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“I spoke with Na’ Ima about your homeland,” Tahraz tossed in as she studied the board. “Elders in her tribe traveled to Mahrib long ago. They have seen the glories of your Great Temple. One of them even attended the fertility rite performed by a high priestess known as Rahina. Was she perhaps your mother?”
Bree nodded, unwilling to trust her voice. He knew something of the ceremony.
“Na’ Ima remembered the elders describing in great detail the way the high priestess was adorned. They said her face was veiled but she performed the ceremony naked – save for tiny jeweled birds clipped to her painted nipples and a skirt of fabric so sheer as to be translucent. I look forward with great pleasure to witnessing such a sight.”
Bree nearly choked on the sweet date she’d been nibbling. She’d had trouble concentrating before. Now it was all she could do to keep her mind on the game.
She recovered from one stupid mistake, but when she left herself open a second time, Tahraz seized the opportunity. “Check,” he announced gleefully. “In truth, I believe it is checkmate.”
Bree bowed her head. “It is,” she admitted. “Well played, my lord suiltaan.”
“The score is even, and we have one match yet to play.” Tahraz swept the remaining pieces off the board. He laid each one in the silver box then picked it up to study the explicit etchings of figures enjoying every sort of erotic pleasure imaginable. “But before we play again, you will honor your wager.”
He rose and bowed politely. “Until tomorrow, Queen of Sheba.”
Normally time passed slowly under the hot desert sun, but the next day the hours flew by. Bree met with the musicians and taught them the simple but haunting melody of the hymn. The drummer learned his part quickly, beating out the primitive rhythm, sending her mind whirling back to that bizarre night.
Soon the time drew near for Bree to reenact the ceremony. She dug through her saddlebags and found a flask of the special scented oil. Putting it aside along with pots of henna and kohl, she enlisted Dasheena and Na’ Ima to help her prepare for the evening. She bathed and then rubbed the oil all over her body. With trembling hands, she cinched the jewel-studded gold belt around her hips and fastened the long gossamer skirt to it. She slipped her feet into delicate sandals trimmed with gold.
She had no bright paint to draw the hibiscus flowers on her breasts. Na’ Ima improvised, swirling on kohl in an elaborate design then mixing henna with the scented oil to stain her nipples a deep red. Dasheena outlined her eyes and shaded them with more kohl. The stark black stood out on her light skin. Dasheena said it made her brown eyes look enormous.
Bree unpacked the jeweled hummingbirds last. She tweaked her nipples till they stood out, biting back a cry when Na’ Ima clipped a tiny bird onto each hard peak. Finally, Dasheena helped her slip into a deep purple robe that concealed her entire body, covering her face and hair with a matching veil that left only her kohl-rimmed eyes exposed.
Tahraz was in rare form when the women entered his tent. He laughed and joked with the musicians and praised Bashar’s culinary skills when the old man presented their evening meal. He treated Bree as an honored guest, gesturing for her to sit by his side. Once again he chose tasty morsels from the platter, feeding her with his own hand. She moved her veil aside just enough for his fingers to place them in her mouth.
Finally, Tahraz could no longer conceal his impatience. He ordered the musicians out. Then he turned to Dasheena. “Take the women away.”
The musicians took their places outside the tent. Bree heard the drummer first, slowly beating out the rhythm. She took a pouch of frankincense from her robes and tossed a handful of the crystals onto the brazier. Almost at once, their pungent aroma filled the tent. A haze of smoke rose and began spreading on unseen currents of air.
Tahraz gave her a solemn nod. “We are alone, my queen. You may begin.”
Bree walked slowly to the center of the tent. The fragrant oil infused with intoxicating herbs was once again doing its job, permeating her skin to send shivers of arousal racing through her body. When the lyre and the flute joined the drums, she was transported back to the night she first laid eyes on the Great Temple of Mahrib and experienced the raw power of its ancient rite.
She met Tahraz’s gaze, her eyes never leaving his as she slipped the robe off her shoulders and let it fall to the ground. He watched the robe drop, then leisurely scanned her half-naked body from head to toe. His eyes lingered on the design painted on her bare breasts, the twin hummingbirds clipped to her puckered nipples.
“Is it not the custom for the high priestess to have her arms bound, outstretched, as she stands on the altar?”
“It is.”
He walked to one of the wooden poles holding up the roof. Bree saw he’d tied a narrow strip of cloth to the top of the pole. He wrapped the free end around her wrist and pulled it tight. Then he did the same to her other wrist, leaving her standing before him, unable to move, wearing only a veil over her face and a nearly transparent skirt with a slit in the front nearly up to her waist.
“I am told the temple is home to both male and female attendants – and that they and many of the worshippers are unclothed as they participate in your holy ritual.”
“That is true.”
“Then I will abide by your custom.”
He slid his robe off, allowing it to fall to the ground as Bree had done. Under it, he was naked. His powerful body gleamed in the flickering light of clay lamps placed around the room. Already fully erect, his cock jutted out proudly. She found herself longing to touch it. To taste it. To hear him groan with a hunger as raw as the shameless desires he aroused in her.
Arms bound, stretched wide apart, she held her head high and began chanting the ancient hymn. As she sang, Tahraz came close, so close his iron-hard cock grazed her belly as he swayed his hips to the music. Her voice gained strength, and she sang once again in the ancient language, sang of fertile fields and bountiful rivers teeming with life. She sang of seductive women and lustful men, of raw passion and the endless pleasure they found in each other’s arms.
As her song neared its end, Tahraz pulled aside the veil covering her face. He reached for the goatskin flask, took a long drink, then bent his head and kissed her. Under his seductive pressure, she parted her lips. Thick honey-sweet liqueur trickled into her mouth.
She swallowed instinctively, then gasped as a trail of liquid fire ran down her throat. With all her senses heightened, Bree swore she could feel the potent drink pouring through her veins, igniting the inflamed nerve endings of her nipples and pooling in the hot wet channel between her thighs. He gave her a little more. Bree drank it then darted her tongue into his mouth, dancing with his to the cadence of the drum.
Still deep in the kiss, Tahraz began caressing her breasts. When he unclipped one of the hummingbirds and bent his head to suck on the engorged nipple, Bree let out a strangled cry. She tossed her head from side to side, overwhelmed by a wave of ecstasy overriding the pain. When he took the bird off her other nipple and drew it into his mouth, her strangled cry turned into a rough moan.
Tahraz sank to his knees. She longed to twine her fingers in his hair. But the cloth binding her wrists held fast, and she could only watch…and feel. Feel his hands stroking up the insides of her thighs, feel his tongue following the path his hands traced until it reached her throbbing clit.
Bree shuddered. He looked up and smiled that devastating smile then spread her apart with the fingers of both hands. She felt his tongue again, then his mouth closed over the swollen nub and he started licking and sucking it the way he’d sucked her nipples. Her rough moans became breathless wordless cries. He drove her higher, never stopping until she let out a wild scream. Only then did he rise and take her in his arms. His tongue claimed her mouth, hot and hard.
When at last he ended the kiss, Bree was left shuddering in his arms. He drew back and smiled again. “I thank you, Queen of Sheba, for that demonstration of the secret rite of your holy temple. The men of Mahrib are indeed blessed to live in a kingdom that has such wonders in store for them.”
To her amazement, Tahraz slipped on his robe and stepped away to untie the ropes holding her. When she was free, he bent and picked up her robe, drawing it over her head and letting it fall to the ground to cover her. He bowed once again, took her hand, and led her to the doorway.
When she came to her senses, Bree found herself outside. Alone in the darkness, under the vast star-laden sky, her body quivering with savage hunger.
