I have the author’s permission to post this story, which originally appeared in Amazons: Sexy Tales of Strong Women, edited by Sage Vivant and M. Christina for Thunder’s Mouth Press (2006).
[intlink id=”49″ type=”post”]Find out more about Kristina here[/intlink].
Kai didn’t want to make the journey up the mountain in the dark, but Nena had insisted. “It’s how it has to be,” she had said last evening in the twilight of their bedroom. “We must go when the moon is full, so Thalea will bless my womb.”
And so it was done. Being a loving and devoted husband, and also wanting a son as badly as Nena, Kai followed his wife up the mountain in search of the woman named Thalea who would bestow good fortune and give them a son.
“Hurry,” Nena called back. “We must get there before the moon begins its descent.”
Kai stifled a sigh and walked faster. Nena, so petite and delicate, seemed to have the strength of a man on this night. Perhaps it was because they had tried for ten years to produce a son and had produced only two sickly daughters who had died within weeks of their birth. Nena had buried each girl beneath the banyan trees behind their home while Kai was out in his fishing boat. He had protested when their first daughter had died and was buried without his presence. Nena had gone into such a rage, insisting a mother’s grief must be satisfied in it’s own way and time, that when the second daughter had died two years later, Kai had kept his peace. He had only held Nena as she wailed, dirt under her nails from digging the grave with her bare hands.
Here they were, seven years since Nena had buried their second child alone, seeking out the mystical woman who had blessed so many of their neighbors with healthy boys. Kai hoped Thalea would be able to help them. If not, he feared for Nena’s sanity.
The house was tucked deep into the trees on the mountain, but Nena seemed to locate it with some women’s sense. Kai saw the flicker of a candle in the window and then a shadow pass behind. A shiver stroked his spine and he hesitated. Maybe this was not the way for them. He knew there was no use in arguing with Nena now that she had her mind set, so he followed her to the door and waited for it to open at their knock.
Thalea answered the door, or at least he assumed it was Thalea. She didn’t match the image he had of her. He had envisioned a small, wizened woman with long flowing white hair, speaking in a raspy voice and smelling of earth and age. Instead, the woman before them was tall, taller even than Kai who was the tallest of the six boys in his family. Her body was ripe and lush, curved in all the places Nena was not. Her breasts swelled from beneath her simple shift dress, her hips wide and voluptuous. Her long braided hair and smooth, unblemished skin was as dark as the earth, to be certain, but she smelled of something fresh and sweet. The scent stirred Kai’s memory but he couldn’t place it, the knowledge hovering at the fringes of his conscious, teasing him.
“Come in,” she said, and her voice washed over him like a balm, soothing his misgivings. “I have been expecting you.”
Nena, often forward to the point of rudeness, bowed her head as she walked into the house. “Thank you for seeing us,” she said so softly Kai could barely hear her.
Kai followed his wife into the small house, meeting Thalea’s gaze almost defiantly. Nena might be cowed into believing this woman had mystical powers, but he would not believe the claims until his wife gave birth to his son. His feelings must have shown in his expression, for Thalea smiled at him, a knowing smile.
“I’m sure I will be able to give you what you most deserve.”
She ushered them into the main room, dimly lit by candles and decorated sparsely. There were only two chairs and a small settee, with two small tables. She pointed at the chairs and Nena quickly sat. Kai took his time until Thalea arched a thick, dark eyebrow. Not wanting to displease Nena, or at least that’s what he told himself, he took a seat. He noted two doors at opposite ends of the main room, and a small kitchen with a table and three chairs. The house was old, worn, but it vibrated with an energy Kai could almost feel. There was life here, and perhaps this is why Thalea was able to create life in the women who lived at the bottom of the mountain.
“You want a child,” Thalea said.
Nena nodded quickly, then frowned. “Of course, but I have had two children, two tiny, weak girls who died soon after I gave them life. We need a son. A healthy, strapping boy to help my husband with his fishing boat and care for us in our old age.”
Thalea’s face was expressionless. She looked at Kai. “Is this what you both want? A son?”
