Sara

Ione couldn't read, but she nodded at the tablet and gestured to her own one. It was on a thin cord and made of simple wood. She only had to wear it when out of the house not in her toga. That itself signalled what she was, but when dressed in a tunica like she was, she needed to wear something to demonstrate she was anything but respectable. She wasn't even allowed that thin sliver of a dream that she was a normal young woman. No, her tablet proclaimed far and wide she was the slave of Lucius Armenius Valerius, whore at the house of the Elysium. She watched his gestured and frowned, only putting two and two together slowly. "Chariots!" She smiled broadly, genuinely. "I've always wanted to see a race." She had never been allowed the time off - nor did she have the coins spare - to watch one. "Do you ride the chariots? Are you one of the famous ones?" She asked, genuinely excited, body now turned entirely to him. TAG: @Chevi

She gave him a small smile at his validation. Iona lived breathed and died for validation from others which was no way to live but it was a consequence of a hard life well lived. Even if she was only in her mid-twenties. But his words struck a chord and she tilted her head, opening her mouth to reply - agree - when the bell rang and she darted off to get his soup. She returned a few moments later with a plate on which sat two plain pieces of white bread, buttered, and his soup. She set it down carefully with a little wince of exertion and then stood back. "I'm sure you want me to leave you alone now..." She chuckled and tucked some hair behind her ear, awkward as Iona so often was. She swallowed and then spoke quietly. "I...I'm glad you visit." She said with a small, awkward smile. "It is nice to talk to somebody that...has some self-awareness." Not just the drunken louts that thought it was fine, normal even to drink a four pack of Carling before coming down to the pub at midday. She nodded at him, pleased she'd said her peace, and then gestured at the bar. "I'll be there if you need me." And with that, she scurried off again, back to her cold plate of chips. TAG: @Sarah

She laughed, genuinely, relieved that her spirits were lifting, even just a little. "They claim its all women...being dramatic but..." she rolled her eyes. Her father, her brothers all dramatic in their own ways. Lucius, even, with his need to be different. Not for the first time the scandalous thought that the world would be a much simpler, calmer place with women in charge crossed her mind. But she sighed and studied Aia, nodding a little. "I...I thought I had that. Once before...there was a man who said he adored me." She smiled a little sadly. "Also called Decimus but...he was using me. I...I don't think Lucius is. And I suppose...despite the risks I...feel safe." She groaned and dropped her head into her hands. "I don't know why I can't snap myself out if it. It's ridiculous. Dangerous." TAG: @Chevi

She tilted her face into his palm as he cupped her cheek and breathed that she'd done something to him since the moment they'd met. That felt like so long ago. She'd been a dirty, dishevelled, angry young woman who had been dragged the full length of the empire. She'd lost a child, had been chained and than he'd seen her. She could barely even speak Latin. Now she was here - his wife in almost all respects, fluent in her words (or almost), a mother to his son. How was it possible that so much could change in only two years and nine months or so? She felt him smile against her lips and then pull back. She arched a brow, chuckling. "No." She said, fingers still sweeping across his cheek. "I wouldn't mind." Still gripping the bracelet in her other hand she moved to stand and reached down to take his hand with her spare one, pulling him along to the small bathing complex he had in his domus. On the way she placed the bracelet into the hand of a slave with the instruction that it should be placed in her room. Once they were in the bathing room - with slaves hurrying to set it up she sighed. So much luxury, but at what cost? She reached up to start pulling out the pins that held up some of her hair, silently contemplating. TAG: @Atrice

Whatever happens. They both knew what would happen. Her marriage to some important man was as inevitable as dawn following night. The question of who it was, which important man was the only outstanding question. She sunk closer to his skin as he pressed a kiss to her hair and smiled. Then she tilted her face up to look at him, a gleam of amusement in her eyes as her other hand stretched to pull the sheet over them - the breeze from the window cooling her skin to much. She propped herself up on his chest and peered up at him. "Oh?" She arched a brow. "What other activities did you have in mind for this afternoon, my love?" TAG: @Chevi

