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Almene left him lying there on the roof with his chest heaving, gazing after her as she, licking her lips and grinning, nimbly rounded the edge of the roof and descended to the balcony of the villa. Thales had to wait a while longer to follower her; every time his knot started to deflate, he thought again about the feeling of her mouth on his cock tip, and he got turned on again. Eventually, anxiety did what relaxation could not, as the possibility of being missing as lunch ended distracted him enough to let his body reset, at least enough that his tunic stayed down and covered him fully. He climbed down onto the balcony and went down the servant stair, hoping to slip out and to the kitchens unnoticed.

The villa had been receiving guests nonstop since the emperor had arrived in town a few weeks ago. Maenus, the owner, was an imperial advisor, and wherever the emperor went, the politicking followed. Maenus himself, being a relic of the prior ruler's court, was established enough to neither need nor care for the petty intrigue of these parties, and so resided outside the capital yearlong, but during the summer, and whenever else the emperor had need of his advice, the politicking came to him.

"Maenus is waiting for you in his study," a low voice said from behind Thales, causing the fox to yip audibly in alarm. The wolf's eyes were laughing as Thales turned to meet their gaze. "I'd hurry if I were you, since that's where I told the cook that you have been this whole time."

Thales sighed in relief. "Thanks, Varius." Varius was short for his kind, with a muddy-colored but soft pelt and a perpetual smug grin and lolling tongue. He was Maenus' distant nephew, and despite no special facility with numbers or politics had endeared himself well enough to become the wealthy old merchant's assistant. "You saved my hide."

"Ah, you know I got your back," Varius said. "Though in return I expect all the details tonight."

"Details?" Thales said nonchalantly, though he knew it was too late.

Varius patted the slight tent in Thales' tunic, and laughed when Thales gulped. "You are clever, Thales, but you make a poor Stoic," Varius said. "As soon as the imperial retinue showed up you about swooned. Then when you mysteriously disappeared as lunch was underway--"

Thales hushed him. "Alright, you got me. I'll tell you all about it later, but I have to get to Maenus."

"You might want to bring him a refresher for his wine," Varius said, turning back toward the courtyard where the guests were gathered. "He's in a mood."

The study was directly off the peristyle, though the mirthful atmosphere of the courtyard could not penetrate beyond the lintel. Maenus sat hunched over a tablet, stylus in paw, white-streaked muzzle more haggard than usual.

"Oh, good," Maenus said as Thales stepped in the door, "it's you. If it had been Publius Carvanus nosing about again I may well have bitten his head off."

Thales refilled the empty chalice sitting on the desk and set the amphora down on the floor. "You versus the empire's least favorite quaestor? It would fill an amphitheater or two."

"Don't tempt me," Maenus said without a hint of mirth in his voice , though his eyes brightened. "I may just arrange it, for want of anything else suitable." He scoffed. "A quaestor and a proconsul. At least it would be novel. We could even go to the death; it would spare me his chittering either way the match went." He gestured at a set of tablets, which Thales dutifully fetched and laid out. "Read those out to me."

They went over inventories, finances, and records, poring over them as the party continued outside, into the evening. Thales was intrigued by their sheer breadth; many texts were from a century ago, and several were in his native tongue. As he read aloud, every line item caused Maenus to harrumph. He was carving away the wax on his own tablet so furiously Thales thought he might gouge the slate underneath.

"I tell you I'm of half a mind to let that imbecile Carvanus muck this up on his own and be done with both it and him," Maenus said once again sometime later.

"His family's money and influence would likely sort that out for him," Thales replied.

"I know it," Maenus said, "but I'd be delighted to try, anyway, if it weren't so important to the empire." Thales knew better than to inquire, but couldn't stop his ears from perking up inquisitively. Maenus chuckled from over his slates. "You didn't think I was doing the Carvanus family favors out of some misplaced affection for them, did you? No, my esteemed guest the emperor is here to make it clear that this was a favor to him, personally. I suppose he knew I would have kicked that insipid quaestor out on his tail otherwise. Go on, the next line."

Thales looked down and found his place again. "But most favorably received of all these were the skills of the emperor's two courtesans, of Rhaic stock, named Phoriander and Synocles."