The way she said the words made Kai think she was testing him. He hesitated. He looked at Nena, who was glaring at him to respond in the affirmative. He looked back at Thalea. “Yes. We want a son.”
Thalea clapped her hands together loudly. “You shall have what you deserve.” She stood and gestured for them to follow her into the room at the farthest end of the house.
Once again, Kai hesitated. Though it was the woman’s job to birth children, he wasn’t sure what his role in this process would be. He feared painful treatments or sickness-making potions. Few spoke of what transpired when they went to visit Thalea. They told only of magic and sons being born. Kai had asked Nena what would happen when they went to Thalea and she had insisted it didn’t matter. “We will do whatever she says,” Nena told him, her finger jabbing him in the shoulder. “A son is worth whatever she demands.”
Kai looked around the room filled with big, bright pillows and cushions, the windows covered in shimmering, diaphanous fabric, the candles flickering from shelves along the walls, and he decided there would be no suffering for their wish. A sense of peace came over him, peace and something more. Excitement. He looked at Nena, but she was looking at Thalea. He, too, looked at their benefactor and saw her eyes flash, as if absorbing the candlelight.
“It is time,” Thalea said.
Kai sensed what she meant, but he let Nena ask the question.
“Do you mean—?”
Thalea nodded. “In order for the moon magic to work, you must mate tonight, here. I will stay to ensure the union is properly completed.”
Kai sensed Nena’s tension. Nena was a modest woman. Their early years of lovemaking had been gentle and tender, more affection than passion. Between babies, their sexual bond had faded almost completely, with Nena complaining of pain and tiredness. After they had lost both girls, but before Nena was ready to attempt conception again, Kai would coax her, at first gently, then more demandingly as his needs became stronger, until Nena would give in and let him satisfy himself with her body. Sex with Nena offered physical release, but that was all. Most of the time. Nena did seem to enjoy sex if she thought there was the possibility of a baby from the union, so Kai showed interest in her cycles and was extra kind and thoughtful during those times, hoping to stir his wife’s passions. When she had suggested they go to Thalea for assistance, Kai had first resisted outside help. As Nena pulled even farther away from him physically and emotionally, he hoped Thalea would not only be able to help them with bearing a child but in healing their marriage.
“You must undress,” Thalea said, her voice terse. “You must lie together unclothed.”
Nena tentatively began removing her clothes, eyes on the floor. Kai was reluctant to remove his own clothing, knowing his lack of arousal would be apparent and fearing not only Nena’s wrath, but also that of Thalea. He began with his shirt, unbuttoning it slowly. He was so preoccupied with urging his body to respond that he didn’t at first notice Thalea was undressing as well. It was only when Nena let out a small gasp that he looked up and saw Thalea, naked from the waist up. Her breasts were heavy and round, her large nipples darker than even her skin. Kai couldn’t help staring—and comparing—Thalea’s full voluptuousness with Nena’s slight form.
“What are you doing?” he asked, knowing Nena would never forgive him if he didn’t show proper indignation.
Thalea stared at him. “I am undressing, as you should be.”
“But why?”
“You have come to me for help,” Thalea said. “In order to do this, I must be a part of your union.”
Kai wasn’t sure what she meant by that, but the sight of Thalea as she bent over and slipped out of her dress, her heavy breasts swinging, stirred something within him. He watched, mesmerized, as she stood up to her full height, towering over both Nena and him. Her hips and thighs were as wide and heavy as her breasts, her body looking both feminine and powerful.
“Do what she says,” Nena murmured to him. “Undress.”
He was surprised at Nena’s acquiescence. He looked at his wife and realized that she had mimicked Thalea’s actions and was now naked. The contrast between women was undeniable. Thalea’s heavy body and Nena’s small one, Thalea’s ebony skin and Nena, pale as the moon outside the window. Thalea’s hair was long, nearly to her waist, woven in braids that swung like sinuous snakes down her back. Nena’s hair, the color of the wild buttercups that grew outside their house, was shorn short, almost boyishly so. Kai lamented the loss of the long, silken locks she’d had when they met in their youth, but she insisted a married woman needed short, easily cared for hair.
