Page 26 of Hot Zone

Six

There was nothing quite like having to step over a naked couple having grunting, sweaty sex to get where you were going, Tessa observed wryly. Of course, the sight that greeted her when she got to Artemesia’s table was eminently worse. A young man was barely visible under the table, his head buried between the queen’s widespread legs, while Rustam stood behind her chair, fondling her uncovered breasts. At least he had the good grace to looked bored out of his mind.

Artemesia’s eyes were more arrogant than usual, swimming with lust and, oddly enough, power. A vague haze of red seemed to cling to the woman. Or maybe it was just the brilliant scarlet of the queen’s dress playing tricks on Tessa’s eyes. Except it looked as if Rustam’s hands were manipulating the shimmering haze, swirling it across Artemesia’s skin. And every time one of those eddies erupted, the woman arched into his hands and moaned.

Weird.

An unwilling, but undeniably visceral, response vibrated low in Tessa’s core. She didn’t think of herself as a voyeur, but it was really hard to be surrounded by all this sex and not react to it a little. Okay, a lot. She wished Rustam’s hands were playing across her skin like that, and she was the one moaning in response. Sheesh. Stop that!

“Ahh, our naive little foreigner,” Artemesia purred. “Do you disapprove of our…entertainments?”

“Certainly not,” Tessa answered smoothly. Please let Artemesia believe her! “I particularly like your notion of what constitutes a pair. Where I come from, one plus one usually equals two.”

Artemesia chuckled. “Why stop at one lover if two is better? Or three? Or ten?”

Ten?Tessa couldn’t help but gape.

Artemesia’s laughter turned into a wavering moan of orgasm as the young man did something under the table that Tessa really didn’t want to know about.

She glanced up at Rustam. “Will you be finished here soon?” she asked lightly.

His eyes went as black and hard as obsidian. He shook his head a single time. Whether he was furious with her or with the woman writhing under his hands, Tessa had no idea.

She looked down at Artemesia, who seemed all but unconscious in the throes of a major orgasm.

Breezily, Tessa said, “Well, Your Majesty, I hate to interrupt your multiple orgasms. You go on and have fun now. And thanks so much for the invitation to the party. This has been most…educational.”

The queen didn’t look to be in any condition to prevent anyone from leaving her royal presence at the moment. Frankly, Tessa doubted the keening woman remembered her own name at the moment.

Rustam opened his mouth as if to say something as Tessa turned to leave. She paused momentarily, one eyebrow raised in question.

But then he shook his head again and gestured with a jerk of his chin toward the door. Right. As if he was in any position to order her around!

And on that wry note, she turned to leave what she sincerely hoped would be her last orgy at the imperial court of the king of kings, ruler of the Medes and Achemens, of Ethiopia and India and all between, His Glorious Majesty, Emperor Xerxes of Parsa.

As she neared an exit, a pair of jostling, laughing young men closed in on her.

“Aww, you’re not leaving are you, Lady of Snow?”

“We have yet to even learn your name, fair one! Do not so callously abandon us without satisfying our curiosity.”

“I’m afraid your parties wear me out. I don’t have the stamina for this sort of thing.”

The youths laughed. “It takes practice. Lots and lots of practice.”

She rolled her eyes. “I’ll leave you to it, then. I really am tired. Maybe tomorrow night I’ll last a little longer.”

A shadow passed across the taller one’s face and he retorted sourly, “No feast tomorrow. The emperor says it’s not seemly to celebrate while our foot soldiers are fighting for the glory of the empire.”

She had to go with Xerxes on that one. The idea of partying hearty at the officers’ club while her troops put their lives on the line was blasphemous to her.

“Let us give you safe escort back to your quarters, fair princess.”

She glanced over her shoulder, seeking a glimpse of Rustam. If anyone was going to escort her back to her room, she had assumed it would be him. After all, he was crazily possessive of her and didn’t seem to want to share her.

But at the moment, his dark head was buried in Artemesia’s neck. That woman was still going at it? Dang. It almost made a modern girl feel a wee bit inadequate.

Tessa turned her attention back to the eager puppies beside her. “If you want to walk me back to my room, that’s fine. Just so long as you understand there’ll be no invitation to come in, and no hanky-panky.”

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