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Asellio the guardsman sheepishly retreated to his post by the door as Vespasia and Thales cuddled and waited for the fox's knot to deflate. Vespasia assured Thales that the delay wouldn't irritate Aemilius, who had somewhat expected this to happen, and Asellio chuckled and nodded along with her. The three of them had a long chat as they waited for the tie to loosen, trading stories of court life and the identities they had left behind when they joined it.

Vespasia had always been a bit of a rebel in her exceedingly stuffy and dutiful political family, and had sabotaged two political betrothals prior to falling for the emperor. Her father had been outraged that she had pledged herself without telling him, but now the family treated it as a mark of honor, a sacrifice for the good of the state. She scoffed as she said it.

Asellio had been given a place among the emperor's personal guard after Aemilius and his entourage witnessed him defending his centurion during a raid on the northern frontier. "There was a short while when I was called 'Sextus Munius Scapula' by my phalanx, after the injury I sustained during that fight," he said proudly. Vespasia had snuggled in Thales' chest and was tracing figures in his fur as she listened to this recounting for what was clearly not the first time.

"So how did you become, 'Asellio?'" Thales asked, and Vespasia barked a laugh. "You weren't actually a donkey-herder before you joined the army, were you?"

Asellio's whole face burned as he looked away from the recumbent lovers on the couch. "Aemilius gave to me, because I was always volunteering to guard the harem."

"It's our asses he's herding, fox," Vespasia interjected, wiggling her rump and laughing uproariously. "We're the donkeys he spends all day watching over." Asellio mutely nodded.

Thales made an affectionate noise. "I think that's cute, actually." Asellio perked up visibly as Thales spoke. "It's clearly a term of affection. If he didn't trust you, he'd reassign you rather than give you a nickname about it."

"And if he didn't like having you watch him bed us, he would have ordered you to stop," Vespasia added. "Heck, if I didn't enjoy it, I would have asked him to."

Asellio beamed at them both as he walked over to them and sat on the very edge of the futon. "You two are dangerous flatterers," he said, running his paw gently over Vespasia's back before twining his fingers into Thales'. "I see why Aemilius sends you to bed with his most intransigent opponents."

"You may be able to stab an opponent, soldier," Vespasia said, "but we can make them into allies. Or at least useful pawns."

"Thales here can do both," Asellio said, reaching down to tap the fox's sheath. All three of them laughed. "What about you, Thales? Is that your given name?"

"No, it's Alexander," the fox replied. "My father is a medicus for the gens Nactaria, my mother is a lady's maid in the same household. I was hired out by Titus Maenus after learning rhetoric. I got the name because I liked the philosopher who first bore it."

"Well, be ready," Asellio said. "Who knows what they'll start calling you around here."

"The sexiest todd ever," Thales offered, and Vespasia chuckled and agreed.

When the two courtesans were finally able to separate, Vespasia showed Thales where to find the crimson loincloths that would now constitute his livery. She plucked one from the bin and looped the fine cloth around his waist, tying it loosely just above his groin. The fabric was thin enough that his sheath stood out underneath it, and so narrow it barely spanned the gap between his thighs. She twined a second loop of fabric around his chest, leaving his midriff bare.

"That's how you'll dress on warm days and when you are going to be performing for the court," Vespasia said, straightening up. "You'll have some proper tunics for when the weather is cooler, and thick cloaks for the rain, but you won't need those for a while. Summer is warm enough for just this."

Thales examined his new loincloth. This kind of garment was usually consigned to fieldworkers or prisoners, except those were thick, rough-spun wools in unflattering natural hues. This was fine linen, dyed a deep crimson and so light he could hardly feel it. The front of the cloth hung past his knees, weighted with tiny lead plugs sown into the end so that it cascaded winsomely in front of him. "This is beautiful."

"Flax from Phraesidia. Finest in the empire," Vespasia said, gathering up the unneeded clothes in a pile and marching out the door. "But we should get going; the emperor wants you in the courtyard after all." Thales followed her and Asellio as they led him out to the courtyard, where Aemilius was sitting on a bench and talking to someone reclining a foot or so away. The regal wolf saw them coming and waved them over.

Thales stepped among the marble statues as Aemilius spoke, "He arrives! This is the fox I told you about, Maenus' poet."

