Chapter No. 41 Adulterium

And the man that committeth adultery with another man's wife, even he that committeth adultery with his neighbour's wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.

A morning sun cast warm shadows on the polished marble wall of Grimsy's bedchamber. The bright light impinged on his eyelids with enough force to wake him, and he felt compelled to sit up in his bed. A light breeze disturbed the drapes of a large window that looked out over his private gardens. Feeling the refreshing morning breeze, he stood and walked to the window to revel in it.

Ah, the smell of a new day. He looked out over the gardens and yawned, but his eyes narrowed when they caught sight of a young woman sitting on a stone bench at the center of the garden. He stood there and watched her for a few minutes before dressing.

Tara sat on a stone bench and drank in the colorful sights and pleasant smells of an elaborate flower garden near the Royal compound. Her senses were satisfied but her sensibilities were frayed. She had no idea if she would live for one day let alone years. The spectra of a painful end dominated her waking hours, leaving her with an unhealthy dose of depression.

"Ah, Tara," Grimsy said, sauntering haughtily up to Tara. "You are a morning person."

She looked up at him and flashed a brief smile. "Not really. I couldn't sleep. The solitude of the garden is most attractive, especially in the morning."

He looked around and sighed. "You speak the truth; it is most pleasurable."

She nodded.

"Speaking of pleasure," he said, sitting down next to her. "I require your submission to my needs."

"I thought that such needs only bloom at night, my lord."

He grinned. "I had in mind a different need."

She ferruled her brow. "I don't follow you, my lord."

"I would enjoy seeing you suffer."

She stared wide-eyed at him. "You want to torture me?"

"You have an objection to that?"

She lowered her head. "No. I will comply with your wish."

"Good," he said, placing his hand on her shoulder. "But I have no intention of harming you."

She looked up at him with confused eyes. "Are you toying with me again, my lord?"

"I'm sorry," he said with a mocking grin. "I enjoy seeing you worry."

"I'm not worried. There is no question that I deserve punishment for my crime. I just wish that it would be done to me. I hate this waiting."

He patted her head. "I have no intention of punishing you for a crime that benefited me most conveniently. I'm just bored, that's all."

"I find it difficult to believe that the Lord of this great Empire is bored. Certainly, you must have many serious duties to occupy your mind."

"I find the administration of this Empire to be a most uninteresting occupation. I prefer stimulating activity instead of the boring drone of day-to-day ruling."

"What duties bore you?" she asked.

"Well," he said, running a hand through his curly locks. "I don't really enjoy the application of justice. People have accused me of sadism, but I really don't like interrogations of accused."

"Perhaps I could be of service," she said, sounding genuinely interested.

"In what manner?"

"I wouldn't mind examining accused. The process could be most stimulating."

Grimsy laughed. "You surprise me. I had no idea that you enjoyed such matters."

"There is much about me that you don't know, my lord."

"Perhaps an inquisition composed of females would be most interesting." He giggled. "We would turn old customs on end with such an institution."

"Perhaps an inquisition is not a good idea. A more euphemistically proper term would be Court of Inquiry."

He smiled. "By any other name." His smile faded to a serious frown. "We could convene such a court in secret. The reputation of it would make an effective deterrent."

Tara stared at him with concerned eyes. She had no idea if he was serious or simply toying with her. One thing was for sure: life in Grimsy's empire is not the least bit boring.

###

"I've never been in this chamber," Tara said. "I was summoned here once but was taken away from the antechamber at the last minute."

"Oh, my," Lady Hensan said. "I would have been frightened out of my mind if I had been required to appear here."

"This place is disgusting," Lady Fenta said. "Evil still permeates this place despite the fact that they've removed most of the machines of torment."

Tara smiled at them. Fenta's eyes were expressively large and her thick lips hinted of innate pleasures. Hensan's narrow bony face expressed subtle fragility and facile sensitivity. Both women possessed nice figures hidden under black robes.

"Who is the victim of the day?" Tara asked.

Lady Fenta cracked a fleeting smile. "Name's Quinso. He's been accused of adultery."

"Really?" Lady Hensan reacted. "I didn't know they prosecuted for adultery."

"It's the location that makes this case interesting," Fenta said.

Just then the inquisition chamber door clanked open and a man strolled in. He was probably in his thirties, had a good build, and his face was sharp featured with curly black hair cut unusually short. He was dressed in a white blouse shirt over black trousers. His fur-lined boots clicked sharply on the hard stone floor, hinting of a cocky attitude. His blue eyes beamed a nascent sexuality beneath orneriness.

He stood before the table and looked over his three judges with a hint of amusement on his thin lips.

Tara tried her best to avoid showing interest. "You have been summoned to answer some questions concerning an incident of indiscretion."

His eyes expressed subtle indignation. "I was not aware that indiscretion was considered a crime."

"Adultery has always been a crime in this Empire, but its prosecution had become bankrupt, especially in the case of the male perpetrator. However, you were caught doing it in the Temple of Athena, a public place of worship."

"I meant no disrespect to the goddess."

Tara gave him a look of disgust. "We are not here to pass judgment. We are here to determine the facts."

His eyes widened. "What facts?"

"We want to know who your partner was. She managed to escape apprehension."

"Do you honestly think I would reveal the identity of my lover?"

"You must comply with our demand."

He batted his eyelashes at Tara. "I decline."

Tara looked over at her two partners before looking back at him. "If that is your wish, then we have no recourse but to use physical persuasion to determine her identity."

His eyes flashed with defiance. "Pain will be an impotent persuasion."

Tara grinned at him. "You use an appropriate simile. The persuasion method will fit the crime."

