The Temple of the God-King was resplendent, with gold and scarlet banners hanging everywhere and black marble hallways burnished to a high shine. Nallah felt her stomach turn over as she and Harryx walked through the crowded outer area, filled with common folk already performing the Ritual and giving their offerings of sex before the large, golden alter of the God-King which filled the entire left wall of the temple.
Everywhere there were women on all fours, their husbands plowing into them from behind, demonstrating their dominance and giving a performance of fertility. Some men were concentrating on thrusting as deeply as possible while others were pulling on leashes attached to choke-collars their wives wore. Both actions showed intensity and reverence for the God-King, who was at the same time, ruler and deity of Hascion Five.
Nallah watched with sympathy as one of the women wearing a collar put a hand to her throat—her lips were blue. Every year there were always some wives who didn’t survive the Ritual simply because their husbands were careless and pulled too hard, cutting off their air or crushing their throats.
At least Harryx has never used a choke collar on me, Nallah thought, looking away from the awful sight. Of course, he wasn’t above using his hands sometimes—she had often worn a necklace of purple bruises after he had taken her. But since he preferred to take her from behind, the angle for choking wasn’t as good, so she had never actually feared for her life, thank goodness.
Nallah thought that none of the women she saw on their hands and knees looked happy to be there—even the ones without collars—but what could any of them do? To refuse to participate in the Ritual of Procreation was an insult to the God-King which would result in death. Everyone from the poorest of the poor to the rich and elite had to give an offering of sex and prove that they were trying to procreate.
“Ah, Arch-General Parokk,” one of the priests said, coming up to them. He was wearing the bright orange robes of the temple and there were orange and blue tattoos around his eyes to make him look wise and solemn. “So glad to see you again this year.”
“It’s a pleasure to be here,” Harryx said stiffly, although he didn’t sound like he was pleased at all. Under his long black robes, he was wearing the traditional male costume of a Ritual Supplicant—tight black trousers with the crotch cut completely out, leaving his shaft bare.
It was not visible, of course—would not be visible until he took off his robes in the private room reserved for them. But just knowing his long, thick shaft was bare beneath his robes was enough to send a shiver through Nallah because she also was bare beneath the scarlet robes she had on.
Her own outfit was very like the sex garments she wore when she offered her sexual submission to Harryx each night but this one was red—the color of marriage and of procreation. Also, instead of just having a slit at the crotch, this garment had no crotch. There was only a rounded cut-out area fringed in golden lace that framed her pussy, which was freshly shaved and smoothed with sweet oil for the occasion. Likewise, the material around the breasts had been cut out too, leaving her bare in all her most sensitive areas.
Nallah dreaded the moment when they would enter the private room and Harryx would remove her outer robe and force her to her hands and knees on the padded golden altar. She always felt so naked—so vulnerable with her bare breasts hanging down and her spread pussy on display. The feeling of strange male eyes watching her from the slits in the wall was almost as bad as the actual act of penetration and procreation. Almost.
“I have reserved your room for you, as usual,” the priest was saying to Harryx. “Myself and a few of the other higher priests will observe your Ritual. It will be an honor to watch one of the Inner Circle give a performance of fertility.”
“Thanks,” Harryx said shortly but Nallah thought that he looked even more angry and upset after the priest’s flattering words. Which was strange—usually Harryx loved this kind of flattery and any mention of his high status. But then, he hadn’t been acting like himself at all lately—she supposed she shouldn’t be surprised.
Just wait, he’ll act like his old self in a minute, whispered a little voice in her head. The minute he shoves himself inside you and starts pounding away.
Well, that was true enough. Nallah shivered unhappily as the priest swung wide the golden door of one of the elite rooms and gestured for them to enter.
Here we go, she told herself. Just remember, it’s not forever—it will be over soon. Hang on to that and try not to cry, no matter how much it hurts.
Taking a deep breath, she headed for the altar at the center of the room. It was a rectangular platform about waist-height—well, to Harryx, anyway—on Nallah it was closer to chest-height, and it was painted gold. Lying on top of it was a scarlet padded mattress which at least was easy on the knees.
