THE TIGRESS CALLIOPE
By Jamie Smithe
Copyright 2002

An ERA Theme Weekend Winner Story

Calliope removed her white silk wedding gown and replaced it with the  cotton nightdress she'd sewn for the occasion. The veil that had protected the young bride from evil spirits lay forgotten on a chaise. Her groom would join her soon, she thought, reclining stiffly on their marriage bed. Small hands clenched moist wrinkles into the white, hand-embroidered bedcover. Mikolas was a friend of her father's with rich lands on the outskirts of Crete. This was a good match and she was a lucky girl, everyone told her so. She tried not to be terrified, but she was not ready to leave the home of her father, and she would miss her young sisters terribly.

Booming male laughter preceded accompanying footsteps down the corridor as her fate drew closer. Calliope trembled and squeezed dark eyes shut, releasing a tear to travel behind her ear and trace a wet path into black hair.

"Oh, Father! How could you do this to me?" she silently cried, biting a knuckle.

Yesterday, when Agnes, her beloved maid, brought up a heavy water jug from the fountain house, Calliope had begged the older woman to help her prepare for the wedding night. Agnes, a spinster, advised the young bride-to-be to close her eyes and think of Pandora's new litter of puppies until it was over.

"It will hurt, but it won't be the death of you," she'd said. "The marriage act is the husband's symbolic conquering of his bride, much like an act of war. If you lie still and submit quietly, all will be well."

The heavy door swung open and Mikolas entered, the flamboyant grin he'd shared with his comrades fading to a tender smile for his bride. Jet hair brushed the collar of his wedding tunic as he turned to close the door behind him. Studying the profile of the near-stranger to whom she'd pledged her life, Calliope had to admit that Mikolas was an attractive man, especially for one so old as six-and-thirty.

Her groom turned warm black eyes on her. "Hello again, my little _gataki_." His kitten. The soft words calmed her a bit and her breathing slowed. Mikolas strode to the sideboard and poured them each a small glass of _Ouzo_. " _Ygeia_, to your health." He clinked his tiny glass with hers and downed the anisette in one swallow, gratified when his young bride did the same.

"Sweet _gataki_," he began, "I know you fear me this night. There is no need." He sat next to her on the bed. "Please, roll to your stomach. I will help you to relax." Calliope obeyed, as she'd been trained to do all her life. Mikolas laid her arms by her sides with gentle hands, then pulled pins from her long hair, one by one, as if he were a lady's maid and not a lord. Long fingers slid through her hair to release the tension in her scalp. A moan of contentment escaped Calliope's lips and she immediately drew her hand up to cover her face in embarrassment.

"No, little one. There will be no hiding from me." He eased her hand from her face and pressed a warm kiss on the palm, tongue sweeping out for his first taste of her skin. "I am a _magos_, a magician," he murmured close to her ear. "I will turn you, my _gataki_, into a _tigris_."

Calliope's breath caught when Mikolas drew her earlobe into his mouth, lightly raking it with his teeth. Momentarily deafened by her own blood rush, she relaxed a bit when he released her ear with a small kiss. The rush crashed over her again when his strong hands began an exploration of her back. Mikolas kneaded her small shoulders, thumbs pressing against the back of her neck. He trailed the heels of his palms slowly down either side of her spine, leaving languid warmth in their wake until soft buttocks filled his hands. Her gauzy nightshift settled in deep between the mounds. He buried his face in that darkness a moment before sliding his hands back up, past her elbows, grazing the sides of her breasts as they went.

Calliope lay stiff and still, panting with the effort not to writhe. The only kisses she'd ever experienced had been chaste; the only touches, familial hugs. She wanted to be a good wife, to lie still and submit as she'd been taught. Why did Agnes not warn her that it would be so difficult to do?

Mikolas ran his fingertips down the center ridge of her back and below, his thumb seeking, finding the bud Calliope never knew she had. His other hand on her bottom held her in place when she bucked beneath his touch. Her reluctant juices soon soaked through the shift.

"Kneel for me, Love." he commanded from his position beside her.  Obediently, Calliope complied. Mikolas took the hem of the garment in his  hands and pulled it over her head in one motion, revealing every inch of  the girl he'd taken to wife. The young bride inhaled sharply and covered  her breasts, eyes downcast in shame.

Mikolas' hand tenderly skimmed a circle along the curve of her backside before administering a stinging slap. He gently lowered her arms, exposing her breasts to his gaze. In a quiet, firm voice he told her, "I told you before, you will not hide yourself from me. If you wish no more spankings, you must merely obey." Tear-filled eyes met his as she nodded acquiescence. Returning to the study of her breasts, Mikolas' lips curved in a small smile as he weighed her fullness in his palms, fingers teasing the dark brown tips. "_Oriaos_," he breathed. "Beautiful."

Relief that he was pleased warred with dismay at her predicament as Calliope tried to keep her whimpers to herself. Gods! He was licking and sucking her breasts like the sweetest baklava! How did Agnes expect her to be still? How did other wives tolerate their husbands' attentions without shaming themselves?

Moist lips traced a path up her neck to her mouth. Those lips parted hers in a gently-devouring kiss, biting her bottom lip lightly before engaging her timid tongue in a hot, wet dance.

Pushing her back on the bed, Mikolas murmured, "I would look at you." When her knees tried to meet, he pulled them apart and placed her small feet on either side of his wide shoulders. A small slap on her most private place warned her to keep her knees apart. Once again, Calliope found herself twisting the bed linens in her hands as she fought the impulse to cover herself. "You are wet, _gataki_." He inhaled deeply her woman's perfume. "You are intoxicating, my little bride," he breathed, his warm lips grazing hers. Calliope bit her tongue, drawing blood.