"I am happy to meet you," a deep voice said, with a relaxed cadence that caressed listeners. The speaker, a broad-chested and fantastically maned lion, rose up onto his elbows and looked down his body toward the fox. "Aemilius spent all this morning wistfully describing how your poetry quickened his heart and loins, and now I can finally get some peace."

Thales glanced at Aemilius, who was laughing on his bench. "You traitor! I told you that in confidence."

By the time Thales glanced back, the lion had vaulted himself off the bench where he had been reclining and was looking the fox over with an appraising eye. Thales was nearly a head shorter, and quite a bit slighter than the broad lion. The tawny gold fur on the lion's chest was the color of ripe wheat and baked sand, appropriate for a native of the Phraesidian river delta.

"You are also a courtesan?" Thales said in surprise, looking down at the lion's legs. The giant Phraesidian also wore a thin crimson loincloth, though it stood out more vividly from the leonine pelt that from Thales'. "And here I thought I was special," he joked.

The lion laughed. "Sort of. I am what is called in Phraesidia an 'atawephtowun; I pleasure nobles when their mates are indisposed, yes, but mostly I teach the art of lovemaking to the inexperienced before they are wed. Among my kind, it is considered gauche for someone not to know their way around when they mate with their spouse the first time. Because I am also fond of travel and enjoy visiting this land, Aemilius hires me when he has new recruits." The lion put a paw to his chin as he circled the fox, inspecting him. "I am called Akhnute in my own land, though around here I am known as Acadius."

"I am known all over as Thales," the fox replied. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Akhnute."

The lion smiled. "Very close, Thales, and you flatter me that you even tried my real name. Most of the people around here are not so brave." The lion returned to the front of Thales, still watching him, but spoke now to Aemilius. "Good posture, excellent fur, quick with words, but stiff and formal, not a natural flirt," Akhnute said.

"Oh, he warms up once you get him going," Aemilius said nonchalantly from the bench. Vespasia had wandered over to him and was playing a paw over his head, which he nuzzled happily.

Akhnute's tail flicked as the lion laughed. "Oh, after hearing what you two got up to in the baths, I am not worried. We'll have him fit for you in no time." Thales' eyes widened at that, and Akhnute laughed again, the sound of warm sunshine on baked brick. "Aemilius told me all about your adventure in the baths, Thales. He seems quite smitten."

"Shove off," Aemilius said with a grin, getting up from the bench.

"I assume based on how long it took for you to present him to us that you were similarly impressed, Vespasia?" the lion asked.

"I'll recover eventually," Vespasia said airily, gesturing below her waist and setting the whole courtyard into riotous laughter.

Aemilius recovered fastest. "I have to get ready to negotiate with Maenus. He's due to arrive any minute now. I assume you can handle him from here, Acadius?"

"He will be the ideal lover in no time at all," the lion said, walking back towards the main building. "Come along, fox, we have to introduce ourselves properly."

They arrived back in the harem's antechamber, now populated by two lupine bitches, one splayed prone on a couch as the other plucked at a lyre. They both looked up as the lion glided into the room, trailing Thales behind him. Akhnute nodded at them as he led the fox to one of the side chambers, and they both turned back to the lyre.

Inside the side chamber was a bed and small table, but Thales had no time to examine either as Akhnute suddenly turned around and looked him in the eyes. "Now we can be properly introduced," the lion said, eyes sparkling as he stepped forward and leaned down.

Thales barely had time to lift his chin before the lion's muzzle met his. Akhnute had an imposing air from both his size and his perfect equanimity, but his kiss was soft and delicate, a barely-there brush of skin until Thales, recovering his confidence, pushed back against it, and then it yielded into a soft maw and warm, scratchy cat-tongue. He smelled of wood and ochre and wheat as Thales breathed him in, and his touch was exceedingly delicate. Thales felt one large paw slide down his front and push aside his loincloth as the two remained locked in their kiss, sliding gently but insistently between his thighs.

They broke the kiss as the lion's paw met Thales' virilities, cupping them gently and running an appraising thumb over them. Thales felt Akhnute shift his stance wider, and at that prompting brought his own paw up the lion's thigh. His paw found the lion's pride, and massaged the soft furred balls as Akhnute let out a sigh and leaned down to resume their kiss. This time, Akhnute was more forward, questing his tongue against and into Thales' muzzle, and Thales returned the gesture enthusiastically.