Nallah knew she shouldn’t complain—the padded altar was much more than the common folk who had lower status got. They were relegated to the hard black marble floor while performing the Ritual. It must be painful on the knees.
And yet, somehow, she thought she would rather be on the floor—would rather be out of sight instead of having her pain and submission put on display for the lecherous priests to see. They always made remarks to Harryx after the Ritual about how perfectly her breasts jiggled when he thrust inside her and how tight they imagined her pussy was. It made Nallah sick just to think about it.
“Now then,” the priest was saying to Harryx, who had come to join her beside the golden altar. “I will slip out of the room take my place at the viewing slits.” He motioned to several dark slashes in the white wall of the room directly across from the altar. “And you and your lovely little wife can get started.”
But though he talked about leaving, he stayed right where he was, staring at them expectantly.
Harryx stared back at him, clearly waiting for him to leave.
“What are you waiting for, a tip?” he growled.
“Forgive me.” The priest frowned uncomfortably. “It’s just that…generally we wait until the couple about to perform the Ritual has removed their outer robes and gotten into position.” His eyes flickered hungrily over Nallah’s robed form, making her skin crawl. “It’s…so much easier to be certain everything is in the right…position that way.”
Harryx must have caught the priest’s gaze wandering over Nallah too because he stepped in front of her and glared down at the smaller man.
“And is that part of the Ritual?”
“Well…no,” the priest faltered. “It’s just an…extra service we perform for the elite of the Inner Circle.”
“Well you can skip it this year,” Harryx snapped. “Now go on—get out of here.”
The priest’s eyes widened but he nodded stiffly.
“Very well, I will make my way to the viewing slits.” He left the room, his back straight and shoulders tight. Clearly he wasn’t happy about Harryx’s treatment but there was really nothing much he could do about it. Harryx outranked almost everyone but some of the higher members of the Inner Circle and there weren’t many of those, as Nallah understood it.
“Okay, sweetheart?”
Nallah realized that his words were directed at her. Not trusting herself to speak, she only nodded.
“No, you’re not. I can see that.” Harryx spoke in a low voice, meant for her ears alone. “But everything is going to be all right—I promise.”
Nallah didn’t see how it would be all right. He was about to pound her into submission in front of the watching priests. She just wanted to get the Ritual over and done with.
“Yes, my husband,” she murmured listlessly and raised her arms, waiting for him to remove her outer robe as he always did. She was in clear view of the viewing slits and she was certain the lecherous priest and several of his fellow perverts were probably watching for the moment of unveiling but there was nothing to do but get through it.
However, instead of stripping off her robe to bare her for their unseen watchers, Harryx did something which surprised her. He faced Nallah, deliberately putting his broad back between her and the viewing slits in the wall. Only when he was certain the priest’s view was obstructed did he remove her outer robe.
Nallah blushed to be so exposed, her nipples getting tight in the chilly air as she squeezed her thighs together, trying to hide her pussy. But at least Harryx was the only one to see it this time.
“You’re beautiful, sweetheart,” he breathed, brushing his fingertips over her heated cheek. “So gorgeous it hurts to look at you. But don’t worry—nobody is going to see you but me.”
Then, slowly, he removed his own robes.
Nallah shivered when she saw his long, thick shaft come into view. Soon it would be inside her, as it had been so many times before. And every time it hurt.
She often thought that if only Harryx would give her a little time to get ready for him it might not be so bad. These last few days when he was being sweet to her, her pussy had gotten wet and swollen just for him. If only he would touch her and kiss her and help her get ready that way before her sexual submission!
But she knew better than to wish for that now. Holding rigidly still, she waited for Harryx to tell her to mount the altar platform and get on her hands and knees—but the order never came.
“Nallah, baby…” Harryx cupped her face in his hands and leaned down to speak to her, still blocking the view of the slits in the wall. He searched her eyes with his own. “I know this is hard for you,” he murmured in that low voice that would reach only her ears. “But I want you to know something—I’m not going to penetrate you here—not going to take you or use you or hurt you. I promise.”
