Jaspernon The Prince : The Rise of the Cult of the Goddess : Ch.3 : Part 1 Patience Is Tested (Section 2)

    Jaspernon had been thinking deeply about many things as Lady Riala entertained him with all the pleasures her body and her mind could give. They talked also about her need to satisfy herself with a few lovers, and her desire for orgies and sexual sharing with more than one partner. These thoughts, which reminded him of the erotic scenes in the paintings in the locked room, set him thinking about sharing the concubine with some other lover of hers, and maybe with a suitable serving woman. When Riala mentioned her fantasy of being shared by the King and the Prince at the same time Jaspernon completely insisted that he would not entertain any sexual grouping which involved his father the King. She had laughed naughtily at the idea, but accepted that it would not be wise to involve the King in any occasion with the Prince. “I think your father would enjoy some games with other women, and maybe he would allow some favoured male courtier to share me. I must talk to him about it, and make some suggestions. I think he would enjoy those games, and so would I. But there is no way I would dare to include you in the plan. He is your father, and most unlikely to like that idea. We are very lucky that he has not forbidden our relationship. He has never mentioned it in any way, but I know he knows about it. How could he not know. That means he does not mind. He is pleased that you are having an exciting sexual life. And he is not jealous of me in that way. I think he wants me to have adventures with other men. It makes me more alluring in his mind.”

 

 

     Jaspernon decided to visit the High Priestess. The fantasies which Riala planted in his head led him to feel like a mentor. He had a desire to express his new thoughts and fantasies to the High Priestess. Maybe he could entice her before too long, into accepting his lustful propositions. He felt like a predator, but his fancy for her led him onward. Lady Riala was encouraging him to take other lovers. She wanted him, but she also wanted to share him. He knew Riala viewed the High Priestess as an attractive woman who she would have been happy to share with in sexual games, even though Riala did not believe she would be willing.

 

    He knocked upon the door of Patience’s room. The High Priestess opened it, looking surprised to see him. “Good afternoon High Priestess. You are looking very beautiful today! Can I come in to talk?”

 

     “Of course Prince. What is it?” She gestured him in.

 

      “I have been having further thoughts on many of the matters we have been discussing recently. I thought perhaps I might tell them to you, whether you can agree with any of them or not.”

 

      Earnestly the Priestess prepared to listen, “Unburden yourself please my Prince.” They sat in the comfortable chairs which the High Priestess’s room contained and made themselves comfortable.

 

    “Patience you place yourself at the head of your cult, pledging to serve the Goddess, and proceed to instruct the people how to live their lives, when to marry, how to choose a husband or a wife. You tell them to marry young and never to complain about their marital partner. And yet many of these couples married young and had little time to determine who their ideal marital partner might be. Once married they can share their bounty and their passion with none other than their husband or wife. What if they find each other unsuited or have insufficient passion for each other? Can they not explore others? Why must they be limited at such an early age. You tell them to remain in the confines of their marriage, and yet you have never even had sexual relations yourself, and most of your Priesthood have not either. How can you be the ones to instruct them in the ways of righteous living and marriage, when you have never experienced marriage for yourselves, or even the pleasure or disappointments of the flesh. You Patience could receive instruction and experience so easily, and thereby be able to advise and understand the needs of your followers and those whom you serve. I offer to you now that at any time you may knock upon my door and I will gladly instruct you in the arts of the flesh, for your education and even for your pleasure if you so desire. My door is open to you.”

 

    “You are involved with the concubine young sire! How could you be disloyal to her?”

 

   “I would not be being disloyal to her. She is free to consort with others if she wishes. As you have reminded me her prior loyalty was to my father, and still is, but he chooses not to enforce that loyalty, and it is not for me to enforce loyalty upon her. She is a free woman and chooses to do as she wishes. I do not presume to restrain her. She has cast herself upon other courtiers from time to time and I respect her for it. She exercises her choice and benefits those around her upon whom she wishes to bestow her favours. It makes her a stronger and more passionate woman. She, having more experience than celibate priests and priestesses, should be the one to tell the flock how to behave and who they might lie with.

