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  I wheeled to face him at that. “But why?” In our almost eight years together, we’d never slept apart. Not to be beside him, even if we couldn’t have intercourse…that hurt worst of all.

  “The men we’ll be working with aren’t enlightened. They’d look on us sharing one tent with suspicion, and I’d fear for your safety. It’s better this way, trust me.

  “But—”

  “Humour me, Roddy?”

  I sighed and agreed, and dropped the subject.

  The two of us began to scour the city for mules and camels, ropes and timbers, shovels and pickaxes, and more men to work the dig.

  After supper that evening, Mr Carter pointed us in the direction of the hotel we’d stay at. I thought since Charlie’s friend and the young expert were staying with friends of Mr Carter, Charlie and I would have the opportunity to spend the night in the same bed.

  “I’m wiped out, little Rev.”

  “We don’t have to do anything,” I hurried to assure him.

  “You’re too tempting. I wouldn’t be able to keep my hands off you.” He touched my cheek, then opened the door to my room, which was adjacent to his, handed me the key, and waited until I entered to say, “Lock your door and put a chair under the doorknob.”

  “Yes, Charlie.” I didn’t bother protesting he’d taught me to do that years ago.

  “Sleep well, little Rev.”

  “You, too.” I offered him a smile, but I didn’t shut the door until he entered his own room.

  I closed my door and did as my love had instructed, then stripped off my clothes and climbed into bed.

  And sometime during the night I began to dream…

  Chapter 2

  It was a warm afternoon, and in the privacy of my rooms in the temple of Anubis, I wore nothing but a linen kilt.

  “I have a gift for you, Prince.” The high priest strolled into the courtyard off my rooms, where I idly plucked figs from one of the trees that grew there and nibbled on the ripened fruit.

  “Khentemsemet.” I gave him a regal nod. I was a prince, after all, and while he was high priest of the god I served, he was minor nobility at best. “What do you have for me?”

  Khentemsemet came closer, and an intoxicating scent seemed to envelope me. He held out a closed hand, then turned it over and opened it, and I caught my breath at the sight I beheld: a string of lustrous black pearls that dangled from his fingers. I’d never before seen anything as beautiful, and Khentemsemet was giving them to me.

  “Do you like them?”

  “Yes!” I reached out to stroke them, and he withdrew them. “Khentemsemet?”

  He smiled, took my hand, and dropped the pearls into them. They were cool, in spite of him holding them, but they quickly warmed in my palm.

  I tilted my head to observe the high priest. Why had I never realised how handsome he was? “Why this gift, my lord?” I’d always been so cool to him, although at the moment I could not fathom why.

  His smile broadened. “I like hearing you address me in that manner.”

  I barely paid any heed to his words. The pearls fascinated me. They had such a sheen, I could swear I saw my own reflection in them. Khentemsemet came to stand behind me and rested his hand on my shoulder, and my prick hardened as his reflection in the pearls mingled with mine.

  I shivered from the feel of his hand on me, something I’d never encountered before. Although I’d reached the age of seventeen, I was still virgin. I’d been dedicated to the dark god Anubis at a very young age, and while virginity wasn’t a requirement, I’d never met anyone—noble or priest—I was willing to share my body with, had never been curious enough to experiment with slaves or servants. As for boys whose rank was close to mine…there were none. I was the brother of the pharaoh Tutankhamun after all.

  I shivered again when the high priest removed his hand from my shoulder. “I have duties I must attend to, but I wanted to give you this small token of my esteem.”

  “Don’t leave yet, my lord.” I turned and caught his hand, and I blushed and released it when he raised an eyebrow. I’d never been so uncertain in the presence of another man. “The sun will set soon. Watch it with me?”

  He bowed slightly. “Of course, highness. I’m at your service.” His heady words made my prick even harder. Although I was a prince and a priest and would one day be high priest myself, I’d never exerted my influence over an older man. Not to say that Khentemsemet was old. Now that I studied him more closely, I could see he must only be a handful of years my senior.

  Why had I ever thought otherwise?