Nallah stared at him—was he saying what she thought he was saying?
“But…my husband,” she breathed. “To refuse to perform is a death sentence!”
“I didn’t say we would refuse to perform,” Harryx murmured. “But we’re only going to pretend. And we’ll do it so they can’t see it.”
“We…we are?” Nallah could scarcely believe what she was hearing. “But how…why…?” She couldn’t even finish her questions.
He drew her even closer until she could feel her tight nipples rubbing against the broad, bare planes of his chest. Wrapping his arms around her, he breathed in her ear,
“I’m going to be on top of you but I’m only going to rub against you, Nallah. I’m not going to penetrate you—I swear it.”
“Really?” She pulled back to look at his face, wondering if she was dreaming. Was Harryx really offering to profane the Ritual and risk imprisonment or death just because he knew she didn’t like it? Could this be true?
“Really,” he assured her and then took her mouth in a soft, gentle kiss. “And listen to me, sweetheart,” he murmured, looking intently into her eyes. “If you start feeling nervous or having bad thoughts, just try to ignore them and look at me—look in my eyes.”
He gestured to his face and Nallah saw that his eyes were pitch-black again.
This time, instead of making her think of the Hallorook, the deeper color comforted her. Somehow when her husband’s eyes were black she felt truly seen by him—seen and counted as a person, not just an object like a pretty piece of art or a machine which could perform certain tasks and give him pleasure when he demanded it.
“All…all right, she whispered breathlessly and felt her heart stutter in her chest. When he looked at her like that, she felt as she had the other night when he had told her to touch herself…or when he had tasted her pussy.
For some reason she almost forgot to dread the Ritual. Instead, her head was filled with images of him holding her in his arms and whispering soft, sweet, forbidden words in her ear. Though she would have thought it was impossible, she began to feel a tingle in her nipples and an ache in her exposed pussy.
“I understand, oh my husband,” she told him. “And…and I think I’m ready.”
“Good,” He pulled her closer for a moment and Nallah felt the heat of his long, thick shaft branding her belly. Yet, somehow it didn’t frighten her quite so much this way. Maybe it was because she didn’t associate being held face-to-face with any kind of sex. Harryx always turned her away from him and put her on all fours or forced her to lie over the couch when he was about to take her. He never pulled her close and stroked her hair as he was now.
She could feel his big warm hand rubbing her trembling back and shoulders and he murmured in her ear that everything would be all right, until she stopped shaking and her heart stopped pounding quite so hard.
Harryx held her so long she wondered if they would ever get started. But finally he released her and kissed her gently on the lips again. Then he picked her up by the waist and lifted her carefully so she was sitting on the altar rather than kneeling on it. Coming between her legs, he lowered her gently down so that she was lying on her back, looking up at him.
“Excuse me!” The high, irritated voice of the priest who had brought them to the room floated from the viewing slits in the wall to the right of the altar. “Excuse me, Arch-General but what are you doing?”
Harryx turned his face to the slits, though he kept his body near to Nallah’s, blocking the priest’s view.
“I’m about to perform the Gods-damned Ritual. Isn’t that what you want?”
“Yes, of course but this position…it’s not…not the usual position for the Ritual.” The priest still sounded upset. No doubt he was feeling cheated since he hadn’t been able to get more than a glimpse at Nallah’s mostly naked body.
“It’s not against the law, though,” Harryx pointed out. “We can honor the God-King in any position we want to.”
“Yes, that’s true,” the priest began. “But—”
“But nothing,” Harryx growled. “I don’t want you lecherous, horny bastards looking at my wife while I take her. Now leave us alone so we can get this done.”
There was more mumbling and grumbling from the viewing slits but there didn’t seem to be anything the priest could do or say. Harryx was right in saying that it didn’t matter what position they performed the Ritual in as long as they performed it. It was true that the traditional position was with the woman on her hands and knees but the priests had no authority to force them to take that particular pose.
