For the first time, Teal saw the Emperor's features working out a decision.

"Stay," he said, and it took Teal a moment to realize that the Emperor was speaking to the Empress and not to him. He shifted getting ready to stand to leave. "No," the Emperor instructed. "I want you both to stay."

Teal glanced back and forth between the Empress and the Emperor. The Empress's face was still full of amusement.

"What is it that you so desire, my love?" she asked.

The Emperor turned his attention to her. "To give you pleasure."

Teal watched, an ache suddenly in his throat, as the Emperor's hand rested on the Empress's calf and slid up and underneath her dress.

The Empress shuddered her next breath despite the Emperor's hand only having reached her thigh.

"Teal," the Emperor said, not glancing his way.

"Y, y, yes..." Teal stuttered.

"Would you support my lovely Empress here while I attend to her pleasure?"

Teal took a moment to respond, surprised and not really knowing what the Emperor was asking him to do. The prospect of witnessing the Emperor and the Empress being intimate though, being in the presence of the Empress. It was a curiosity he hadn't been aware of before, but he was certain he was not going to miss out on it now.

"Sure?" he managed.

The Empress rose to her feet and both Teal and the Emperor supported her to sit on the comfortable cushions laid out over the mat. Teal followed her instructions, and he sat behind her so she could lean her back against his stomach as the Emperor settled in between her thighs, her belly large and obscuring Teal's view when the Emperor lifted her gown and disappeared underneath.

The Empress's breath caught in her throat, and her head fell back, resting it on Teal's shoulder.

"Are you sure you don't mind?" she asked, looking up at him.

"No," Teal responded as she gripped his legs.

And, he truly didn't. There was a strange warmth and connection flooding through him to be part of this, to be part of her pleasure. The Empress squirmed and moaned from something the Emperor was doing, and Teal began to feel the gentle rock of her hips as she moved with the Emperor seeking full enjoyment. She found Teal's hand and placed it on her stomach.

"Do you want to touch me?" she asked breathlessly, tilting her head back until their eyes could meet, and never before had Teal been struck so much by her beauty, so close and vulnerable as another moan escaped her lips.

Teal did want to touch her. He nodded, his own breath beginning to gather speed as a sudden lustful desire stirred within him.

The Empress took his hand from her stomach and placed it on her breasts. The first woman that Teal was to touch and it was the Empress of Talbec. He gasped at the soft, full flesh under his hand. With swift fingers, the Empress pulled the material over her cleavage revealing her left breast and guided Teal's hand to her warm skin.

He could feel the heat from his own breath on her neck as his fingers gently explored. Her free hand lowered to the Emperor's head, and the other guided Teal to her nipple, tacky and moist ready for the birth of her child.

The Empress's breathing increased, her eyes closed, and Teal recognized even though he had not with a woman before, her approach. Her body moved with a strong pulse, a sure rhythm, her moans and gasps louder and louder, and then her body collapsed and her full weight was against Teal's body as she came. He held her surely and easily, his strength allowing him so.

The Emperor reappeared, a smile of satisfaction on his face, and he settled on his elbow beside the pair while the Empress regained her breath. He wiped his face with a towel offered discreetly by a servant.

Teal tried to control his own breathing, glad that his erection was hidden behind the Empress's body. He waited though, waited for the Emperor and Empress to dictate what would come next. He was surprised needless to say.

"Again?" the Emperor asked the Empress.

She nodded, and Teal watched the Emperor's hand settle back to where his head had just been.

The Empress leaned back on Teal's body again and closed her eyes, her features soft and relaxed as the Emperor touched her.

"You never have with a woman, have you?" the Emperor said to Teal.

Teal shook his head. "Women, they can, again and again. What's your record, love?" he asked the Empress.

"Eight," she breathed.

"Aaah," the Emperor stated. "I should have remembered that." He turned his focus back on the Empress, and Teal watched again as she began to become lost within the Emperor’s touch once more.

Teal's body ached, and he fretted at what he should do. He could feel his own excitement building; the sight of the Empress, one breast still exposed, her gown high up her thighs, her pregnant belly a symbol of her entire femininity fiercely on display. Teal's hands dropped from where they had both been massaging her breasts and instinctively clenched her hips.

"It's okay," the Empress gasped. "You can come if you wish."

Teal's eyes widened. "I'm sorry," he said. "You're just so beautiful like this."

The Emperor and the Empress gazed up at him, open and pleased with his admission. The Empress moved to the side a fraction and slid her hand behind her back. It wasn't a proper hold, but the palm of her hand covered Teal.

The Emperor leaned up and kissed the Empress swiftly and then, leaned higher and brought his lips to Teal's. Teal caught the soft taste of the Empress still on the Emperor's mouth, but Teal couldn't reciprocate with his kiss, not now. The feel of the Empress grinding her body and hand over him, just enough friction, the sight of the Emperor's hand working in between the Empress's thighs. Teal came splattering over the Empress's back and in her hand, covering his own clothes.

Gasping to gain his breath, Teal clasped his hands on the Empress’ arms. The Emperor moved back and this time, he accepted a cup of wine from a servant and gulped it down.

The Empress continued to rest upon Teal, completely at ease in his presence, and Teal was surprised at how comfortable he was, not only with the Empress, and tasting her, but with the servants and his two guards that were only a short distance away. It struck him then that he absolutely didn't care anyone whether they were there or not.

"Well, that was more fun than I was expecting," Teal said with a delighted smile.

The Empress laughed, a loud and melodic sound that filled the alcove they had taken refuge in.

Teal saw a shift in the Emperor's eyes, a similar shift to when they had been standing in the tunnel under the Blue Garden, with the water from the lagoon glowing around them. Teal’s eyes dropped to the Emperor's noticeably hard crotch.

He eased the Empress up and in an act that even surprised himself, he placed a gentle kiss on her cheek before he shifted to his knees. He turned and approached the Emperor who widened his legs to allow Teal in between them. The Empress eased herself closer as well and rested her hand on Teal's head, stroking his hair while Teal worked the Emperor's trousers free.

"I'll let Jale be the one to only fuck you at the moment," the Emperor said.

Teal almost laughed, no longer feeling any of the fear he had once held when standing before the Emperor. He looked the Emperor directly in the eye and then, lowered his head, sure of his task and wanting to please. He heard the Empress moan again as the Emperor's attention went elsewhere, and Teal lifted his hand and caressed her thigh, brave enough to only go that far.

The evening continued as they pleasured each other, stripping off their clothes in stages until the three were naked on the mat and cushions, the sound of the Empress reaching climax filling the evening air again and again and again.