  I took his hand again and drew him toward a low bench. The bench was wide enough to leave some space between us, but I sat with my hip and thigh brushing up against his.

  “Does this please you, Prince?”

  “Indeed it does. But you must call me Teremun.”

  “As you wish.”

  “Would you…would you share a meal with me?”

  “I would like nothing better…Teremun.”

  I felt as if he’d handed me the moon, and I beamed up at him and summoned a slave.

  “Lord Khentemsemet is dining with me here. Fetch the meal.”

  He bowed and hurried off. I knew the temple’s cook would send my favourite dishes—quail and pigeon, to be washed down with fine Greek wine. For dessert he would offer date cakes covered with honey and nuts.

  My mouth watered, but not at the notion of the food that would soon be arriving. I caressed the rope of pearls, and murmured, “I’ve never had anything so beautiful.”

  “I’ll show you how to wear them.”

  “What’s to show? Surely I’ll simply knot them about my waist.” It wasn’t a very long rope of pearls, but my waist was narrow.

  He was silent for a moment. “If that is how you wish to wear them…”

  “There’s another way?”

  He smiled, then looked toward the doorway behind us. “Our dinner has arrived.” Two slave boys placed trays on a table and bowed themselves out.

  I wanted to question Khentemsemet more about how else one would wear these beautiful pearls, but before I could, he rose and went to the table. “Wine, my prince?”

  I loved hearing him refer to me in that manner. “Yes.”

  He poured a goblet and brought it to me, swirling the ruby liquid in it. I took it and waited. He smiled and poured a goblet for himself.

  “To you, Prince.” He raised his goblet to me, and I blushed once more, then took a sip.

  The wine was sweet, and after that first sip, I found myself gulping it down.

  “Gently, Teremun. You don’t wish to become tipsy.”

  “No, of course not.” I set my goblet down, almost missing the table, and I frowned. I’d never been affected so quickly by wine.

  “You’ve probably been too long without food. Let me help you to your chamber,” the high priest suggested. He slid an arm around my waist, helped me to my feet, and escorted me out of the courtyard.

  The feel of his palm low on my hip aroused me further, and I leaned into him, hoping he would stay with me a while.

  “Stay with me,” I murmured as he urged me to sit on my bed.

  “If you wish.”

  “And you’ll show me how to wear the pearls?”

  “I will.”

  “Excellent.” I toppled back onto my bed and giggled.

  “First I must remove your kilt.”

  “All right.” I spread out my arms. Staring up at the depictions of the dark god on the ceiling made me dizzy, so I closed my eyes. I startled when fingertips ran from the hollow at the base of my throat and trailed down my torso, past my navel, to my aroused cock. I leaned up on an elbow and was embarrassed to see clear fluid leaking from my organ.

  Khentemsemet bent forward and dragged his tongue across the tip.

  “My lord! Is this done?”

  “Don’t you like it?”

  I didn’t even have to think about it. “I do. But—”

  “Then let me pl
easure you.” He took my cock between his plump lips and suckled it, then swallowed it down inch by slow inch. The feeling of his throat muscles caressing my length sent shivers up my spine. I thrust up, causing him to gag, and he withdrew. “I cannot do this if you don’t control yourself.”

  “Forgive me. It’s just I’ve never…”

  “Never? You didn’t even dally with one of the slaves in your father’s palace?”

  “No.”

  “Then I will have much to teach you.” There was satisfaction in his words.

  “Yes, teach me!”

  He stuck a finger in his mouth, then removed it and resumed sucking my cock.

  Ah. That felt so—I let out a shriek as his moistened finger stroked across my anus, then dipped into it. It felt strange, and then he performed some sort of magic, because his finger came into contact with a spot inside me, and that was all it took for me to explode in his mouth and swoon from the sheer pleasure of it.

  Some little while later, I regained my senses to find myself on my belly with my legs splayed wide and my hips raised high. Tentatively, I clenched my inner muscles. I felt…stuffed. “My lord, what have you done?” I asked breathlessly.

  “I promised to show you the way to wear the pearls, did I not?”