She chuckled and have him a half annoyed, half amused look as he stomped on her blouse so she couldn't fetch it. He was sweet. And a good lay, a very good lay in fact, but Hilda had her own life and she knew that any further delay might be cause for concern when she inevitably ended up back at the Palace. She was pretty sure her hair was already ruined and she didn't much want anybody asking annoying, prying questions. She gave him an amused smile and moved over to stand next to him, looping her arms over his shoulders as she sighed. "Sweet Alexius. You are an excellent lay and excellent company but alas, duty calls." She rolled her eyes. "Even in Rome where the fact that I'm a Princess doesn't matter, I still can't spend my time as I wish." She wrinkled her nose and then glanced down between them. He was still naked which made her grin but she was looking past him for her blouse. "My shirt? And how about this, as a compromise, I can come back next week?" TAG: @Atrice

"Both." She said quietly. "For better because now I know how we will be spending every moment we have together...and I know what my dreams will be filled with..." She chuckled... "For worse..." She breathed and shook her head. He knew. He knew that now she had to go into a marriage with somebody that wasn't him. Lie in the bed of another man and if she was lucky, take pleasure from him, or if not, suffer his advances all the while knowing what she was missing. She breathed and felt his heart start to calm under her ear. She pressed a kiss to his chest. "I really...never expected...that..." She breathed. "I..." She didn't know how to explain and so instead just said; "Thank you." TAG: @Chevi

She grinned and let out what was really quite a girlish giggle at his compliment and then pressed a kiss chastely to her lips. She smiled against them and murmured back before he could move; "I love you too. You insane, brilliant, Adonis." And then she allowed herself to be pulled over, settling with her head against his chest, her arm stretched out over him, fingers playing across the muscle of his upper arm. "This changes so much." She murmured quietly, barely audibly. TAG: @Chevi

It had been...beyond words. He'd touched her and kissed her in ways, in places, she had never expected was possible. But he had been respectful. Kept his distance. Not done anything that would have crossed the very last line that would have ruined her beyond every measure. Instead they had focused on her pleasure. His had seemed almost incidental. But even now, led in the bed, naked and watching as he cleaned up she was in a state of trembling awe. She moved her fingers to trace over the lines of his shoulder and then, as he rolled back to his side, she shuffled closer to him, also lying on her side, her thigh brushing his as she reached up her fingers to stroke his jaw. She whispered. "I...thought I would feel guilty...but I don't." She should. By every measure she should. He was the first man to see her naked. The first man to touch her. To make her climax. To climax himself, in her presence but...there was no guilt. He was deserving of the honour she should have rightfully bestowed on a husband. It was perfect. He was perfect. TAG: @Chevi

His look softened and she smiled. She was used to cold men, angry men, scary men, but that was work and not something she could avoid. Here, she wanted to attempt to make her day as pleasurable as possible. She happily handed him her meagre rations of wine and smiled broader as he thanked her. Or tried to thank her, in his own way. "It's my pleasure I...I'm Ione." She gave him a small, self-conscious look knowing he couldn't explain his name in gestures alone. "You're a slave too?" Obviously, otherwise he wouldn't be sat here. "Where...where do you work?" TAG: @Chevi

She chuckled, shaking her head as she fished her skirt and stepped into it - watching him over her shoulder as she set about lacing it back up. "I'm flattered you sound so committal." She snorted. Good he wasn't attached, she didn't need that, but she couldn't say she wasn't a touch hurt by his lack of interest in another round at some later date. Not tonight, but another day. "He's not, but he worries." she rolled her eyes with another chuckle and frowned, planting her hands on her hips as she canned the room to try and find her blouse. Nowhere to be found. "Aaand, I live in the Palace." she gave him a sly grin, "And the Guards hate me enough as it is, I suspect they'd be even less impressed with me stumbling in half-drunk and pleasured near dawn." She frowned again. "Have you seen my blouse?" TAG: @Atrice

She swallowed as he began to talk, her eyes still focused on the small leather bracelet in her palm. It was so crude compared to the jewellery she now owned and saw on other women but at the time of its gifting she had felt like the most special woman in the world. Like it was the finest thing she could imagine wearing - more for its maker and its symbolism than anything. But now it weighed her palm down like a lead weight rather than giving her any joy. She only barely heard him but she felt his fingers brush her chin and she moved her face to look at his after a moment. He didn't want her to resent him? She'd proven herself? He wanted to move forward? She stove off tears with her resolute personality but it was a close call. She searched his face for a long moment. She wished she could believe him; wished that he would never be cruel, or unkind, or paranoid again. She didn't. History in this house had taught her that would never be likely. But she knew he needed to hear that she believed him, and that she was grateful for the gift. She closed her fingers over it and nodded, moving her spare hand to cup his cheek. She offered him a smile - it was small but it was there. "Thank you. Tertius. I...am grateful." She stroked her thumb over his cheekbone. "But I want to move forward too. What this..." She gestured with her closed fist, "Represents is gone." and never, ever coming back. She remembered Alexius saying he felt so alien when he'd visited Germania. Unwelcome. She suspected she would be now too, should she ever go back. Trying to drown out those thoughts she leant in for a soft kiss instead. TAG: @Atrice