"How so?"

"We will apply pressure to your devices of pleasure. When we do so, I am certain that you will gladly answer all of our questions."

His jaw dropped. "Surely you wouldn't?"

"We most certainly would. Since you committed the crime with your sexual devices, it is only appropriate that you should suffer through them."

"I did nothing wrong," he protested. "You would do harm to my manhood for something as natural as life itself?"

Tara motioned to a guard standing by the door and he came forward. "Help this prisoner disrobe."

When the guard grabbed him, Quinso let out a yelp.

"There's no need to resort to rough handling," he cried. "I am quite capable of undressing myself."

Tara nodded and the guard backed away.

"Well?" she yelled at him in reaction to his hesitation.

He bowed his head. "There is no need for further theatrics. I will tell you what you want to know."

"Then tell us who your lover was—or is."

"Dame Listo."

Tara's eyes widened. "You trifle with a titled woman?"

"I'm afraid so, my lady."

She waggled her finger at him. "You had better be telling the truth."

"It is the truth of the gods," he said in a contrite tone.

Tara motioned for the guard again. "Take this prisoner to a holding cell. When we collaborate his information he can be released."

"Yes, my lady," the guard replied as he led Quinso out.

"Looks as if we won't see a show today," Tara said.

"A pity," Fenta said, feigning disappointment. "I would have enjoyed squeezing this one's instruments."

They laughed.

Tara swallowed hard before she entered the Throne Room. Two burly guards parted the large doors to allow her entry and she wasted no time in trudging along the long stone hall that led to the throne.

"Tara!" Grimsy greeted her with a bubbling enthusiasm. "So nice to see you."

She bowed. "Thank you, my lord."

"What brings you here to brighten my day?"

"I have the name of Quinso's lover, my lord."

"Quinso?"

"He's that fellow who was caught having intercourse in Athena's Temple."

"Oh, yes. I remember. What a twit."

"His lover is Dame Listo."

Grimsy's eyebrows rose in unison. "Oh, my! That's Sir Damasal's wife. Oh, such juicy news you bring me."

"Are you going to arrest her?"

"Most assuredly," Grimsy said, beaming. "I wouldn't have it otherwise."

"How soon?"

"As soon as possible. You will have the pleasure of interrogating her."

Tara bowed. "Yes, my lord."

"Don't look so morose, Tara. You'll no doubt enjoy the process."

"I hope so," she said with an ornery grin.

Grimsy laughed.

The first thing Tara noticed about Lady Listo was her narrow waist. It was the smallest waist she had ever seen on an older woman. Listo emphasized her hourglass figure by wearing pleated skirts over a straight slip instead of petticoats, as was the custom of more mature women of the realm.

She also took note of the woman's narrow face with sculptured features that included large soft eyes. Her lips were thin, too. Thin-lipped women were usually chaste, but that could not be the case here. This woman obviously had an amorous disposition.

"Dame Listo," Tara greeted her. "You have been accused of adultery."

"On what evidence?" The woman's voice was lower pitched but still had a soft edge suggesting passion.

"Your lover confessed and implicated you."

Much to Tara's surprise, Listo didn't show any reaction to that revelation.

"He lies," she replied, cocking her head up in a defiant pose.

"We doubt that," Tara said. "We want you to confess to this crime."

"I will not," she said, her voice climbing in frequency a tad.

"We would prefer that you cooperate, Dame Listo. We abhor the use of physical methods of persuasion."

Listo huffed. "I was under the impression that the Inquisition had been abolished."

Tara flashed a quick smile. "It has. This is an interrogation, not an inquisition."

"I stand corrected."

"Will you save us a lot of trouble and confess?"

"I didn't do anything to confess to."

Tara rubbed her forehead. "Dame Listo, I don't think you will enjoy the methods we will employ to extract your confession."

"What methods?" Listo asked, her eyes narrowing with concern.

"Well," Tara said, adding a sly grin. "Let's just say they involve violation of one of your bodily cavities with objects that are quite a bit larger than your lover's organ."

Listo's eyebrows rose. "You wouldn't!"

"Oh, yes but we would. Why don't you disrobe and we will give you a demonstration."

As she began to unhook her silk blouse, a smile invaded Listo's hard face. "Perhaps, I will enjoy this violation."

Tara frowned. Oh, no. She's going to call our bluff.

Hensan eyes beamed with fascination. She had always wanted to see someone suffer inquisition, but she was not sure that it would be proper to enjoy such depraved sights. It had a certain forbidden eroticism about it, making her feel guilty.

Fenta's eyes expressed anticipated pleasure. She had always secretly wondered what it would be like to be abused in inquisition, to be stripped naked in front of men and violated. The rush would be exhilarating.

They watched the accused adulteress remove her blouse and begin to undo her skirt. While Listo was busy stripping, Tara got up and walked over to a cabinet near the wall. She opened it and retrieved a cylindrical wooden dowel and walked back over to the table. The object possessed a bulbous end that tapered to a conical tip.

"Spread you legs and bend over," Tara ordered her, holding the object out so that she could get a good look at it.

Listo's eyes ballooned and her jaw dropped. "I don't like the looks of that one bit. I think I will confess."

"Thank you, Dame Listo. I didn't really want to jam this up into places it doesn't belong."

"What will happen to me?" Listo asked with concern etched in her otherwise pristine face.

"I don't know," Tara said. "We don't execute sentences here. I assume that your fate will be decided by Lord Grimsley."

Dame Listo sighed. "I have a bad feeling about the prospects of that."

Tara bit her lip to avoid reacting to that statement.