  “Y-yes?”

  “I’ve placed them in your delectable rear.”

  I glanced at him over my shoulder, shocked but…titillated. “Is this done?” I queried once again I did like the way they made me feel, the way they seemed to roll inside me, caressing me in a most private spot.

  “Shall I remove them?”

  “No!”

  “I thought not. Now, I would like you to return the favour.” He flipped me onto my back and crouched over my torso, facing the foot of my bed.

  “Favour? I’m sorry, my lord, I don’t understand.”

  “You will take my member in your sweet mouth and suck me off.” He backed his hips so his cock nudged my chin. His musky scent flooded my nostrils, and I almost became drunk on it.

  I opened my “sweet mouth” to tell him no, I didn’t want to do that, meaning to tease him, but he took that as an invitation and slid his massive cock between my lips. And it was massive. He rocked into my mouth, pushing his cock farther and farther in until I gagged and tears fell from my eyes. I couldn’t beg for mercy, indeed had no desire to do so once I learned the way of it, and I sucked avidly on his member, swirled my tongue under the foreskin and around the crown, forgetting completely that he’d inserted the string of pearls into my back passage.

  While I sucked him, he pulled back on my buttocks and stroked the crevice, tugged a few pearls out, then pushed them back in, and I wriggled, wanting…something, but not knowing exactly what. Above me, above the heavy orbs that swung with the high priest’s rocking motion, the globes of his buttocks flexed, and I could see the puckered opening between them. Would he permit me to touch him there? I couldn’t ask, so instead I ran my fingernails over the firm muscles, thrilled when he hummed in pleasure.

  “Are you sure you’ve never done this, Prince? You’re very talented.”

  I would have purred with my own pleasure at his praise had I been able to.

  I lost track of how much time passed.

  “You’re doing so well, my pretty little prince. Would you like to taste me?”

  Of course I couldn’t say yes, not with my mouth stuffed, but I nodded as best I could. However, since he couldn’t see, I made a noise of assent and then redoubled my efforts to bring him to orgasm.

  “Excellent.” His cock seemed to swell, and for the first time I feared I wouldn’t be able to breathe. He began to spurt—huge quantities of his essence, and it just poured down my throat, causing me to choke. I didn’t want to pull off, but I had no choice.

  He must have sensed my intent, because he sat back, driving his cock deeper into my throat and preventing me from moving. And in that moment, he tore the pearls from my back passage, and once again I exploded, although I’d had no idea I’d again grown hard or was even close to climaxing.

  Was I about to die? I realised it didn’t matter. I belonged to him body and soul, and if I died pleasing him, then it was well worth it.

  I thought for a second a dark voice growled, “It is not well worth it!” But no, that couldn’t be. All I could hear was a buzzing in my ears and the grunts of my lover above me.

  But when Khentemsemet saw I didn’t fight him, didn’t struggle to push him off, he rose up, took his cock from my mouth, and swung around to face me.

  “M-my lord?” I’d been about to call him master. I was a prince. I should have called no man master. But it was so fitting, especially since he’d given me such pleasure…such satisfaction…I smiled drowsily into his dark eyes. “Thank you.”

  “You did well, little prince. We’ll do this again, and the next time…”

  “Yes?”

  “I’ll bugger you until you can’t walk.”

  “Is that a promise, my lord?” Perhaps I should have been frightened by the lust in his gaze, but my only reaction was the desire to roll over and offer the high priest my arse. My opening was a trifle sore from the violent removal of the pearls, but I was more than willing. The thought of taking his massive cock into my body…Oh, yes. Much more than willing.

  He chuckled. “I must leave now. I have tasks that await me, unlike a certain prince I could name.” He patted my arse.

  I smiled and dozed off.

  When I awoke some hours later, I ached in a very acceptable manner. Could I place the pearls into me myself? I determined to try.

  But oddly enough, no matter how diligently I searched, I couldn’t find the pearls.

  They were gone…

  Chapter 3

  The bustle of the hotel roused me the next morning, and I blearily opened my eyes. The hinges of my jaw ached, and my arse felt as if Charlie had been rough with me, something he never was.