 

    “You sweet Patience cannot know, not at least until you have experienced more of love and sexual passion yourself. I feel you have a liking for me, as I have a raging passion for you. In my opinion the Goddess is telling us that we should conjoin, if only to instruct you so you can know how to preach to others. In the sharing I am quite sure you will see the harmless nature of sharing, and its great pleasure. You will perhaps see that your Goddess intends you to understand our sex, so that you might better teach about it to others or advise.”

 

    The High Priestess was not quite sure what she should say. Her cheeks reddened to hear herself spoken of in such an open way, although it was not strictly the first time the Prince had been so forward with her. His liking for her was certainly no secret between them. She felt patronised by someone only a few years younger, but also, flattered to be an object of the Prince’s attention, and particularly as she had so recently discovered that she did hold lusts within herself for the Prince.

 

  “As you can probably understand now Patience I do not believe the Goddess intends any of us to be celibate, neither ordinary people, not priestesses and priests. The Goddess requires you all to understand our sexual feelings and to have sexual feelings. I believe you could be closer to the Goddess through sexual sharing, and closer to the people of the Goddess through sexual sharing. I do not approve of sexual repression and would argue that sexual sharing with more than one partner at least is a right and a human necessity. The love of your Goddess is often obscured by petty restriction and unnecessary abstinence. Instead of loving each other and sharing each other the name of the Goddess is used to restrict us when we need each other and we need to be honest about what we feel. I would suggest that the Goddess can work through honesty, and through the coming together of strangers.”

 

   Patience was quite shocked by the full drift of the Prince’s thoughts. It was one thing to suggest that the Goddess should accept the changing of partners, in marriage or without, but quite another to suggest the Goddess approved of promiscuity and the taking of numerous partners in order to create sharing and feel the love of the Goddess. She wondered how much of this was his father, the King talking through the son. He was young to have such developed thoughts, although she found them quite fanciful. She was surprisingly impressed by the uniqueness of the thoughts he espoused. Despite the extreme nature of his suggestions she had to admit there was a certain maturity in his argument. It certainly set her thinking. He suggested she should experience sex, so that she may understand it and place it in its correct context.

    

 

 

    Patience lifted her gown slowly as the young prince instructed. She was, after all, in his Palace. A Prince’s instruction was in many kingdoms, principalities and city states to be treated as law. If she refused to do what the Prince bade her she ran the risk of offending him so much that he would influence his father to put laws and obstacles in the way of her Priesthood. There were some neighbouring nations which had banned her order altogether. In some of those her Priestesses and Priests were hounded and harried, chained up and imprisoned or forced to flee to more friendly states. Shallas, for example, had recently imprisoned a number of Priests and taken the precious artefacts from the City Temple.

 

    She did not imagine the Prince would actually turn against her, or take his frustration out on her Cult if he did not get his way. That was not his way, as far as she could ascertain, but he, and his father of course, had the power to do that, or remove support, if they wished. She believed now that the Prince cherished her too much to punish her and the Cult in that way, but yet she feared to put him to the test. She would rather bend to some of his demands than obstruct him and lose his favour.

 

    “Bend forward Patience! I want to see what you have here more clearly,” said the Prince. She knew he referred to her buttocks, which she now had revealed to him. Thankfully she could not see his face and he could not see hers. For in that privacy she was grateful. She felt his touch on her right buttock, where no man had ever been allowed to touch before, and quivered with the fright of it. She hoped he would do no more than this. To look and touch was not so bad, not much of a sin.

 

    The tip went into her quim gently. She could feel it pushing, and then suddenly it found its track and was inside her. She shuddered with the fear of it, but the fear was worse than the pain. She had been breached, and she knew there must be blood on the sheet below. She quickly relaxed and found the feeling pleasurable. Nothing more was to be feared.

 

     Many had wanted her. Some had tried to possess her, but he, the Prince, was the winner; he was the first to breach her virginity with his penis, and to persuade her amicably.

   

 

    Jaspernon’s father the King, Croesian, had brought her to the Palace, watching her, encouraging her, at first enjoying her beauty from a distance, and then becoming involved by his own desires for her. He had then stepped forward to become her friend and confidante.