But will Harryx really keep his word and not enter me? Nallah wondered. She could feel the heated length of his shaft pressing lightly against her inner thigh and the feel of it made her shiver with a strange mixture of uncertainty and desire. She had shaved away the little patch of curls that usually covered her mound and rubbed sweet oil into her skin only that morning. Her flesh felt smooth and soft and extremely bare and vulnerable as Harryx pressed against her.
Soon enough, Harryx leaned over her, deepening their contact. But he murmured in her ear, “Going to pretend like I’m putting myself inside you now, sweetheart. Try to act like you feel me in you, okay?”
Biting her lip, Nallah nodded. She still couldn’t believe he really intended to profane the Ritual. Did he honestly feel that strongly about not penetrating her without her permission again?
As if to answer her questions, Harryx reached between them and actually grasped his shaft. Then he made a motion with his hips—a deep, thrusting motion as though he was sliding his thickness into her open, unprotected pussy.
Nallah moaned and the sound wasn’t a bit manufactured. Though Harryx wasn’t inside her, his long thick shaft had settled right against her pussy slit and she could feel his heat and thickness pressing against her intimately.
Harryx froze, seeming to understand what had happened.
“Is this okay, baby?” he murmured, nodding down between us where his long thick cock was cradled between her outer pussy lips. “You need me to move to the side?”
Nallah started to say yes automatically but then she realized something—to her great surprise, she didn’t want him to move. She liked the feeling of intimacy it gave her to feel his big body above hers and his shaft pressed against the aching button of her clit while he looked into her eyes. It was different from any other sexual submission she had ever given him—different in a good way.
“No, my husband,” she whispered, looking into the midnight depths of his gaze. “No, I…I don’t mind this. Don’t mind being in this position with you.”
Harryx looked immensely relieved.
“Good, sweetheart. In that case, I’m going to start to thrust. Open your thighs for me a little more—help me hide the fact that I’m not really in you,” he murmured. “You can even wrap your legs around my waist if you want to.”
“All right.” Nallah did as he said and they both groaned when the new position spread her pussy lips even wider and pressed his shaft deeper into her wet slit—for she was wet now, as wet as she had been the night when he tasted her.
“Gods, sweetheart, your little pussy is so hot and slippery,” Harryx murmured, stroking her cheek with one big hand. “You feel so good against me.”
“You…you feel good against me too,” Nallah whispered, surprised at herself with the sincerity of her words.
“That’s good, baby. Look into my eyes. I want to see you while we’re pressed together this way.” Harryx took her mouth in a lingering kiss and then looked at her intently. “Now, listen—I’m not going to push inside you but I have to stay close to make it look real, okay? So I’m going to be rubbing against you with every ‘thrust’ I make. You understand?”
“Yes,” Nallah whispered and nodded. And then, because he seemed almost to be waiting for permission she added, “Go ahead, my husband. I…I am ready.”
Her soft words seemed to be all the urging Harryx needed. With a low groan, he drew back, as though he was pulling out of her and then thrust forward, just as though he was pressing himself back inside.
Both of them moaned at the sudden, delicious friction between his thickness and her wetness. Nallah could feel him rubbing against the tender, aching button of her clit which was suddenly entirely too sensitive and the way she had her legs wrapped around his waist brought him even closer to her naked pussy.
“My husband!” she moaned softly as he did it again and then again and again. “Oh, that feels so good.”
“Feels good to me, too, sweetheart,” he murmured. “Feels even better knowing that it feels good for you—that it brings you pleasure. I love to make you feel good.”
Looking into his midnight eyes, Nallah believed him. He really was getting pleasure from this act because it brought her pleasure too. She never would have believed it possible but for the first time, she was actually enjoying the Ritual. Oh, she knew that the priests were watching through the wall slits but Harryx was keeping close to her, making certain to shield her nakedness with his body. And when she locked gazes with him, she could almost forget there was anyone else in the world but the two of them.
Moaning, she drew him down and kissed him, wanting him even closer. At the same time, she pumped her hips upward, feeling his thick shaft slide deep into her furrow, rubbing with each stroke against her clit.
“My…my husband,” she gasped, feeling the pleasure build inside her. “I think I’m going to…going to come soon.”
