Leonidas awoke slowly, pulling himself away from sleep with great reluctance. The king's bed was warm, not only from the thick blankets, but also from the hot, slender body of the woman resting against him. He opened one eye to see that it was far too early in the morning to be up and alert- it was still dark outside, he could allow himself to sleep for perhaps one hour more.
He knew that today was their coronation- he and Gorgo would forever more be the King and Queen of all Sparta.
Fear did not grip him. Leonidas knew this would come to pass from the moment of his birth. It was the king that would lead Sparta into battles against foreign tyranny and lead it into peaceful negotiations with neighboring city-states. He thought of his agoge and all the training he'd gone through once returning home from the wilds. So much preparation had gone towards making him into a worthy king- a man that ruled with a strong fist and an understanding heart.
He looked down to Gargo's sleeping face and felt his lips quirk into a small smile beneath his beard.
She will make a fine queen and a fine wife...soon, she will be a fine mother...
Leonidas wondered if he had seeded her womb during the night, and then frowned. He had become a husband only hours before, and in several more hours he would become king- worlds of responsibility rested on his shoulders. He wanted to wait before becoming a father- just long enough so that he could adjust to his seat of power. Leonidas knew that it would not take long for him to become accustomed, yet all the same he dared not enter fatherhood if he was not able to give enough attention to the child.
Yet, it is still possible that Gorgo carries my heir...
Visions of pretty little girls and strong boys filled his mind. Names for them all occurred to him, but Leonidas shook the thought away. He stretched slightly beneath her, simply shifting to a more comfortable position.
Yes, I will sleep only one more hour...
Only minutes later, Leonidas distantly registered that Gorgo was in bed with him, and she was moving away. He could hear the soft hiss of her skin moving against the sheets as she moved across the bed. He did not wake, even as he heard her soft footsteps moving about their bedroom. Rather, he could not wake- he was half way between sleep and alertness. There was no need for him to snap into focus- this was no battlefield; he was in the royal bedchamber, today he would take the crown of Sparta.
More images came into his mind, small dreams of days he recalled from his childhood before he was taken away to his agoge. He'd been permitted to make friends with the children of Spartan citizens, he remembered their names and the games they had played, he recalled his first horse, he remembered his mother. She had occasionally taken him to the golden wheat fields with servants for a small picnic when the king was tending to his court of noblemen or busy in his dealings with the Senate. It had been a treasured time.
The cackling, diseased faces of the Ephors flashed into his mind, and Leonidas jerked awake. Fully aware, he rubbed a hand over his face, angry with himself for wasting time dreaming when he should have been preparing for his coronation. He only had to select which garments to wear when presented to the people, and prepare a small speech but all the same Leonidas hated idling away on such an important day.
He threw off the blankets and looked down at himself. There was blood on his manhood.
Startled, Leonidas looked to the bedsheets. There was a small amount of blood smeared there as well.
He rose from the bed and called for his servants. They came quickly, all of them chattering congratulations and wishing him well, but he hardly heard them at all as he took the first linen robe offered to him. "Quickly, where is my wife?" He asked.
Aetos had been the first servant of Leonidas since he had returned to Sparta after his trials in the wild. He was ever vigilant, and had taken Leonidas as his responsibility from his birth. "She rose before you, my lord. She took a robe and when I saw her last, she had slipped down into the palace gardens."
Leonidas nodded his thanks and moved through the palace, dodging the well-wishes of servants and their visiting guests from the celebration feast the night before. He moved quickly, and yet not without the dignity of his position. Finally, he made it outside after being held up by his father and a Trojan dignitary. It was early in the day and already the sky was bright and hot.
He searched the gardens for her, but she was not there. Leonidas thought of her cry of pain from the night before and began to hate himself for the pleasure he'd taken in her body. It was an odd thing, to be angry with himself for taking a husband's rights, but Leonidas would not approach her again if his touch brought her such pain.
Why then, did the whore from the soldier's tavern seem to receive pleasure from him?
Leonidas felt his mind swim in confusion. Despite all he had learned of Spartan custom in courting, women were still strange to him. He felt more at home on the battlefield than in dealing with such subtleties of the female form. He had only known that his queen would be a virgin on their wedding night, never taken by another man; Leonidas had not known that in taking her he would bring her pain and spill her blood!
He brought a hand to his hair in frustration. Gorgo hides from me in fear...
"Leonidas, are you going to pace the gardens all day? Have you forgotten what day this is?"
He turned at the sound of his father's voice. "Oh, yes father...have you seen Gorgo?"
Androcles frowned slightly and shrugged. "She is likely being prepared for the coronation ceremony, as should you."
Leonidas wanted to ask his father about virgins and if, when they are first taken, if they were meant to bleed and cry, but out of respect to Gorgo, Leonidas kept quiet. Instead he followed his father back into the palace.
Servants swarmed over Leonidas the moment he stepped into the preparation chamber. Sizing his robes and consulting which colors to use for the embroidery and beading, bathing him, trimming his hair and beard, oiling his skin. Leonidas knew the importance of appearance for a king, but he still preferred not to be trussed up like a woman.
He could only wonder at what Gorgo was being forced to endure for her own preparations.
Much the same, as it turned out.
Gorgo sighed slightly as she chose a scarlet robe to wear for her coronation. She knew that the queen's crown was a thin band of gold to be worn in the hair, and so she chose gold embroidery and beading to match. She felt listless and nervous, the hornets in her stomach had returned with a vengeance.
Gorgo thought of Leonidas and what had happened between them the night before- he had taken her virginity, marking her as his wife in the basest sense. She could no longer lie to herself- she had enjoyed touching him and being touched by him. His eyes had devoured her as if she were a standing goddess- Aphrodite risen from the sea.
She glanced down to finger the necklace he had had made for her, the slain wolf's tooth. She knew the meaning it held for him, all the words he would never be able to say to her unless they were well and truly alone. A Spartan king could not go about acting as a poet; Leonidas was a warrior, born and bred, the only man in Greece that could take on the crown.
Gorgo took a deep breath. It was an enormous responsibility for them both to take on, but unlike Leonidas, she had not been trained to be a queen. She was daughter to an advisor, a noblewoman by birth, but she was no warrior. She was not a leader or the proper wife a king should have. She felt like an imposter.
If Leonidas should fail, the blame will be upon my head...
"Now, now, no tears! You are filled with joy but the tears will spoil your complexion," an older maidservant scolded her. The older woman took Gorgo into a warm embrace. "Today you become the queen, my child, you should be smiling!"
Gorgo was reminded of her mother Acantha, and struggled not to sob even more so. The older woman stroked her hair. "Come now, child, you must not let your nerves get the better of you. Do you know that I have been here in the palace since before your king was born? I helped to prepare the late queen Dorinda if you can believe it!"
Gorgo pulled back to look at her, "You did?"
The old woman nodded. "Oh yes, and she was just as nervous as you- perhaps even more so. Her marriage to king Androcles was arranged, you see. But you have known the king for years, it is common fact that you are friends. If it is true that he opposed the Ephors for you, well, I think I can say that this is a love match."
Gorgo took a deep breath. "Oh, yes, it is a love match. You are right, we have been friends for many years...and if I disappoint him, it will be that much more of a betrayal to him..."
The older woman cupped her face. "Little Gorgo, you will only disappoint the king if you fail to try. Who knows? You might live to be the finest queen Sparta has ever known."
Gorgo knew not what to make of the old woman's words, but she could feel in her heart the woman's sincerity.
Gorgo knew that she had to overcome her fears if she was to be queen and, more importantly, the wife of Leonidas.