educating women, Adora reminded the parents of Mesembria of their proud Greek heritage. The maidens of ancient Greece had been taught along with their brothers. She then offered to dower the ten best female students each year, thereby greatly enhancing the value of an educated wife!
The days moved swiftly in a haze of hard work, for neither Alexander nor Theadora was an idle ruler. The nights were slow passages of sensual delights. The lovers strove to found a new dynasty for Mesembria, but Adora did not conceive.
Two nights before he was to leave for Trebizond, Alexander surprised his wife by designating her his regent in his absence. Adora was furious. “But I want to go with you,” she protested. “I cannot bear to be separated from you! I will not be!”
He laughed and, pulling her down into his lap, kissed her angry mouth. “I cannot bear being separated from you either, beauty. But I must go, and we should not both be gone from our city at the same time.”
Her violet eyes were mutinous. “Why not?”
“What if you are with child? What if you came with me and the ship sank? Mesembria would be without a Heracles for the first time in five centuries.”
“Mesembria,” she answered with logic, “would be the poorer without the Heracles family. I will admit that. But it would survive. And besides, I have just finished my show of blood and so am not with child as you well know!”
“Ah, beauty, but we have tonight and tomorrow before us,” and indeed his hands were wandering provocatively.
“No!” She leapt from his lap. “I am not a brood mare! A wife’s place is by her husband’s side. I would go with you, and I will!”
He sighed. “You are behaving like a child, Adora.”
“And you, my lord husband, with all your talk of dynasties are sounding more like a pompous ass every minute. I am not with child, and the likelihood of my becoming so in these next two days is zero! However, if you will let me go with you we may return from Trebizond with not only a trade agreement but the hope of an heir as well. Or is it that you have some agreeable little creature who eagerly awaits your arrival in Trebizond?”
“Theadora!”
“Alexander!”
Her outrage and determination heightened her beauty, and he nearly succumbed. But a man must still be master in his own house. With a swiftness that quite surprised her, he caught her and, turning her over his knee, pulled up her gown and paddled her bare bottom. She shrieked, more with outrage than with pain.
“If you behave like a child you must be treated like one,” he said sternly, giving her a final swat. He turned her back over.
“I will never forgive you for this,” she sobbed.
“Yes, you will,” he answered with infuriating calm, and his mouth turned up in a mischievous smile as he bent to kiss her. She compressed her lips tightly together. Chuckling, he persisted, nibbling at her mouth while her eyes flashed outrage at him. Then he stopped and said quietly, “Theadora, my sweet Adora! I love you!”
“Damn you, Alexander,” she responded huskily, and her arms encircled his neck. “First you beat me, and then you want to make love to me. I have heard about men like you, and I do not know if I approve!”
He began to laugh. “Where on earth did you ever learn of such things, Adora?”
“The women in Orkhan’s harem may be cloistered, but they are quite knowledgeable, and there is little to do there but talk.”
“It is a husband’s duty to correct and chastise his wife,” he teased her.
“Not just before he wants to make love to her,” she teased him back.
That night he made love to her slowly and with such controlled passion that several times she screamed at him to take her
His head moved slowly down her body, kissing softly, until he reached her secret place. He tasted her, and she moaned, her head thrashing wildly. He raised his golden head. “Do you remember the first time, beauty? The first time I loved you like this?”
“Y-Yes!”
He smiled tenderly down at her. “You’ve learned to like it, haven’t you?”
“Yes!”
“You’re like a fine sweet wine,” he said thickly, and then swung over her. She writhed beneath him, her amethyst eyes pleading, and he gently thrust into her.
“Oh, Alexander,” she breathed, eagerly receiving him. For the first time she used an ancient sexual art taught to her in the harem of her first husband. Her vaginal muscles tightened around him, gently at first, then with increasing pressure as the rhythm quickened. He groaned with surprised pleasure, murmuring against her ear, “Christos! You witch! Ah, stop-or there will be no time for you to reach the top of your own mountain!”
She was in control now, and the feeling of power was delicious. “Will you love me only once this night, my lord?” And she squeezed him tightly, almost hurting him. He cried out and, sobbing with relief, released his tortured seed. “Beloved,” she whispered, tenderly cradling his head against her breasts.
They lay quietly for some time, and then she felt him suddenly hard again against her leg. “Now, beauty,” he said, his voice strong again, “I shall have my sweet revenge!” And he was in her moving so rapidly that she could not grip him. Pleasure began to wash over her in wave after wave. Then she began to climb with him to the top of that mountain they both knew so well. Nothing mattered but the sweet, burning intensity between them. She could go no further, but he forced her onward until suddenly she was tumbling through a golden spiral, into a soft, perfect peace.
When she finally regained her senses she found herself in the warm, safe circle of his, arms. Raising her head, she gazed into his beautiful aquamarine eyes. He smiled. “We have loved each other well beauty, haven’t we?”
“Yes,” she answered, “It is always good with us.”
“As I promised you,” he teased.
“Peacock,” she countered weakly. Then, in a more serious tone, she said simply, “I have never known such happiness, Alexander. I love you so very much!”
“And I love you, beauty! Without you there would be no place for me on this earth. You are my heartbeat, the very air I breathe.” Sighing happily, he nestled in the curve of his arm and fell asleep.
Alexander smiled down at her. She was so very lovely that his heart contracted painfully with the knowledge of what he must do. Slowly, his own eyes closed and he slept.
When Adora awoke several hours later the dawn was flooding her bedchamber. Alexander was gone. But he frequently rose before she did. Calling to Anna, she ordered her bath and spent a leisurely hour bathing. Afterwards, as Anna helped her into her gown, Adora asked, “Will my lord break his fast with me, Anna?”
“No, my lady.” The servant quickly turned away.
“Anna? What is it?”
“What is what, my lady?” The woman was being deliberately evasive.
“Where is my lord Alexander?” she asked evenly.
Anna sighed. Taking her mistress by the hand, she led her out onto the terrace and pointed seaward. “That dot out there, my princess, is the lord Alexander’s ship. He sailed before dawn.”
“He did?” Anna was amazed.
“Well,” hedged Adora, “I believed it was understood.”
“He left this for you, my princess.”
Adora snatched at the rolled parchment. Breaking the seal, she read, “Beauty, forgive me, but one more night such as the last and I could never have left you. What then would have become of our fair city? I shall return within two months. Each minute away from you will be like a full day, and each day will be an eternity. It is a far worse punishment I inflict upon myself than you could possibly inflict on me for this deception. Rule well in my absence. And never forget, my Adora, that I love you. Alexander.”
The parchment hung from her hand. Suddenly she laughed. Then, just as suddenly, she cried and cursed him. Catching the look of fright on Anna’s face, she explained. “Do not fear for my mind, my good Anna. I am all right. My
