Page 84 of Enslaved
“Not really. I thought his prick would swell to enormous proportions. It was slightly amusing, though. He became drunk on plain water. When he began to run around, screaming, he kept falling down. But his bladder burst and he died much too quickly.”
Petrius was naked now, except for a black leather sheath he wore over his cock, held in place by a strap about his lithe hips. Some centurions wore them for penile protection in battle. Nero became stiff the moment he laid eyes upon the black obscenity. Petrius, however, wanted Nero aroused to madness before he gave him release. So he described in detail how many bloody wounds could be inflicted and exactly where, and how to hold off death for hours while the blood oozed and seeped.
When Nero was panting with need, Petrius pushed him back upon his couch and fellated him. There was no way he was going to take Nero’s short, fat prick into his body. Nero looked down upon him with adoration as Petrius’ long silken lashes swept his cheeks and his beautiful mouth sucked him dry.
Then Petrius ordered Nero on his knees. The power that surged through Petrius’ body when the Emperor of Rome obeyed his command was like nothing he had ever known before. This was pleasure! And before Petrius was done with him, Nero would obey all his commands, not just for sexual purposes. He would take control of Nero’s very soul. That would be power; that would be glory!
Chapter 26
Marcus received official permission to marry before the day was over. He sat down that night to write to Diana and impart his good news. She had been worried that consent would be withheld, which proved that she longed to marry him. An unnamed urgency within him told him to secure her. He reasoned that once she was legally his, she could not go back whence she’d come, nor would the gods snatch her away from him.
He had never written a love letter before and found he could not pour out his heart on the wax tablet. Consequently, it read like a military communique. When he reread it, he grimaced at the authoritative tone and forced himself to add a flowery sentence or two.
Each day apart has a hundred hours; each
night a thousand. Make all necessary preparation
so we can be wed the moment I return.
My heart is in your keeping.
Your husband, Marcus.
He was beginning to see things as Diana saw them. Where once he would have enjoyed gladiatorial games, he could now see that they illustrated completely the pitiless spirit and carelessness of human life, lurking behind the pomp, glitter, and cultural pretention of imperialism.
He and Julius had spent the evening wining and dining certain senators, and tomorrow night would be more of the same. Marcus felt drained. This was far more exhausting than a fourteen-hour day training legionaries to cross a raging river. Petrius had not attended the banquet and Marcus tried to keep his thoughts from how his brother was spending the night.
As it turned out, Petrius was introducing Nero to another of life’s evil pleasures. The streets of Rome were dark and dangerous at night. There were no street lights, and after sundown, silence blanketed the elite avenues that earlier had swarmed with life.
The Subura’s squalid streets and alleys, however, were filled with rumbling carts and wagons bringing in food supplies. They were forbidden from Rome’s congested streets during daylight hours. Ordinary citizens usually did not stir outdoors at night, for in spite of the watch, there were sneak thieves, cutpurses, and open bandits known assiccarii,or dagger men.
Wealthier citizens who spent their evenings dining with influential friends were accompanied by slaves with torches. The upper classes could not resist braving the darkness for dinner, which was the crowning event of a Roman’s day. So it had recently become fashionable for lawless young nobles to indulge in the evil pleasures of ranging the dark streets and beating harmless and poorly guarded citizens.
Petrius, Nero, and a select number of the emperor’s Praetorian guards who were also his intimates donned masks and armed themselves with bludgeons, daggers, and other assorted weapons. Petrius promised Nero that when he bloodied his first sword the thrill would be orgasmic. As an added fillip to their game, they would have a treasure hunt. At dawn they would compare the souvenirs they had collected and see who had won. Points would be given for fingers, ears, and noses, with the highest number of points awarded for the ultimate prize: a severed penis!
* * *
Livi and Diana’s other female slaves described to her all the details of a Roman wedding. She would be married in atunica recta,a garment woven in one piece, a robe of extremely good omen. About her waist would be a sash tied with a complicated Knot of Hercules for her bridegroom to untie. She could wear nothing beneath the robe, but would wear a flowing veil over her hair with a garland of flowers to hold it in place that must be picked by her own hand and interspersed with sprigs of the sacred herb verbena.
The ceremony itself was a simple civil affair, with no religious rites required. However, there was always a sacrifice with a soothsayer to examine the entrails to see if the signs were favorable. At the altar, the groom himself, with no priest or official, would put the direct question, “Will you be mymater familias?”Then in turn the bride would ask, “Will you be mypater familias?”Amid the cries of congratulations, they would place cake and wine upon the altar and dedicate them to Jupiter and Juno.
Livi told her there was always a wedding procession, where the bride clings to her mother and the groom tears her away and carries her to his house, followed by flute players who lead all the guests after the newlyweds. The custom was a remembrance of the rape of the Sabines.
Titus Magnus asked Diana to describe to him exactly what she wanted in the way of wedding finery and he would have Lucas order it. When the sandalwood boxes arrived and Diana saw how beautiful the garments were, a lump of gratitude came into her throat, and her eyes became liquid with tears. He had told her the veil could be any color she desired, so in a moment of recklessness she chose red, the antithesis of what would berespectablefor a Georgian bride.
The gauzy, flame-colored silk veil she lifted from the box had been imported from distant China and was worth its weight in gold. The cream-colored tunica recta was indeed woven in one piece, but it was embroidered with creamy roses that had crystals scattered across the petals like drops of dew. The cream leather slippers were encrusted with pearls.
Diana found Titus in his library, and when he learned how delighted she was with his simple gifts, he longed to see the look upon her face when she received the jewels he had chosen for her. Rome’s most famous jeweler had visited that morning and Titus had chosen diamonds for his new daughter. He wanted a large amethyst added to the center of the necklace to match her lovely eyes and paid extra to have the work done immediately.
The older man and the younger woman found they were most companionable. The library was their favorite room in the villa. When Titus asked her to read to him, she was more flattered than she had ever been in her life. Titus loved a glass of Setinian wine, which Diana poured from the decanter on the library sideboard, rather than call in a slave to disturb their privacy. They repeated this ritual in the afternoons and again in the evenings. It was a poignant reminder of the precious days she had spent with her own father.
“Livi has given me all the details of a Roman wedding. It is amazingly similar to our own in Britannia, except in one detail.” Diana hesitated, then plunged ahead. “Must there be a blood sacrifice?”
“It is a time-honored custom. The guests would be disappointed; the slaves would whisper that it was a bad omen.”
“Life is precious. I don’t wish anything to sacrifice its life because of me,” she said earnestly.
“Do you not eat meat and wear leather shoes, Diana?” he asked quietly.
