Loving a Stranger Read online

  “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!”<
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  “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, del
icious 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?”