She shuddered at his whisper, no longer embarrassed by the reaction her body produced when he spoke to her in that low voice of his, as he touched her. She moved her thumb from his grip to stroke his lips, watching them rather than his face. Her heart was beating a frenetic rhythm against her chest but out of excitement. Not fear. She nodded. "I trust you." She murmured, still focusing on his lips. And then she glanced up, a little awkward and gave him a small smile. "But...you did not answer my question. What...do I do? When you do that..." She swallowed, her mouth suddenly dry as a desert, "To me...what do I do...to you?" Her eyes were focused on his, hesitant but...excited. TAG: @Chevi

She let out a sound that was somewhere in-between a gasp, a moan, and a choke as his hand found her breast. She knew this was wrong, utterly, utterly wrong but she was also sure this was the best thing she'd ever done for herself. It was also the only thing she wanted right now. Him. She wanted him. Her fingers traced along the contours of the muscles of his arms, his shoulders, snaking down from his hair. Her eyes were still shut, head turned into the side of the window, breath hard. It was only when he stopped the kisses that she cracked them with a choke and turned her head a fraction to glance at him. He was looking at her, with something indescribable in his eyes. She swallowed, lips parted and then managed to stutter out: "What should I do?" Suddenly she wasn't alone in her room after everybody had gone to bed. Suddenly there was a real life man in front of her and...she found it an altogether very different...and bewildering experience. TAG: @Chevi

She was breathless and flushed from the exertion of the kisses, but his compliment made her blush further and she let out a little gasp of desire as he tilted her head up to kiss along her jaw, her neck. She shuddered, eyes closing in pleasure as she let the wind buffet her hair, her skin but she couldn't claim the goosebumps were just because of it. She could only take so much though and her fingers moved to grip the window ledge, nails curling into the wood as she choked at the sensations he provoked. She murmured breathlessly. "This is what I dreamed of." She managed to pry one hand from the ledge to move to his hair, fingers curling into it, gripping on. TAG: @Chevi

Ovinia moaned against his lips as he deepened the kiss. It was heaven and the fingers splaying into her hair didn’t help her keep her sense. With a burning need to do more, be more with him, she reached up to pluck out the pins that held lose braids half-up in her hair until her long dark hair tumbled down her back. This was a day of firsts: even as a maiden and thus allowed to have her hair down without judgement, he’d not seen it completely undone or unstyled. Her hands then returned to grip his shoulders deeply, hard, until her head was swimming and she lost her balance, leaning back against the wall and window ledge. She felt the breeze flutter her skin , her hair. She broke apart with panting breath and flushed cheeks, her eyes dark for him. TAG: @Chevi

"Since Neptunalia." She admitted to him, hands still moving reverently over his body. She'd never touched a man before, not like this, not with the inquisitive focus she now had. "Since I saw you soaked in your tunic and I didn't understand what I felt." She have him a slightly embarrassed but sly look. Then she tilted her chin back up to capture his lips again, this time slightly more urgent as memories of that day, of Saturnalia, of the library, of the gardens, filtered back into her mind. TAG: @Chevi

She shuddered as his tongue travelled across her lips, his hands caressing her back. She was already lost to his touch. She had no frame of reference for this level of intimacy but she didn't understand how it could get better. She was breathless when she pulled back, resting her forehead against his, trying to draw in a breath as well as she could. "How l-long," She murmured as she kissed him briefly, playfully, "Have you wanted to do this?" Her own fingers softly traced the contours of his shoulders, of his arms, of his chest, feeling the strength of his body in a way she'd wanted to do for months. It was better than in her dreams. TAG: @Chevi