“Mmm…I’m right on the edge myself, sweetheart,” Harryx admitted. “Listen, I’m going to shoot most of it on your belly but I’ll probably try to let at least one spurt go in your pussy—just in case that damn priest comes to check on us.”
“In…in my pussy?” Nallah faltered.
“Hey, look at me,” he murmured, still sliding against her. “Not going to penetrate you, I swear. Even if you feel the head of my cock at the entrance of your sweet little pussy, I swear it’s not going in. Just have to make this look real. Can you trust me to do that, Nallah?”
Did she trust him not to hurt her? Not to penetrate her? Looking into those dark eyes of his, Nallah knew she did.
“Yes,” she whispered, nodding. “Yes, Harryx, I’m not afraid. Go…go ahead.”
“Not going to come until you do, baby,” he murmured. “Need to get you there first.”
“You…you do? Why?” Even as she spoke Nallah felt the pleasure cresting inside her. The slick friction of his long, thick shaft rubbing deeply into her open pussy was just too much, especially since every stroke pressed him against her throbbing clit. “Oh!” she gasped as the first spasm of pleasure swept over her. “Oh, my husband!”
“That’s why I needed to wait,” Harryx growled. Leaning down, he captured her mouth with his, swallowing her moans of pleasure eagerly before he spoke again. “Because you look so damn beautiful when you come, baby. God, watching you and feeling your little pussy spasm against my cock is too much…too good…”
He groaned low in his throat and then Nallah felt the long shaft pressing against her pussy swell as something hot and wet spurted onto her belly. Harryx spurted twice more and then he slid down and she felt the broad head of his cock kiss the mouth of her pussy.
Nallah tightened up for a moment but though the tip of his shaft pressed lightly against her entrance, he didn’t push all the way in. Instead she felt his shaft ripple once more and then his hot, wet seed coated the mouth of her pussy, making it look as though he had been thrusting inside her all this time and had just pulled out.
With a last groan, Harryx collapsed on top of her—though he made certain he was resting on his forearms so that he didn’t crush her.
“Oh, my husband…” Nallah looked up at him in wonder. She didn’t know what to say. Not only had he not hurt her—he had gone out of his way to make her comfortable and helped her enjoy the dreaded Ritual for once.
He really has changed, she thought. He’s completely different now.
“Nallah,” he murmured in a low, hoarse voice. Gods, baby…feel so close to you right now.”
“I feel close to you too,” Nallah whispered. Feeling brave, she added, “Closer than I ever have. You’re so different now. I…I love you.”
His eyes burned black with intensity.
“Gods, Nallah—I love you too. So much, baby!”
His words warmed her all over—it was the first time he had ever told her he loved her. Reaching up to cup his cheek, Nallah looked earnestly into his dark eyes.
“You know, I…I always wanted to love you, Harryx. You just…wouldn’t let me in. Now I feel like you finally have. Thank you, my husband.”
A troubled look came over his face.
“Sweetheart…” he began but just then the priest came bustling back into the room.
“Are you finished, Arch-General?” he demanded, obviously still miffed at not being able to see more of their performance. “If so then I have others of the Inner Circle waiting to use this room.”
“We’re finished,” Harryx growled. “Now turn away until my wife gets properly dressed. I don’t want your eyes on her.”
Huffily, the priest turned his back and made a long, loud sigh of apparent impatience.
“Here you go, sweetheart.” Lifting her gently from the altar, Harryx helped Nallah put her outer robes back on and then replaced his own. “Come on.” He took her by the hand. “Let’s go home and get cleaned up.”
They left the priest still fuming and this time when they walked through the Temple, Nallah went with a light heart.
He loves me! He really said he loves me!
The sweet words rang in her head and made her feel warm all over. For the first time her husband had told her how he really felt for her, and he had treated her so tenderly during the ritual.
He’s really changed for good, Nallah thought, finally allowing herself to believe it. He’s never going to be cruel or cold to me again. He’s a different man and he’s never going back to his old ways.
After the way Harryx had treated her so sweetly and told her he loved her, she was certain of it. Her whole life would be different now and she need never fear her husband again.