Mikolas commanded her to stand, which she did on shaking legs. "Look at me." he ordered, pulling his tunic over his head. Calliope had never before seen a naked man and could not have disobeyed if she chose. Her husband's chest intrigued her and he guided her hand to touch him there.

"Tell me what you see, what you feel." he instructed in a thick voice. Cool hands explored new territory as she whispered, "Smooth, dark skin. Black hair, darker even than that on your head, trailing down your belly to- _Theos_!" She took an involuntary step back as he released the 
drawstring of his _pantaloni_ and allowed them to fall to the floor. Gods! What was she going to do with that? She may be a virgin, but she knew what went where in the marriage act and there was no way that - appendage - could possibly fit inside her!

"Come, _gataki_, give me your hand." Like the good girl she was raised to be, Calliope complied. Her hand looked small and white against his ruddy smoothness. Fascination getting the better of her, she ran her hand up and down, exploring the length of him. A groan escaped Mikolas and his hand tightened on hers.

"I'm sorry! I have hurt you?" she worried. Her husband chuckled kindly and looked at her with heavy-lidded eyes.

"No, Love. You did not hurt me. You are, however, a quick study."  Calliope blushed under his praise and moved her hand on him again.

"My maid advised me that husbands do not want wives to do other than lie still and submit. But you do not seem to wish this. How can I make you happy?"

"Your hand on me makes me happy. Your lovely breasts and wet pussy make me  happy. I do not want a wife who lies like one dead. I will be happy if  you enjoy making love with me."

Wanting to please him, Calliope experimented with her other hand, circling  her palm on the dark head of his cock. She stroked fingertips across his  balls, "May I touch you here?" "Ah, yes, _gataki_, yes." Mikolas allowed  his eyes to close and savored the feel of his wife's inquisitive hands.

Calliope watched her husband's manhood grow even larger in her hand and  noticed a trickle of clear liquid at the tip. Her heart thudding  painfully, she took a chance on something she'd overheard the chambermaids  discussing and licked it off. Mikolas' eyes flew open in astonishment. As  he did not push her away, she took more of him into her mouth, watching his  eyes in case she did something wrong. It did not take long for her jaw to  ache, though, so she removed him from her mouth with a small, wet pop and  began to bathe him like a true _gataki_, with little licks. Shortly,  Mikolas removed her hands from his body and gently pushed her back on the bed.

"You have excelled in your first lesson on giving pleasure. You will now  learn to receive." He slanted his mouth across hers, sucking her tongue  between his lips. Calliope reveled in the sensation of crisp hair and  rough palms scraping her nipples. Long, sooty eyelashes and a scratchy  chin kissed their way down her belly drawing little sounds of longing from her.

Taking Calliope's thighs in his hands, Mikolas opened her wide for his  attentions. He slid his thumbs up the sides of her wetness and pressed a  small kiss to the pulsing pink bud. He kissed her swollen lips thoroughly  then drew her hooded button into his mouth, savoring it with his  tongue. When her body was arched very far off the bed, he withdrew and  watched the glistening folds as her bottom settled back down. He heard her  panting and glanced up, pleased to see her hands tentatively discovering  her own breasts, plucking the nipples just so, exploring herself. Reaching  up, he brought one of her hands down and pressed her fingers into her own  swollen sex.

"Show me what pleasures you, Wife." he instructed.

"I know not what pleasures me. I've not done this before. It's wanton."  she answered huskily. He noticed that her fingers had started to move of  their own volition.

"It pleases me to see your fingers shine with your lust. Experiment and  discover what pleases you." Mikolas reached his arm across her body to  fondle the breast she'd abandoned. Her woman's scent pervaded his senses  as he watched small fingers learn their way around slick folds. He could  see that her pussy was as distended as it was likely to get when her  fingers abandoned their outward exploration to concentrate on her hardened  clit. Leaning close, he drew a fragrant breath of her, then blew it out,  the warm wind pushing Calliope over the edge as she bucked against her own  hand.

"Good. Very good, little bride." Contemplating the rapid rise and fall of  her breasts, Mikolas retrieved her hand and sucked the fingers  clean. Gathering a bit of her moisture on his own finger, he painted her  breasts with it and watched them react to the coolness of the room. He  lapped at them and pressed the hardened nipples between his lips until her  hips began to hump air.

Positioning himself at her apex, he told her, "You are ready for me. I will  now make you my wife." He eased his way into her tightness until he felt  her maidenhead. Pulling his hips back, he drove his cock into her deeply,  tearing the barrier.

Calliope cried out. She was unprepared for both the pleasure and the pain  and was certainly not expecting the two to arrive together. Mikolas nibbled  her jawline and remained motionless within her, allowing her muscles to  stretch and accommodate him. Slowly, so as not to hurt her, he slid  himself out, then in again. Out, and in. The pain receded, the pleasure  grew. Calliope lifted her bottom off the bed and met him stroke for  stroke, awareness growing of her newly-discovered clit dancing in her  husband's springy hair. Her entire world centered around that button now  and she was desperate for the release it could bring. She bit at Mikolas'  shoulder and raked her nails across his chest.

Mikolas snaked his hand between their bodies, took Calliope's clit between  finger and thumb and squeezed, driving her to a low-growling orgasm as he  pumped his seed into her womb. Pressing his damp forehead to hers, he  breathed, "You have pleased me, my lovely _tigres_, as I knew you would."

In the morning, Calliope helped Mikolas remove the wedding sheets for  hanging and he left her with a tender kiss. She smiled to herself when  raucous cheers told her he had stepped outside. Agnes bustled into the  room with fresh linens. She took in the girl's disheveled appearance and 
long-lidded eyes.

"My dear child, was it terrible?" Agnes asked with great concern.

"Agnes," Calliope replied, "I fear I shall never be the same again."

(c) 2002 by Jamie Smithe