As he leant down she smiled against his lips and moved the arm that was wound around his waist, to his shoulders to draw him closer. It was a soft kiss, at least at first and she just slowly let herself sink into the sensations, into the closeness of him, into the perfectness of the moment. But she wanted more. She had decided, long before she'd ascended the stairs, that she wanted more and needed it and deserved it and so with a soft moan she deepened the kiss, her other arm moving to his chest, fingers splayed over his heart, feeling it beat beneath them. TAG: @Chevi

"I like greens and blues." She retorted, glancing at him with a sly smile over her shoulder. The most expensive colours, because of course. But she was soon distracted by the room. The view really was quite something. It largely focused on the blooming garden but over the roof of the domus one could see an expanse of the city in the distance - although mostly all that could be heard was birdsong and the sound of her own heartbeat. She felt him draw next to her and she smiled softly, moving again to wind his arm around his waist. Touching him like this, even chaste as this was, was still a novelty after so many months of snatched moments. The intimacy was something altogether different. And thrilling. She turned her face up to his, tilting her chin. "You said downstairs you wanted to kiss me?" TAG: @Chevi

She followed him with a youthful giggle, and moved an arm to wind around his waist, fingers gripping his hip as they drew to a stop in the atrium. "It's nice." She said, glancing at him with an amused look. "Quaint." Her father was one of the wealthiest men in the city, and had a domus to match. Anything was a step down from that. She glanced at the stairs as he referenced the rooms upstairs and she didn't need to consider any longer. She released her grip on him and moved slowly towards the stairs. Everything was still in a perfectly serviceable, fine condition even if it wasn't exactly to her tastes - a point she made clear to Lucius as she ascended the stairs unprompted; "Why did they think yellow was a good colour for an atrium?" But then she drew to the landing on the second floor and pushed open a door. Light streamed in through narrow slats of shutters, casting the room in a dim glow. Of course most of the furniture was under sheets but she drew to the window, unlatching the shutters and pushing them to the side. Bright light streamed in and she sighed, happy. She breathed in the scent of the flowers, still blossoming despite their owners absence. "It's beautiful." She said, still glancing down into the gardens, back to him. TAG: @Chevi

She watched him closely, dark eyes assessing but lips slightly parted as she exhaled. She shouldn’t be doing this, even contemplating it, but she was. She’d decided. She knew what she wanted and she knew what she was risking for it. She also knew it was some inevitable husbands right, not the man sat in front of her. But that husband was drawing closer and the idea that she would never get to do…anything with the man that plagued her dreams hurt her. Deeply. So here she was. She offered him a hand outstretched to take to pull himself up from the couch. Her voice was light and the corners of her mouth twitching up. “Will you give me a tour, Lucius?” TAG: @Chevi

She smiled and gave him a look of amusement as he pulled back to ask about her day. So sweet. And sincere, that she could tell. He had never seemed the sort to be duplicitous, he was honest to a fault, and she believed him now. That was enough for her. "No." She said as she pushed to stand up, finally breaking the intimacy of them on the couch. She glanced around the silent, deserted domus. "Do all the rooms have furniture?" She asked with a quirked brow and a slightly sly, but nervous, smile on her lips. TAG: @Chevi

She sighed in contentment as he moved to rest his forehead against hers. She felt calm. Calmer than she did in the gardens when the heat of the moment had caught and swept her up in a passion she hadn't experienced before. This was different; they were talking, they were taking their time. She loved it just as much, and it thrilled her just as much. She kept on stroking his cheek, her fingers moving softly. She felt something deep in her core as he spoke. Kissing. Touching. Pleasure. All things she'd dreamt about since she'd figured out what she should be dreaming about but...all things that she shouldn't have even countenanced. She felt his breath against her lips as he murmured his reassurance quietly. She smiled softly, gently probing. "Would you still love me, or wish to spend time with me if I said all I wanted to do was sit with you and drink wine and talk about our days?" She needed to know, she didn't believe for a second he was using her just to satiate his lust, but she still needed to know. TAG: @Chevi

She gave him a slightly bemused look at his confusion, still a hairs breadth away from him. She ducked in to leave another soft kiss against his lips. The playful nature of it and his response set another unwilling shudder up her skin. “You have not told me what you want.” She murmured, explaining, against his lips, fingers moving up to sweep the arch of his cheek. “Why is it my responsibility to say what I want but you don’t reciprocate with views of your own?” TAG: @Chevi