Maenus suddenly slammed his stylus down so hard that it bounced across the room, and Thales nearly leapt from his chair in fright. "I knew it!" Maenus howled. "Males, just like I said."

"I didn't think the emperor had male courtesans."

"They used to," Maenus said. "They were a traditional part of the retinue, modeled on the ancient tyrants of Rhasos. The best of them were treasured as poets and philosophers and intriguers, always of Rhasos' stock. But Aemilius Murifex, the current emperor's grandfather, was, well, you probably know," he tapered off awkwardly as Thales nodded curtly, "not a fan of Rhasos, or high culture in general really, so he ended the tradition."

"Is their sex important? Female courtesans can be able poets."

Maenus sighed. "In all these lists, the only ones mentioned are male. If he's to impress the delegation -- but I speak too freely," he cut himself off abruptly. "Suffice to say that if history is any guide, I need to convince the emperor to expand his harem, and quickly." Thales made to return to the text, but Maenus waved him off. "I have what I need. Thank you for your help."

"Of course." Thales rose and put the tablet away.

Maenus continued, "I will be attending the baths tomorrow with the emperor, to discuss this." As his retainer, Thales was expected to accompany the proconsul during such social excursions.

"I'll make sure we have oil to bring," Thales said. Olive oil was good for both food and returning shine to skin and fur after a day in the heated bath area.

"Bring the good stuff from Rhasos, with the saffron infusion, for the emperor," Maenus mused. "Our current Aemilius has neither his grandfather's dislike of the provinces nor his austerity. That may save this mission yet."

A cough by the room's entrance turned both their heads. "Master, dinner is on," Varius said from the door.

"I'm coming, I'm coming, Varius," the older wolf grumbled as he rose. "Surely you could entertain them while I was occupied. What with the courtesans to dance?"

"We had to give them a break eventually," Varius replied, unbothered. "And the emperor requested your favorite poet to fill in," he continued, nodding toward Thales.

Maenus paused and leveled a long glance at Thales, who sat stunned in his chair. "A fortuitous development, perhaps," he said at long last. "Show him what Rhasos has to offer, Thales."

The braziers burned low as Thales stepped into the large triclinium and introduced himself. The room was atmospherically dim, so that his audience was as much silhouette as form, but the emperor was still easy to pick out. The whole room tilted toward him subconsciously, eager for proximity to power, but the wolf himself ignored them. Thales bowed, swallowed twice, and began.

This being a party, he led with an elegiac in the Imperial tongue, a witty and irreverent couplet composed in the style traditionally for epitaphs. Sure enough, he got several good chuckles, and after a few more, he found his tempo. A fatuous wolf with a missing canine tooth who hovered just off the emperor's left flank--the insipid Carvanus--laughed and heckled loudly, too deep in the wine to resist shouting over Thales' verse. Others laughed and jeered, and the fox smiled and jeered back.

He had just finished the fourth such couplet when the emperor opened his mouth and called out to him, "I did not request a Rhaic poet because I wanted Imperial verse."

The room froze at the sound. It took Thales a moment to recognize that the comment had been made in his own native tongue. "A war epic, then?" he replied, also in Rhaic, as he met the emperor's gaze. He was a handsome wolf, languid in temperament but physically hardened by time in the army, as was every citizen's duty. His fur was lush and ash-colored, and his eyes were deep. He had certainly been a military officer during his tour of duty; he had the warm but intense bearing of someone who lived and died by the loyalty they inspired.

He also, apparently, had an excellent command of languages. "I only just arrived from the capital to enjoy the pleasures of the country. Bucolics are to my taste tonight." The rest of the guests had quieted down, struggling to follow the conversation in a language most of them only barely knew. Thales, too, was still struggling to recover from the shock of it, hearing his own tongue spoken so effortlessly and with hardly any accent. After a moment, the emperor said again, "One of my escorts can accompany on the lyre, if you would prefer."

Thales blinked and consciously closed his slack mouth. "Yes, of course," he said, and suddenly Almene was beside him, seated on a stool and plucking out a melody, staring impishly at him as he felt all the hairs in his tail stand on end. He hadn't even known she could play the lyre, yet here they were, two foxes in a room full of wolves, breathing as one.