Thales' foxhood was just poking from his sheath when the kiss broke again, and he opened his eyes to see the lion gazing down at him with a half-smile. "Aemilius was right, you do warm up fast," the lion said approvingly. "Assertive and warm, but intimate and patient. You'll do just fine here."

Thales exhaled a breath he hadn't noticed he was holding. "All that from a kiss?"

The lion smiled and lifted his left leg slightly, "And how you fondle me." Akhnute still had his hand planted under the fox's loincloth and seemed in no rush to remove it. "Now that we've been fully introduced, we can get started." Thales nodded, and the Phraesidian continued, "It is my job to make sure that all of the emperor's courtesans are ready to please their guests, be they the emperor or whomever he offers their services to for a night. Obviously, that prominently means a male wolf, but you will find yourself called to flirt with and pleasure all sorts over your time here. As the harem's only male, currently, you can expect to warm the beds of plenty of females as well, when the emperor wishes."

"Will that be often?" Thales asked.

"You are not just an accessory here," Akhnute said. "You are an entertainer, and a spy of sorts. The emperor will offer you to those he wants to reward as well as those whose secrets he hopes to learn, when you aren't warming his own bed."

"I have no experience in intrigue."

Akhnute laughed. "Every servant has experience in intrigue, Thales. Any time you have overheard something you shouldn't because you made yourself useful and discreet by turns, you have done exactly what you are wanted for here." The lion suddenly hugged Thales into his tawny chest, and the fox was enveloped in the scents of wood and wheat. "Do not worry, you have lots of latitude as an imperial courtesan. Even if one of your charges chafes at your prying, they can hardly attack one of the emperor's retinue." The lion pulled the fox away from him and looked into his eyes, "Besides, that is all for later. First, we shall give you your weapon: pleasure."

The lion took his own loincloth in both paws and tugged, releasing it from his waist. His maleness was barely out of its sheath already, from Thales' fondling. "I understand you already have a talent for giving massages," Akhnute said, motioning for Thales to disrobe also.

Thales chuckled and pulled his own loincloth off as well. "I suppose Aemilius told you about that."

"Of course," Akhnute said, taking him by the hand and guiding him to the bed. "It apparently took a great deal of discipline to keep himself in his sheath as you worked him over."

"I knew it!" Thales said with such satisfaction that the lion beside him roared with laughter. Thales joined him, the sheer force of the response infectious.

"I do not doubt your skill at giving massages, not when Aemilius vouches for you," Akhnute said at last. "But let us see how well you receive them."

"Excuse me?" Thales replied, though he got on the bed as indicated.

"Some like to touch more than be touched. You will have to serve both," Akhnute replied, as he dug his hands into the fox's chest fur. Thales made a happy sighing noise as the lion kneaded his chest. "Good," Akhnute purred, "it is important to be vocal when you like something. Encourages them to continue and makes them feel powerful."

At Akhnute's continued encouragement, Thales moaned and sighed louder and curled around the probing hands as they worked down his stomach and across his thighs. His member stood out proudly from its sheath as the lion explored over his body, muttering encouragement as Thales moaned his appreciation.

"It's easy to sound appreciative when the experience is this pleasant," Thales said.

"Should it be unpleasant, it falls to you to transition to something better," Akhnute said.

"And if they don't want something else?"

Akhnute snorted. "Read them. Everybody has a multitude of desires. If you do not match on one thing, observe their motions and behaviors until you find something else to pounce on. Take me right now. How can you transition me to something else?"

Thales looked at the lion's face as he continued the massage. Akhnute's eyes were intent and his body totally relaxed, but as Thales watched, he saw the leonine jaw drift down, lips and tongue working slowly, silently, tasting the air. Thales brought his paw to the lion's muzzle, and pulled him down into a kiss.

Akhnute climbed over Thales as they remained locked in each other's lips, until he loomed over the fox's body, straddling it. When the kiss finally broke, Thales looked down and saw that Akhnute's leonine prick had left its sheath. "Well done," Akhnute said from above the fox, "now you know that I am vulnerable to long, slow kisses."

"It wasn't hard to figure out," Thales teased.

