Zoe languidly waved her elaborate fan made of peacock feathers as she moved through the suffocating, sandy heat, she was bored and wanted to be somewhere else. But with power came responsibility and being an Amazon queen meant that she had to take tours of her camp, inspecting her soldiers and slaves.
"This is the kitchen staff, your highness," Daria, her Persian handmaid, informed her brightly, the older woman was attractive in a darkly exotic way and looked much younger then her forty so years. She had been in fact stolen from a Persian harem where she had entertained the highest generals. She was given to Zoe on the Queen's sixteenth birthday and had introduced the young queen to the joys of exquisite sex. Daria held a place in her queen's affections and well knew it, lording it over the other slaves. Zoe had long since stopped that type of relationship with Daria and merely kept the woman around out of gratitude and loyalty, but as she moved through the kitchens Zoe let her eyes wander through the numerous serving wenches.
"Who is that?" Zoe inquired, stopping sharply; Daria followed her Queen's line of vision and hesitated.
"That is - ah - her name is Ciprianna, Majesty," Daria murmured in Zoe's ear, Zoe moved through the crowd at a slow, dignified pace even though her heart beat furiously in her chest. All around her bowed and lowered their eyes in reverence of her, but she paid them no attention, her focus was on a beautiful woman in the corner. She was small and petite in a drab and shapeless dress, a sign of her lowly slave status, still Zoe's whole attention was centred on her like she were the only ray of light in a darkened room. Her little head was adorned with thick, shiny black locks that curled around her forehead; she wore it up in a simple Greek fashion with no ornamentation. Her skin was paler then Daria's even though they shared the same hair colouring, yet darker then Zoe's own, she was tanned … honeyed. Zoe licked her lips before stopping in front of the younger woman and giving her a benevolent smile.
"Hello," Zoe murmured huskily, her throat feeling dry, Ciprianna cast a panicked glance to Zoe before curtsying quickly and mumbling a soft, "greetings, your highness."
Zoe wanted to run her hands up and down the bare skin of the girl's arms, but Zoe was sure the girl would likely jump from her skin, Zoe bit her lip to keep from grinning.
"I'm feeling rather," Zoe eyed the girl lecherously, "parched. Could you offer me anything to quench my thirst?"
Some of the serving girls snickered a little before stopping abruptly with a warning glare from Zoe, unfortunately Zoe wanted to snicker to, the double meaning in her question was blatant and so was the blush stealing over Ciprianna's cheeks.
Ciprianna quickly prepared a goblet of wine and handed it to Zoe, her eyes stilled down cast, Zoe took a sip her eyes watching the girl over the rim of her cup. The girl still refused to look up, Zoe swirled the finely spiced flavour over her tongue before swallowing and setting the goblet aside.
"Thank you," she whispered to the woman and turned to walk away, her entourage following in her wake. She looked back at Ciprianna, who was shivering like a kitten and looking like a rabbit ready to run, Zoe laughed lightly, she was ready for the hunt.