It would have been romantic, maybe, if Thales had any time to think about it. Instead all he could think about were the emperor's eyes, locked unwaveringly on him and Almene, all cryptic judgments and intense attention. He tried not to think about the older Aemelius, this one's grandfather, and what terrible calumnies he might have whispered to this Aemelius as he grew up. He tried not to think what this Aemelius might think of foxes like him as a result. Instead, he closed his eyes, shut out the beautiful distracting emperor and his beautiful distracting courtesan and their raucous distracting retinue, and sang of Rhasos.

He sang, and then Almene started another tune, and he stared into her eyes and sang some more, and then someone called out a request and he sang that, too. When he was finally done, the braziers were almost dead, and he couldn't feel his feet anymore.

A few moments of tranquil silence as the final note faded were cut short by a loud snore. Carvanus was fast asleep on his couch, half-filled goblet on the ground beside him. Aemelius laughed, and everyone else joined in, and then they applauded, and then it was mercifully over. Thales bowed and thanked Almene, who bowed in turn, and he resisted the urge to reach out and run a paw over her ears before retreating into the peristyle, toward the kitchen, to eat.

The guests departed shortly thereafter, and the servants hastily dumped the evening's refuse and swept the floor as Varius and Maenus saw the guests off. Afterwards, Thales trailed Varius to the bedroom. Varius, like any respectable citizen, had a male servant share his room at night; Maenus had offered Thales, perhaps because he hoped the fox's studiousness would rub off on his protege. It had yet to work.

The two undressed quickly, and Thales, having less to remove, flung his tunic to the side and collapsed naked on his pallet.

"I will say you have good taste, Thales," Varius said as he pulled his tunic off.

"Oh? Did you enjoy the bucolics?" Thales flipped to face the wolf as he spoke.

"I meant vixens, not songs." Varius laughed as he settled onto the pallet a few inches from his companion. "It was the one with the lyre, right? That you snuck off with?"

Thales flicked his tail between his legs in embarrassment, and Varius laughed again. "You two were drowning in each others' eyes during the second song. I was surprised you didn't hard, and wouldn't have blamed you if you did."

Thales sighed. "Yeah, it was her. Almene."

"Don't worry, I'm sure everyone else thought you just had good chemistry. But I know better," Varius said evilly. "Now, you promised me details on you little adventure earlier today." When Thales hesitated a moment, he added, "I covered for you, remember. I deserve the secondhand details at least."

Thales concurred. "At first we just caught up, talking about what she was learning in the harem and all that, what I've been up to."

A rough hand pushed him square in the chest. "Come on, Thales, skip to the good part."

"Fine. We massaged each other until I was hard, and then she got between my legs and sucked me off."

Varius growled approvingly, low in his chest. "Nice! Is the imperial harem all it's cracked up to be?"

Thales lay back and heaved a sigh. "It was amazing. She massaged my balls with one paw and coaxed my knot out with the other. She took my whole cock in her mouth and massaged the tip with her tongue." His paw drifted to his groin, massaging the sheath absently as he talked. "Then she let me thrust into her mouth while she kept playing with my balls."

"She sounds like a champ," Varius said, and Thales looked over at him.

"She was fantastic. I mean, we'd done it a few times before she left, but whatever they teach there--it was divine."

Varius' red cock was halfway out his sheath, and the wolf reached down to stroke it. "You don't mind, do you?" he asked Thales sardonically, though not before he started pumping his cock.

Thales chuckled. They'd jerked off together plenty of times before; they shared a bed, after all. He grasped his own half-hard member, peeling down the sheath with his fingers to expose more of it. "Only if I can join in."

"Of course, it's your story," Varius said. "I'm just glad I got the cook to leave you alone."

"Yeah," Thales grunted, "thanks for that. Would have really ruined the mood if she had shown up when Almene was trying to swallow my knot."

Varius laughed, and then the conversation trailed off for a moment as both males focused on pleasuring themselves. Thales glanced at Varius' cock, bright red and eager in his paw, then at his face, to see that the wolf's gaze was on his own erection. Thales rolled onto his side to afford both of them a better view, when Varius glanced up.