  Because of how my body felt, I knew I must have had a dream of making love with Charlie. I’d had such dreams before he became my lover, when I’d wake to damp pants and a sense of satisfaction. This one, though…someone had been inside me, someone I wanted, but I couldn’t recall his face. The harder I tried—the harder I attempted to hold onto the memory—the harder it was to recall.

  And then it was gone, but not the sense of shame at having found pleasure with someone not my husband.

  It made the daylight hours worse because Charlie hadn’t made love to me since we’d left our farm. Even in the desert he’d seemed reluctant to touch me.

  “You were restless last night, little Rev,” he said when I joined him in the hotel’s dining room. “Are you all right?” His eyes were dark with concern as I sat gingerly beside him to break my fast.

  “How did you know that?”

  “I could hear you through the walls. They’re paper-thin.”

  “I’m sorry I disturbed you,” I said stiffly. I was even sorrier at the sad look my curt words put on his face. “Yes, I’m fine,” I told him. I’d never outright lied to him before, but that dream…it made me uncomfortable…ashamed. I forced myself to smile at him and said again, “I’m fine.”

  “That’s good. We’ll be heading out today.”

  I cringed at the thought of the discomfort a trot would bring my arse, but I didn’t have a logical reason to ask for a delay to our journey. Mr Carter stated everything had been squared away with the officials, and he was ready to leave whenever we were.

  We finished breakfast, went to the stables where our horses were being kept, and prepared to gather up our men and supplies and head south for the Valley of the Kings.

  Fortunately, Hubini had an easy gait, and I had no discomfort. I decided the ache I’d felt in the morning must have been remnants of the dream. Come the night, surely things would be better.

  But they weren’t, because the closer we came to the Valley of the Kings, the more frequently the dreams came. I could never remember their contents, but each morning I woke
aroused, and due to the lack of privacy, unable to do anything about it.

  * * * *

  The Valley of the Kings, across from the ancient city of Luxor, was in an isolated, secluded area, miles from civilization. It was steeped in superstition.

  After we got there, Charlie and I set up our tents—separate tents—and I felt my heart crack a little.

  Even worse, I continued to be disturbed by erotic dreams. I would wake up sweating and trembling, sticky from having climaxed, and feeling as if my arse had been thoroughly ploughed. But it wasn’t enough, and I went through the day needing to have a lover’s hand on me. However, Charlie wouldn’t do it, and I wouldn’t turn to another man, although I’d received an invitation. I was married, after all, and I took my vows seriously.

  Charlie kept me at arm’s length, and I was certain those dreams were to blame.

  No, I wasn’t thinking clearly, but what other reason could there be?

  * * * *

  So we worked and sweated, and every morning when we rose, we would have fewer men than the day before, as the desolation acted upon their wildest fears. The eerie wail of the wind at night, the jackals’ howls, the never-ending susurration of the desert sand, all this contributed to the ever-rising tension.

  And I started to dread the approach of twilight. I looked for reasons to stay awake, and I would succeed for a day or so, but of course, sleep would eventually overtake me, and I would again find myself in the court of an Egyptian pharaoh.

  Because yes, I remembered that much, but didn’t it make sense, since we were in the land of pyramids and Sphinxes?

  * * * *

  There was a great deal of excitement when a tomb was discovered, but that excitement fizzled when they realised it was too small to be that of the king they were searching for. Still…it appeared to belong to a royal of the eighteenth dynasty, and it hadn’t been looted.

  I was drawn to the tomb, and I couldn’t understand why Charlie wasn’t fascinated as well. That was, until the passage into the burial chamber was cleared, and I entered it.

  The stone sarcophagus in the centre of the chamber was plain, although once Cramdon and I opened it, we could see the coffin within was gold and inlaid with jewels—sapphires, rubies, and emeralds—and when the lid was removed, a fine silver chain was seen to rest on the linen-wrapped mummy within it. Surprisingly, the chain gleamed in the torch light. It wasn’t even tarnished.