1. Ties That Bind


    Date: 9/18/2015, Categories: Historical, Author: bad_mann_ers, Rating: 5, Source: LushStories

    Marcus Avilius looked up from the scroll he was deciphering when the woman walked into the room. It was tedious work pulling the hidden messages from the benign looking scrolls, and the fact that the messages were routine status reports made it all the more droll. He probably should have taken a break hours ago, but duty pushed him to finish the work. He certainly did not need the distraction that the woman would likely cause. The woman walked to him without a word. With a knowing smile, her body shifted and her robes fell to the floor. As it always had, the sight of her naked body took his breath away. Her eyes held his as she forced him to turn from the desk. She settled to the floor between his legs. Marcus wanted to tell her to stop, but as she opened his toga and slipped the knot of his loin cloth, his protest went unspoken. So many times she had determined his needs before he had considered them himself. She had obviously made arrangements with the household staff to ensure they were not disturbed. He surrendered to the luxury that her status afforded them. It had not always been this way. --- Marcus had been a youth living in a coastal town well north of Rome when Emperor Nero died. His father was a retired Centurion who cared deeply about the Empire. Marcus and his brothers had been placed in rigorous training at an early age to have both the education and training needed to join the ranks of the elite. Two of his brothers had died in the civil unrest that followed ...
    the death of Nero. As the Empire found stability again, his remaining brother had taken to politics while Marcus pursued a military career. Marcus had quickly risen in rank, and had become a Centurion like his father. Events had turned against Marcus shortly after achieving that rank. His father and brother had arranged for his marriage to a senator's lesser daughter. She had allowed him to father two children, but her political aspirations required that he find a way to distinguish himself above his peers. To meet her expectations, he had managed to get promoted as a junior Tribune in a force that was attending the needs in the northern reaches of the Empire. He suspected that the promotion did not please her as much as the fact that he would be gone for three to five years, and that there was a chance he might suffer a glorious death for the Empire. She almost got her wish, a couple of times. --- The woman before him paused for a moment. With the lightest of touch, she traced a faint white line on his skin above his hip. In an act that had nearly become a ritual between them, she whispered a quiet prayer, and then gently pressed her lips to the scar. She had not always been so good to him. --- Even as a Tribune, the life of a soldier was hectic. He had been stationed in a port city in Gaul, with trade routes to Britain. He was one of six men responsible for six thousand soldiers that kept the peace within the province. Most of his time was spent in charge of the operations of ...
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