you, we have all night.”

Moving her hand to caress his heavy cock where it pressed against her upper thigh, Tyema rubbed her thumb across the plum shaped head, smearing the beads of silk moisture and then licking her fingers. “Now who’s doing too much talking?”

“Mmmm,” he captured her lips and rolled himself on top of her, his weight pressing her into the mattress with just the right amount of pressure. She felt safely caged, protected while they made love. His cock nudged at the slick outer folds of her womanhood and she spread her legs to make entrance easier for him. Using his hand to guide himself, Sahure thrust carefully, kissing her the whole time.

He managed to withhold his own climax until she’d come apart in his arms, clutching him as tightly as she could, trying to take him as deeply into herself as possible, lost in the pleasure of their bodies joined together as one. Sahure came a moment after, while she was still trembling in ecstasy. She felt his seed spurt hot and virile into her womb and she rejoiced in satisfying his needs as well as he’d taken care of hers.

***

Much later, in the last hours of the night, he ran one hand lightly over her breast, leaning in to taste the nipple with his tongue while she shivered, before trailing his hand down to rest on her flat stomach. “Although I hate to cloud a perfect evening with business matters, I should tell you I’ve been recalled to Thebes. Pharaoh has a new assignment for me, or so the orders indicate.”

Tyema sat upright, clutching the sheet. Hearing his news, she felt as if he’d thrown cold water over her.
Why didn’t he tell me this before?
“When do you leave?”

“The day after tomorrow.” He sat up too, kissing her shoulder. “But my men and I go to the capital tomorrow and depart for Thebes from there. Good thing I can trust my horses, drive even when half asleep. I have to brief my uncle, Nomarch Ienhotep, on my findings, get his seal on the report.”

“So soon?” She felt the pain of loss sink its claws into her heart.

“Don’t fret.” Lazily he reached out to snag some grapes from the bedside table. “I want you to go with me.”

Tyema stared at him, not sure she’d heard the words right. “Go with you? Are you mad?”

“You don’t think I’m the kind of man who would make love to you for one night and leave, do you? Of course I intend for you to come with me. Or at the outside, if you can’t get clear of your duties so rapidly, to join me in Thebes before the next new moon.”

She blinked, shaking her head a little, trying to ignore the sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. “Come with you as what?”

“My wife, Ema, Mistress of my House, what else?” He stared at her, brow furrowed, eyes narrowed. “When I bed a woman purely for mutual pleasure, I make sure she knows my intent before we ever enter the bedroom. With you, it’s so much more. My heart is yours. I’ve never offered marriage to anyone before, never wanted to speak those words. I expected to make a strategic union for political advantage with a daughter of a noble house this year and perhaps affection would come later, if the gods favored the woman and me, but I never dreamt of falling headlong into love as I’ve now done.” He grinned. “Like a schoolboy.”

“You—you spoke no words of love to me before this moment, why would I think you wished me for your wife?” Tyema could barely get the words out. He offered her something she’d never dreamt of— love and marriage—much as she might have longed for it deep in her soul, and then in the next breath imposed an impossible condition. “I can’t go to Thebes. What a mad idea!” She left the bed, snatching up her robe from the stool and walking to the open door facing the cliff and the Nile below, all the while struggling into the garment. She was dizzy, her heart was breaking, and anger was building a fire in her gut, burning her pleasure into ashes. Knotting the robe’s fringed belt with a savage tug, she said, “I can’t leave this place.”

“I understand you’re the high priestess here, but priests and priestesses are allowed to be married. You don’t have to work all the time, unceasingly, sweetheart. Let others step in and carry some of the load. I’m sure the Great One Sobek will agree to let you transfer to his temple in Thebes so we can be together, and you can continue to honor him while married to me.” Sahure came to stand behind her, the warmth of his body failing to touch the chill in hers. She moved a few steps away, evading the hand he put out to her. Hands fisted on his hips, he tilted his head, a puzzled expression on his face, eyebrows raised. “What did you think would happen when I was done with the survey for the new port?”

Never had she even dared to think theirs would be more than a fleeting relationship—the love of a lifetime for her and a pleasant interlude for him. Yet her traitor heart betrayed her into speaking of the dream she didn’t even know she’d cherished. Shaking her head, she said, “You could take a position here.” But as the words left her lips, Tyema knew she voiced a forlorn hope. He’d talked often enough of his true dreams and plans in their time together.

“
Here
? Set’s teeth, I can’t believe you’d suggest such a thing.” Taking her by the shoulders, his touch gentle but firm, Sahure swung her around to meet his gaze. “I can’t resign from Pharaoh’s service. I
won’t
resign, to do what? Be a temple guard?” His tone was scathing as he went on. “Stand at the village gates maybe, with a spear, under the command of your brother-in-law? When I’m accustomed to taking my orders directly from Pharaoh’s lips? Commanding hundreds of soldiers and charioteers? You can’t be serious.” His face was incredulous as he tried to find the words to reach her, to explain himself. “I’m a warrior, through and through. I’m an ambitious man, I have goals—I told you about them. I thought you shared my hopes. I’m rising in Pharaoh Nat-re-Akhte’s favor with each assignment I complete. My future— our future—can be golden.”

“You don’t need me, then,” Tyema said, allowing some of her anger to color her voice with heat “You need to pursue your original,
sensible
plan, marry a fine lady at Court, with connections and a big dowry. She can help your career. I can’t.”

“Why are you pushing me away like this? Why are you raising so many objections? I
need
you.” He kissed her but she was unresponsive. “I love you.” He laughed a little. “I never thought to say those words to a woman, but then I met you and I was lost.”

She framed his beloved face with her hands, the pain from her breaking heart a stabbing wound in her chest. “I cannot be what you want and I certainly can’t go to Thebes. You don’t understand.”

“Make me understand then,” he pleaded. “Tell me what’s going on in your beautiful, stubborn mind. What is it I don’t know?”