Kai couldn’t stop looking from his wife to the woman who was supposed to help them have a child. As he unfastened his pants, he felt himself swelling, hardening. His pulse quickened. He hadn’t felt this kind of desire since he had first lain with Nena over ten years ago on their wedding night. Reluctant though he’d been when Nena had first suggested they come to Thalea, he was now anxious to experience what was to come.
When the three of them were naked, Kai’s erection bobbing impatiently in the air as if seeking comfort, Thalea lay down on the soft cushions and pulled Nena with her. Nena let out a little squeal, but there was more excitement than fear in her voice. Kai suspected Thalea’s nude body was as provocative to Nena as it was to him. She would never admit it, of course, but the knowledge that—perhaps for the first time in years—his wife was well and truly aroused, only increased his desire.
“Lay with us,” Thalea said, reaching a dark hand up to him.
Nena once again mirrored Thalea, stretching a small, pale hand toward him. He took a step forward onto the soft pillows, reaching out to both women. Thalea’s hand was big, larger than his, and warm; Nena’s familiar touch was comforting. He let the two women pull him down and he laughed as he tumbled onto the pillows.
Once he lay between the two women, Kai reached for his wife. His heart felt light, happy. This moment was fleeting, an aberration, and he instinctively knew he would never experience anything like this again. Nena melted against him, her small body feeling warm and pliant in a way he couldn’t remember. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled his head down to her, kissing him wetly. He moaned, pulling her closer, letting her feel how hard, how ready, he was for her.
Nena pulled back and looked into his eyes. “We will make a son this night,” she whispered.
He nodded, pressing his erection against her thigh. “We will.”
Nena opened to him then, spreading her thighs as she rolled onto her back. “Come, Kai. Make a son in me.”
Kai made to roll on top of her, but was stopped by Thalea’s large hand on his hip. She pulled him back toward her, reaching for his erection.
“You cannot rush the union,” she said, stroking his cock. “The moon has not yet crested and will be in the sky for hours. Patience.”
Kai could hardly think of patience while Thalea’s thick, callused hand touched him. He threw his head back and groaned. “I will not be able to control myself if you continue touching me like that.”
Thalea snorted. “No discipline, like a boy.”
Kai felt his cheeks flush. He started to protest, to tell her how Nena had refused him for over a month, preparing him for this night, but Thalea leaned across him, her long braids tickling his thighs, and took him in her mouth.
He dug his hands into the pillows, resisting the urge to thrust upward into Thalea’s mouth. He heard Nena gasp, but the sound seemed to come from a very great distance, barely penetrating the fog in his brain. Thalea began to suck him gently, her tongue swirling around the head of his cock. He sensed Nena’s restlessness, knew he should resist Thalea, but was helpless to do anything. He could only lie there while Thalea sucked him, while Nena watched. He opened his eyes and looked at his wife, but she wasn’t looking at him. She was watching Thalea’s mouth on him. He followed her gaze and felt his cock twitch. Never had he seen something more erotic than Thalea’s dark head bowed over his prone body.
Thalea pulled back, leaving his cock swollen and slick with spit. “Now, mount him,” she said to Nena.
“But I was told the best way to conceive a child was on my back,” Nena protested.
Once again, Thalea made a derisive noise. “There is a beginning, middle and end to every tale, child,” she said. “You wish to skip to the end and miss the joy of the story. Mount him now, before his prick withers with all this talk of children.”
Nena opened her mouth as if to protest further, but Kai touched her arm. “Come, Nena. Do it now.”
Nena blinked at him, then did as she was told. She straddled his body, lowering herself on him. He felt Thalea’s hands between his thighs, holding his cock upright for Nena’s descent. The sensation of Thalea’s hand gripping him tightly and Nena’s wetness enveloping him slowly was almost too much to bear. As Nena slid down on his cock, Thalea moved her hand lower, until she cupped his balls. When he was buried inside his wife’s body, Thalea took her hand away and stretched out beside them.
