Beloved (47 page)

Then the emperor sat back, expecting the uproar that followed. The Council of Ten was speaking all at once, their voices raised in strong protest against what seemed to them an arbitrary decision. They had expected negotiations, the removal of Zenobia, even trade sanctions and heavy fines; but not
this.
They had opened their gates allowing the Roman emperor inside their city and this is the way he responded.

“Be silent!”
Zenobia’s voice stilled the cacophony. She looked down the table at the emperor. “You are overly harsh, Caesar.” He noted with amusement that it was the first time she had used his proper title, and without sarcasm. “It is I who am at fault, not Palmyra. Do not punish the city, nor my son; rather, punish me. Vaballathus will serve you well. He is his father’s son before he is mine, and my husband was always loyal to Rome. It was he who kept the eastern boundaries secure for the empire against the Persians. Surely you will bear this in mind before you make a final decision.”

It was as close to begging as she was going to come, and Aurelian knew it. “Why should I heed your words,
Queen
of Palmyra? Your son has not proven himself, as did his father, and he is young besides. Give me one good reason why I should listen to you?”

Zenobia stood up and gave the emperor a long, slow look. “Because I
am Palmyra”
she said quietly.

He was frankly astounded by her words, but a quick look at the others confirmed that she had spoken from truth not vanity. “I will think on it,” he said. This was a far more dangerous woman than he had realized. Better he spend a little time assessing the situation before making a final decision. “The council is dismissed,” Aurelian concluded. Then he rose and walked from the room.

“Go with him, Antonius Porcius,” Zenobia begged. “You were the last imperial governor before we were freed of Roman control. Plead for my son! For your daughter, the young queen, for our unborn grandchild who will be Palmyra’s rightful heir!”

Antonius Porcius arose dutifully and followed after the emperor. He had not changed a great deal over the years, but Zenobia noticed that he moved more slowly than she remembered and that silver was beginning to streak his remaining hair.

“What are we to do, Majesty?” Marius Gracchus asked.

“Wait,” was the reply. “He is not an easy man. I suspect that he truly wants Palmyra to return to province status, but we must prevent that at all costs. Vaba must be allowed to remain king. Perhaps not in his lifetime, but one day we will again rise, and the inheritors of Odenathus’s dynasty must be ruling the city when the time comes! To this end I expect you to all work, and if the people really love me then they will work toward this goal, too.”

“But what will happen to you, Majesty?”

“I shall go to Rome, Marius Gracchus. Aurelian has already told me that much. He will not, I fear, trust me out of his sight, and he is wise not to.” She smiled at the elderly councillor. “Given the chance, I should do it again, old friend.”

Marius Gracchus chuckled. “With you will go our greatness,” he replied.

“Do not say that,” was her quick answer. “Vaballathus is a young man now. Who knows what miracles he will accomplish in his time. And what of those who come after him? This city has stood since the days of the Hebrew king, Solomon, its founder, and it has seen its share of greatness. It will again.” She stood up. “I am tired,” she announced. “I have not slept well these last months, but now I think I might.” She looked over her council. “I do not know if we will be allowed to meet again,” she said. “I thank you for your loyalty to Palmyra, to me, and to my late husband. I know you will give that same loyalty to my son, the king. Long live Palmyra!” Then she was swiftly gone from the council chamber.

There was not one member of the Council of Ten who did not unashamedly wipe the tears from his eyes; and then slowly each one of them moved forward, kneeling before Vaballathus to pledge fealty to him as they had done upon his father’s death those long years ago. Then each departed to his own section of the city to do the queen’s bidding. It was not an easy task, for the Romans were everywhere and public gatherings had already been forbidden; but slowly the council members moved, in some cases from house to house, spreading Zenobia’s words. The city must rise behind their young king in order to preserve the dynasty. The queen’s day was done, but the Roman emperor must feel the weight of public opinion behind the House of Odenathus.

Zenobia had retired to her own apartments, where she had a long, leisurely soak in a hot bath scented with oil of hyacinth. The queen’s long hair was washed and brushed dry so that it floated
about her like a veil. A soft Egyptian cotton robe was slipped over her head, and then she lay down upon her couch to sleep.