 

   The King had encouraged her to represent her Cult at the Palace, as a kind of courtier. He had observed the good works she and her followers did in his city and other towns in his domain, and he had let her persuade him of how important their work was. He would not have been concerned with the many good works they performed before, but, now she had brought them to his attention, he poured the funds of the taxpayer and of himself, the crown, into their society. Orphanages were raised and staffed by paid carers and teachers. New Temples were initiated in two towns with the King’s own personal wealth. He became not a convert himself, wishing not to give up his concubines and one of his wives. But he recognised the Goddess’ innate goodness by the example of Patience and her Cult. New hospitals had sprung up all over the Kingdom of Anachronar in Pirion to heal the sick and comfort the dying. Under the sponsorship of the King the Cult of the Goddess flourished more than ever before, in his Kingdom at least. Its influence was able to spread and to consolidate in many other places.

 

    In return the King had the platonic companionship of the High Priestess and his eyes were mesmerised by the sight of her daily. He had wooed her as a powerful King and a wealthy man may do, knowing that, with all his advantages he may have a chance at experiencing that refreshing beauty for himself, and if he should fail he may continue to view her from some distance and be comfortable with his own concubines.

 

   She did indeed remain resistant to his ageing charms as she did also to others who sought her. Ageus, the General, kept at a distance from her, impressed by her fortitude and her strength of purpose. He was also somewhat appalled by the prospect of the expansion of her cult, for traditions meant much to him and he had no wish to see the character of this Kingdom, or the others around it, changed by the reforming passions of those most disciplined men and women. However he did let it be known on occasion that she would be as welcome in his bed as any other.

 

    Kaslarin the courtier was not quite so restrained. He made frequent advances to her, and she evidently came to avoid him as much as she may, although she was never seen to lose her temper. The young Prince Jaspernon however worked his way into her confidences slowly. He found cracks in her defences and finally on this day he came forward to her and breached them.

 

    Patience was gradually worn down by Prince Jaspernon. A full blown seduction had taken place, and they were embarked on a passionate and very physical affair. Riala, the courtesan, had previously instigated the seduction of the young Prince. Riala’s attitude to Patience was a curious mixture of jealousy for her usurpation of the Prince, and part fascination with the priestess herself, whom she found beautiful and alluring, and whose qualities she found absorbing. The courtesan opposed much of what she assumed Patience the Priestess represented. She sought to embarrass the Priestess for her devotion and purity, qualities the courtesan did not have, did not understand or want. She sought to proselytise the Priestess into a more realistic view of life, as she saw it.

 

    Riala was much sought after herself and enjoyed men other than the King and the King’s son. She insisted on her freedom to choose her bedfellows as she would, and neither father nor son could have done much to stop her if they had tried, unless they were willing to risk the withdrawal of her favours, which neither ever were. The seduction of Jaspernon was risky for Riala. The King might not have approved. He might have become angry and jealous, ejecting her from the court. Her licentious behaviour might have created a rift between father and son, which could have upset the stability of the kingdom and its line of inheritance. But Riala was never one to worry about the consequences of her actions. She lived for her own passions and desires, and the mere stability of a kingdom, or the protection of her current position were never a significant concern to her in those days. The King might not approve, but she entered into relations with his son and with other courtiers at the same time as she received his favours, so confident was she of the King’s interest!

 

    Jaspernon, surely following Riala’s example, as well as his father’s, took on both the confident courtesan and the humble priestess as his lovers. King Croesian seemed to understand. He may also have felt jealousy that his son should usurp some of his concubine’s attention, but was reluctant to stop his son and heir from behaving as he would also have done when younger.

 

   Jaspernon was evidently not the jealous type. He appeared happy for Riala to continue as the King’s concubine. The Prince encouraged her to pleasure his father, and to tempt the General Ageus, who succumbed to her charm, without allowing a physical connection to take place, despite some feelings of guilt that he had, inside his mind, betrayed the traditions he normally sought to uphold, and his King.