“Take him,” she told Nena. “Take him like a woman, not like a wife, not like a brood mare.”
Nena seemed to take no offense to the words. She began to move on him with quick, jerky motions that had him arching his back, wanting to shoot into her. Thalea’s hand on his shoulder reminded him there was time, so much time, and he needed to enjoy every moment they were given. He looked up at Nena, her back arched, her small breasts with their pale, pale nipples outthrust, and he moaned.
He felt Thalea’s warm breath on his cheek and was startled to see she was watching his face, not where his body joined with Nena’s. She didn’t speak, she only smiled a soft, sad smile. Kai realized she was touching herself as she watched him, one large hand working between her thighs. He looked down her lush, round body to where two thick fingers disappeared into the soft, fleshy folds of her cunt. He was mesmerized by the image, even while Nena rode his cock in a way she never had, he could not look away from Thalea.
“You are so beautiful,” he said, searching Thalea’s face for something, but he didn’t know what. “So beautiful.”
With her head back and her eyes closed, Nena must have believed the words were for her, because she thrust harder on his cock, her cunt gripping him tightly. “Oh Kai,” she whimpered. “Kai! Kai!”
He willed her to be quiet. He wanted to watch Thalea pleasure herself. He wanted to sink his engorged cock into Thalea’s cunt as deeply as she pushed her fingers into herself. Instead, he only watched, watched the way her body writhed next to him, the way she stroked herself with a slow, steady rhythm so unlike Nena’s quick, uneven pace.
Thalea leaned over him, one fleshy breast cupped in her hand and fed her nipple into his mouth. He sucked it greedily, enjoying the rubbery, spicy taste of her flesh. His body was experiencing so many sensations at once, he wasn’t sure what kept him from spurting into Nena, but somehow, his stamina held out.
He opened his eyes to see Nena looking down on him and Thalea. His body stiffened as he awaited her anger at his intimacy with Thalea, but Nena only cupped her own small breasts in her hands and squeezed them.
The room smelled of sweat and sex. Kai sucked harder on Thalea’s nipple and she didn’t protest. Her flesh surrounded him, but he could feel her body heaving with her orgasm. Nena, too, seemed close to orgasm, which was a rare thing, yet he felt as if he could continue like this for hours. It was a miraculous feeling and he rode the wave of his passion the way Nena rode his cock.
Thalea withdrew her nipple from his mouth and whispered down to him, “It is time.”
Sensing what she meant, Kai rolled Nena over on her back in one swift motion, never withdrawing his cock from her body. Nena wrapped her legs around his back, urging him deeper. He thrust into her quickly, the calmness he’d felt before suddenly falling away as his body’s needs took over. Thalea put her hands on his backside, guiding him.
“Seed needs to be planted deep and given time to take root,” she said, squeezing his ass as she pushed him into Nena. “Go in her deep.”
Kai thrilled at the touch of another woman while he mounted his wife. He could smell Thalea’s earthy scent, could imagine the wetness from her cunt still on her fingers as she trailed them down between the cheeks of his ass. He thrust into Nena hard and deep and slow, guided by Thalea’s large hands.
He could feel his orgasm building deep in his gut. Could feel the swelling of his cock as he became even harder. Nena could feel it too, he could tell. She looked up at him with wide eyes that reminded him of the young girl he’d met so long ago. A smile played at her lips, the self-satisfied smile of a woman who knew she had seduced a man. Kai saw that smile and was lost. He reached under her, holding her ass as Thalea held his, kneading her flesh hard as he tilted her up to his cock, driving himself down deep into her, so deep he thought she would cry out from the pain.
Nena did cry out, but not with pain. Thalea cupped his balls, gave them a gentle squeeze and tug. and whispered words that he could not understand, nor did he wish to. He came inside his wife with a guttural moan, emptying himself inside of her as her cunt squeezed him, milking him of his precious seed.