Sleep came quickly. The last thing she remembered was the bright sunlight of midday streaming in a blazing shaft across the marble floor of her room. When she awoke a single lamp burned in the darkness of the room and in the gardens outside she could hear the crickets singing their evening song. Slowly she stretched herself, one leg, one arm, then her entire body, feeling the tension entirely gone. She sighed deeply, and then started at the sound of Aurelian’s voice.

“You have slept long, goddess. Are you feeling better?”

“What are you doing here, Roman?” but her voice lacked any anger.

“Watching you,” he replied. “I like watching you in sleep. It is one of the few times you are not spitting and snarling at me like a wild thing.”

“We cannot be friends, Roman,” she said quietly.

“Perhaps not right now, goddess, but I enjoy looking at you. You are extravagantly beautiful.”

“Like the ladies of Rome?”

“Great Jupiter, no! You are exotic; they are …” he thought a moment, and then he said, “they are not exotic, goddess, as you are. You are as fair as a dawn, and as elusive as a soft desert wind.”

“Why, Roman, you are quite poetic.”

Aurelian arose, came across the room, and seated himself on the edge of Zenobia’s sleeping couch. She tensed, and he said, “You are not afraid of me, and yet—” He looked piercingly at her. “What is it, goddess? Why do you grow stiff when I but sit by your side?”

“Because I know what your sitting by me portends, Roman. You will force yourself upon me once again, to impress once more the imperial victory upon my body and soul.” Her voice was bitter, almost raw in its tone.

“You still love Marcus Alexander, don’t you, goddess?” She said nothing, and so he continued. “He is my niece’s husband, and already they are parents. It is a futile love you hug to your heart, goddess. Let me love you.”

Her eyes widened in surprise.
“You?”
The scorn in her voice was fierce. “I shall never give myself into the keeping of any man ever again, Roman; but
you? You
love me? What madness is this? What of your poor wife who waits for your return? I am a queen!
No matter I am a defeated queen, I am still a queen. I am not some poor innocent to be honored by the position of mistress! You insult me!”

“Your illustrious ancestress, Cleopatra, was honored to be the mistress of two Romans,” he said.

“It cost her her life,” was the cold reply. “She put herself into the keeping of Romans, and in the end it destroyed her! I will not be destroyed by you—or any other Roman!”

“I cannot destroy you, Zenobia—only your own bitterness can do that,” was his reply. “You will be my mistress because I make that decision, and not you.” He reached out for her, but Zenobia drew back.

“And now,” she said angrily, “now you will once again rape me to prove the truth of your words.”

“I have not once raped you, goddess. Each time I have made love to you, you have wanted me to do so. The only one you have been fighting is yourself!”

“I despise you,” she whispered half fearfully. “I hate you! How can I want your lovemaking when I detest you so?”

“Lust, Zenobia. Did I not tell you that first night? You may not want me, but your beautiful body does. You are a woman; you have known a man’s love and you have known a man’s passion. Neither of these things have frightened you. Why then should a man’s honest lust cause such a turmoil within you, goddess?”

“It is wrong,” she said firmly. “Lovemaking without affection or caring is wrong.”

“Who has told you these things, goddess? You are young yet, and certainly your small experience with but two men cannot qualify you to make such a judgment.”

He reached out for her again, and this time his arm slid about her waist and drew her resisting body close to his. “I have never experienced
love
, and yet I enjoy lying with a beautiful and passionate woman. None have ever complained to me before, goddess. This foolishness is but in your mind. If you would simply enjoy the feelings I can engender within your body, you would see that I am right.”

“You are a wicked man,” she said softly. “I will not allow you to destroy me.”

“I will not destroy you, goddess,” he murmured, and his breath was warm against her ear, the little puffs of his words causing her to shiver slightly. “Let me love you, Zenobia. Don’t fight me.” A hand began a slow, gentle caressing of her breasts. “Ah, goddess,
my beautiful goddess,” Aurelian whispered, his lips moving against her soft, fragrant hair.