"It never is, if you pay attention," Akhnute said, smiles in his eyes but with a deadly serious tone. "Listen to their bodies, and they will tell you." The lion leaned in to kiss the fox again, and Thales met him with tongue, reaching a paw down to caress the golden balls and now-full shaft. "Ahh, I love working with quick learners," Akhnute said as he leaned back onto his knees and reached down onto the floor. "I already know from Aemilius' testimony that you are proficient at pleasing males with your paws, Thales, but what of the rest of you? Have you ever taken a cock inside you?"

Thales nodded reluctantly. "Only once, to be honest. I sucked off my former master."

Akhnute looked surprised, "The venerable Maenus?"

"No, Varius, his nephew," Thales replied, as Akhnute nodded with understanding.

"Good, then the idea is not new to you. You will have significantly more practice soon enough," the lion's low rumbling voice made it sound simultaneously threatening and enticing. "But first: you have never taken anyone anally?"

Thales shook his head, eyes widening slightly as the lion showed him the small lacquered-wood plug retrieved from under the bed they were on.

"Relax, Thales. You'll get so that taking these is second nature," Akhnute said with a laugh, gesturing to the floor.

When Thales looked down, he saw a whole range of them, from the tiny plug Akhnute held to a horse-sized dildo. He gulped. "Those are huge! I don't think I could manage that."

Akhnute grinned and grabbed a massive knotted dildo, easily larger than anything a live canid could supply. The lacquer glinted as the lion reached behind himself, and closing his eyes, pressed it under his tail, swallowing it whole, knot and all, in one smooth motion. Thales gasped and Akhnute laughed again, bellowing loud enough to be heard across the whole villa. "You enjoyed that, huh?" the lion said, running a paw under the fox's cock and showing the sticky pre that oozed over his paw off to the fox.

Thales nodded. "I was amazed you managed it."

Akhnute just smiled. "Answer honestly. Was it fun because you imagined it was your own ass being stuffed, or because you imagined it was your cock inside me?" Thales looked the lion in the eyes, uncertain if there was a right answer. "You will have to learn to do both regardless of your answer, fox; don't feel like you will gain accolades from me by lying."

Thales replied, "Truthfully, I mostly imagined doing that to you."

"Someday, perhaps," Akhnute said cryptically, putting a paw on Thales and turning him onto his side. "But first, you must learn to take it. Lying on your side like this, with a knee bent, is the easiest way to welcome penetration at first, though, as I said, you'll have no trouble in any position soon enough." Thales felt the wooden plug against his tail. "Push out gently as I push in, and relax."

It took two or three tries. Thales felt the pressure against his hole and tensed, but the lion simply stopped each time waited for his student to relax again. Thales apologized, but the lion cut him off. "This is training, Thales. I do not expect it to be easy the first time. Frankly, given how natural you were at everything else so far, it was past time something give you trouble."

Thales chuckled and looked up at the lion. "Is that so?"

Akhnute grinned back. "Yes. I needed to have something to teach you, after all, or what use am I?" As he spoke, he pressed the plug harder against the fox's entrance, popping it in in one smooth motion. Thales startled, but it was already in, a strange tingling fullness under his tail. "See? I just needed you to relax a bit," the lion said.

"This is strange," Thales observed as he wiggled his butt experimentally. Little shocks of sensation jolted up his spine as he did so. The lion pressed on the plug again gently, and Thales yelped in surprise at the pleasant feeling. His cock, which had retreated into his sheath while they tried to get the plug in, poked its tip out once more.

"Such are the wonders of the body," Akhnute replied, as he dismounted the pallet and walked up to Thales' head. "There are little pleasures hidden all throughout it, if you know where to look."

"So I am learning," Thales replied, wiggling his hips again. Akhnute obligingly pressed his fingers against the plug, causing Thales to gasp and moan slightly. "You're enjoying this more than I am, lion."

Akhnute only smiled and continued to manipulate the plug. Thales closed his eyes and let the sensations wash over him, the brief pangs of discomfort giving way to dull, insistent pleasure. He opened his eyes and looked down to see if the lion was still hard; he was, but Thales himself was not. "I am enjoying this, really," he said, by way of apology.

Akhnute nodded. "It takes practice to remain hard without interacting with it. Conveniently, that is to be one of your next lessons."