Kai collapsed on top of his wife and felt Thalea move away. He felt a sudden emptiness overtake him, as if Thalea’s absence had broken some sort of connection between Nena and he. He rested his head on Nena’s damp shoulder as her body still clung to him, reluctant to release him. He was content in the moment, drowsiness overtaking him. He barely stirred when he heard Thalea rise and leave the room.
Kai and Nena lay there entwined for some time. Kai could have slept the rest of the night and into morning, but Nena seemed restless and soon her restlessness disturbed his rest. They dressed quickly, silently, without looking at each other. It was as if this night had never happened for either of them and Kai felt himself growing angry with his wife. Thalea had given them a gift—not just that of the child that was no doubt growing inside Nena, but a gift of passion, of desire—and Nena seemed to have dismissed it already. Kai reached for her as she started to leave the room, wanting only to hold her close for a moment before they began their descent down the mountain. She pushed him away with such force, he stumbled backward.
“We’ve achieved our goal, Kai,” she said impatiently. “We must return home and make preparations for our child. Our healthy, strong son.”
Kai felt a warmth in his heart at the thought of a son, but it was overshadowed by the knowledge that for the better part of the coming year, Nena’s every thought, every wish, every deed, would be directed at the child she carried. And after the child came into the world… Kai shook his head. Instead of bringing them closer, this night seemed to have severed whatever was left of the tenuous connection between husband and wife.
Nena strode out into the main room where Thalea awaited their departure. Kai followed, his feelings of hope and peace giving way to sadness and frustration. Thalea held out a small cloth bag tied with cord similar to that which held her braids together.
“Herbs. Take a bundle with your evening tea each night for seven nights.” Thalea looked at Kai over Nena’s head. “The herbs will facilitate the process.”
Nena grasped the bag tightly, looping the cord around her wrist. “Thank you, Thalea. Thank you for blessing us.”
Thalea placed her hand on Nena’s forehead. It was, Kai realized, the first time Thalea had touched his wife. Even as the three of them lay together, Thalea’s hands and body had always touched his while his body was the only one that touched his wife. The thought pleased him in a way he didn’t understand.
“Those who deserve children shall have them,” Thalea said. “Those who do not shall not. Go now. The moon fades and the sun shall rise soon.”
Nena left first, leaving the house without a backward glance. Kai lingered, wondering at Thalea’s words and the anger in her expression. “I’m sorry if we stayed too long,” he said.
“Go,” Thalea said. “Now.”
He left, following the sound of Nena’s soft footfalls ahead of him. Something made him hesitate, standing there in the stillness of the night, listening to the sounds of bugs and night creatures moving through the woods. He should hurry, he knew, and catch up with Nena. She would be scared in the darkness, he told himself, though he didn’t believe it. Nena was scared of nothing except not having a son. Kai listened hard to the wind blowing, the creaking of Thalea’s floor as she crossed it. The sounds of the wind in the trees, the squawk of a bird startled in its nest.
The sound of laughter. Children’s laughter.
Kai retraced his steps to Thalea’s door. He never thought to knock. The door swung open on Thalea, who sat on the floor. On her lap were two children and she hugged them with her thick arms as if she would never let them go. Two long-haired, willowy, pale little girls, one of them slightly older than the other. They looked at him with wide, startled eyes. He had seen their look before, in another pale girl.
“You were supposed to leave.” Thalea spoke softly, as if not to startle the children, but her voice was full of unreleased fury. “You woke my daughters.”
“I’m sorry,” Kai said.
“Go, Kai,” Thalea said, her voice weary. “Go home with your wife.”
Kai stood in the doorway, knowing he must leave before Nena called for him, and yet unable to make his body obey. “There will be no son,” he said, his words a statement, not a question, and as softly spoken as Thalea’s.
Thalea shook her head. “There will be no child,” she acknowledged.
“Ever?”
Again, she shook her head, her braids trailing over her broad shoulders to drape over the girls like a protective shroud. She cradled the children to her, and though they were closer to adolescence than infancy, her embrace enveloped them. “Never.”
Kai smiled at Thalea and the girls, feeling as if his heart would break at being witness to such maternal love. Then he closed the door softly and began his descent down the mountain.