Zenobia felt his hands and his lips tenderly questing. She heard the restrained passion in his voice, and her soul seemed to draw back deep within her where she might watch him in safety. She was, despite her long nap, still so very weary, and she had no strength left to fight him. Opening the delicate silver filigree fastenings of her sleeping robe, he pushed it back and off her shoulders. He was being very careful, very gentle. For several long moments he simply sat and stared at her firm golden breasts as they rose and fell with her breathing.

Then he tenderly pressed her back among her pillows, and began to place delicate kisses upon her chest and breasts. His lips touched lightly, quickly, moving here and there, never lingering very long in one place. “I am a soldier, goddess,” he said low. “A rough soldier, and I have never had the time to make proper love to a beautiful woman; but here in your perfumed palace I shall linger, and adore you until it is time for us to depart for Rome.” Then his lips returned to her flesh, this time moving slowly and sensuously, coaxing alive within her tiny flames of pure desire.

She did not fight him—whether from simple exhaustion or because she was admitting her surrender to Rome even Zenobia did not know. What she did know was that his lips, his hands, his seductive words all combined to vanquish her. She had lost Palmyra to him, and whatever she said, or did, he would take her body, for, as he had said, he was the victor. Perhaps by yielding she might regain some measure of control over the situation. Briefly she thought of Deliciae. Was this what it had been like for her in the days before Odenathus had given her in marriage to Rufus Curius? Forced to barter her body in order to survive. How scornful Zenobia had been; but then she had not known. Still, she had sworn to herself that she would survive; and if to survive she must use her body, then by the gods she would do so!

Zenobia focused her silvery eyes upon Aurelian, and said simply, “Love me.”

Startled, he looked up at her, and when she repeated those two words he groaned like a starving man being offered a fine feast. She would have sworn that his hands trembled as he bared her completely. Gazing at her passionately, he ran his hands over her silken skin, moving upward to cup her large breasts, then sliding down across her thighs; his fingers hesitant at first, then surer, probing tenderly between the plump lips of her Venus mount. She
wasn’t really quite prepared when his blond head dipped quickly and his tongue touched the tiny secret, sensitive flower of her womanhood. She gasped, but then his fingers were gently spreading her nether lips, and his tongue was caressing her expertly, forcing the liquid fire to flow, and she realized she didn’t care. There would be no escape from this man, and so, uncaring, Zenobia allowed herself to be swept up in the whirlwind of pleasurable sensations that Aurelian aroused within her body.

He was a lover of incredible stamina, and having suffered these last nights from his brutality, she was quite surprised that he was capable of such sensitivity and gentleness. His hungry mouth was beginning to wreak havoc with her senses as he sucked sensuously upon that tiny morsel of tender flesh, yet she was unready when the first starburst exploded within her, and she cried out still fearful of the feelings that this man could arouse within her.

Aurelian understood, and pulling himself back level with her, he smoothed the tangled hair from her forehead and placed a kiss upon it. “You are so beautiful in your passion,” he said softly.

“Hold me,” she whispered in a shaking voice and, turning, clung to him, her whole frame trembling.

He was instantly protective of her, enfolding her within his strong arms. “Here,” he said quietly, “within the privacy of your chamber, I am with you as I have never been with any woman. I know that I stir your senses, goddess, but do you know how much you stir mine? It is with me as it has never been before. I do not think that I shall ever get enough of you!” His voice was thick with his emotion, and she felt his staff, hard and eager against her thigh, yet he made no move to force her this time.

Suddenly Zenobia realized that if Cleopatra’s Roman lovers had destroyed her, it was surely because her ancestress had loved and trusted them. I will never love or trust this man, she thought, but if I can please him, and obviously I can, then perhaps I shall yet save my son’s inheritance. She shifted her body so she might see his stern face, and freeing her hands from her sides, she reached up, drew his head down, and kissed him sweetly, her soft lips moving against his almost shyly. “You are right, Roman,” she said low. “Lust is a powerful thing, and not altogether unpleasant. Would you be very much shocked if I said I wanted you?”

Looking down upon her, his blue eyes searched her face for signs of mockery, but finding none he said, “No, I should not be shocked, goddess.”