"Want a little help with that?" Varius asked. Thales nodded, and the wolf scooted toward him and reached out a paw, cupping it under his balls and Thales continued to work his shaft.

"Yeah, just like that," Thales said, reaching out with his other paw to take Varius' manhood and pumping both in unison.

Varius smiled, his breath catching a bit in his throat as Thales grabbed his cock. "You said you liked it when she had you by the balls, so..."

"Yeah, between that and her tongue I could hardly think straight," Thales replied.

Varius closed his eyes as his tongue lolled onto the pallet beneath him. "Gods grant me a hot fox tongue on my own cock soon, as well," he said. "It's been too long since I mounted a bitch, if you couldn't tell by how quickly I got hard."

Thales laughed but didn't answer immediately. All he could think about was Almene's taunt, as she wrapped her lips around his cock earlier that day: Sweet, innocent Thales. Power is its own pleasure, remember? He looked down at the two cocks in his paws, red and raging and begging for release. He was curious, now.

In his homeland, this would be a totally normal pastime for bachelors like him and Varius. Bonding between warriors, fuel for poets, spur of high culture. Isn't that what set them apart, that culture, what made them objects of special affection even in these days of empire?

He hadn't ever seen his homeland. He was born near here. The only thing he had to know it by was its culture.

He looked at Varius, and decided. "You know, I could grant that wish."

Varius' eyes flew open. "Seriously?"

Thales nodded. "You asked for a fox's tongue. Maybe the gods are feeling generous."

Varius lifted his thighs apart and thrust his hips forward. "Shit, then, alright. Thanks."

Thales scooted downward and leaned over, pausing with his nose less than an inch from the wolf's cock. The knot was already partly formed, and Varius was thrusting gently in time to Thales' strokes.

Suddenly he heard Varius say, "Why can't we all be more like you Rhaics?"

Thales smiled, leaned in further, and drew his tongue along the underside of the wolf's cock. It was salty, and warm, but the flavor was nothing compared to the pleasure of the effect licking it had on its owner. "Fuck, yeah, fox," Varius moaned above him. "Take my dick."

Thales licked over the tip as his right paw squeezed just under the fully formed knot. His other paw was beating himself off as vigorously as he could. "Maybe I will," Thales said. "Would you like that?"

"Yes, yes," Varius whined. "Please, just swallow my dick, I'm so close."

Instead, Thales lifted with his paw and brought his muzzle to the softly furred balls underneath. He licked them, twice, before pushing his nose against against the underside of them and lapping at the space between Varius' legs. "How badly do you want it?"

"Fuck, fox, I'll serve you like the master, just make me cum!"

"Swear?"

"By all the gods!"

It finally makes sense, Thales thought, as he took the desperate wolf's cock into his mouth. Almene was right; having such complete control over someone, hearing them beg for release and cry out as you gave it to them, was a pleasure all its own. Varius thrust into his mouth and unloaded cum into Thales' throat, barely suppressing a howl by biting his own forearm. Thales didn't have enough practice to swallow it all, but he lapped at the lupine manhood as it shot its last few rounds. It tasted of salt and victory.

"Fuck, man, that was amazing," Varius cooed at him. "Thanks for that."

Thales wiped his chin and moved to kneel over the supine wolf's stomach. "Glad you had fun. Hang on while I finish myself," he said, jacking himself furiously. He was close, if he could just catch it.

Varius lay meekly under him, rubbing the inside of the fox's thigh with a tender paw and gazing up into his eyes. "Come on, you sexy fox. Cum on my chest."

"Rub my balls," Thales said, half commandingly, half in gasping desperation. Varius moved his paw to gently cup the white-furred balls, two fingers pressing hard against Thales' prostate.

Thales came hard, showering the wolf below him in slick white fox seed, replaying the sound of Varius' orgasm as his own reached its peak. He saw stars, then Almene's smug grin, then nothing at all, until he collapsed into the soft fur of Varius' chest, smearing his semen across both males' stomachs.

"Nice," Varius said at last, and Thales laughed softly and buried his face in the wolf's shoulder.