As he moved inside him with vigorous, passionate thrusts, he caressed him all over his body, kissed him, making him turn his head back, whispered gentle phrases of love.
Romulus felt joyously carried by his lover to the beautiful Elysian fields, in the garden of pleasure, and finally enjoyed the virile passion of his Apollon, his man, his beloved Helvius.
The night ebbed and flowed, cadenced by the steps of the patrols that watched over the safety of the young emperor.
When they were both finally grasped by the strong and beautiful emotion of the orgasm and unloaded in a symphony of soft moans, shuddering with the force, trembling, wincing at the intensity of the pleasure one gave to the other, the night had already reached the eighth hour.
They surrendered to the sweet languor of the after-coitus, Romulus turned again towards his beloved, clasped in his strong arms.
"My sun... how much I missed you!" he whispered, looking at him with eyes as bright as summer stars.
"I felt like dying, without you."
"You risked a lot, to reach me..." Romulus said thoughtfully.
"It's not that, but your guards don't know how to do their job well... Think if instead of me, a killer, an assassin would have climbed up here..."
"I would not have left the window open..." the boy pointed out with a little smile.
"But when the better weather arrives, instead of the frames with slabs of alabaster there will be only the grid... an attacker could climb up here, and remove the block of the window, enter, hurt you..."
"Should I ask my guards to be more efficient? Is that what you want?" asked Romulus with a mischievous whisper.
"No. No, of course not, now that I've found a way to reach you... I'll come here every night, if you want."
"I would be more than happy, but... the more often you come, the more the risk increases, my beloved... We must be cautious."
"But I... can't wait even one day... it's too much."
"I know, do you think it's not like that for me? But... no, you will come here to me at every calends and at the ides..."
"Only twice a month?" Helvius asked looking sad.
"In the meantime, I'll try to find another way to get you in without so much danger. I have a servant that I am almost certain I can trust. But if I should send him to you, how will he find you?"
"Tell him to go behind the thermae, between there and the river, in the neighbourhood that flanks the Cardo towards the Augustus bridge. He must go to the tenth insula, and ask where is the home of Helvius and Cimon... the procurers of boys... But just twice a month, I... "
"Be patient, my sun, I am eager to meet you as often as I can, at least as much as you would like, do not have any doubt. It may be that he can devise ways to get you into the building without problems. But go now, before it begins to come the light. "
"My heart will stay here with you..."
"And mine will accompany you wherever you are."
The two lovers managed to see each other a few more times, and Romulus was trying to find ways to get his beloved into the imperial palace without running too many risks.
In the meantime, however, things in the empire were taking a turn for the worst, dark clouds were building in the sky over Ravenna. The Germanic soldiers, who had driven away Julius Nepos under the guidance of Orestes, now claimed a third of the lands, according to the right of the Roman army, but they had never been granted the Italic lands. The soldiers were not willing to accept lands in the areas of the empire where the barbarian raids were increasingly frequent.
Orestes tried to explain to his men that he could not give them the Italic lands... he could not violate the ancient customs so shamelessly, expropriating the lands of the patricians and the rich. After a few months of increasingly heated discussions, in the end Orestes firmly refused to allow their requests.
This led a good part of the troops to mutiny, under the leadership of the senior officer sciro-hunn Manlius Odovacar, head of the legions of the Herulians, the Scirians and the Rugians, Germanic mercenaries nominally in the pay of Rome. The soldiers offered him imperial power.
Odovacar, however, understood very well that it was not wise to accept an imperial throne completely devoid of power and authority, setting himself against the Senate, the patricians and the emperor of the East, so he asked the soldiers, if they won the battle he be elected king, according to Germanic custom.
This time Helvius was very worried. During one of his nocturnal visits to Romulus, still climbing the wall in the middle of the night with the help of his two friends and entering through the window, he talked about it with his companion.
"You have to flee, come away with me, let's abandon Ravenna, let's go far..."
"I cannot... don't you understand I would have too many enemies, both my father's and Odovacar's men? And then... I would be just an emperor in name, but I'll never run away... I'm not a coward."
Helvius, on the one hand, admired the virile courage of the boy, just seventeen years old, on the other he feared for him. He tried again to convince him to save himself, but Romulus, with all the sweetness he felt for his man, was adamant.
"I did not ask for the purple, I did not want the tiara, I did not choose to have the red shoes of the emperors... In fact, I hated them, I hate them. But as I have accepted them, even if they were imposed on me, I must wear them with dignity. I will not run away, never!"
"If Odovacar wins, he will kill you!"
"And... my last thought, will be a thought of love for you, my sun. But you cannot ask me to renounce my dignity. I do not speak of the imperial dignity, Helvius, but of my dignity as a man."
"I do not want to lose you..."
"Neither do I want it. But you will not lose me... I will always be with you... if not with my body, with my soul and with the love that you have ignited and that dwells in it. "
"How can you not be afraid?"
Romulus smiled: "I have a crazy fear, my beloved... but thank heaven it is not enough to make me give up living or... dying like a man."
"Dying... do not even say that horrible word!"
"Everyone, sooner or later, must confront death. A living being is called so... precisely because he can die. I am a bit afraid of suffering... much less of death. But these are things that I cannot control... no more than the empire that only in name is in my hands. "
"I can only bow to your will, my sweet flower... stronger than the mightiest oak. But if you die... I will die with you too. "
"No, no, I do not want that. You have to promise. Otherwise you will make me cry for my own death. I will accept it serenely, only if I know that you will continue to live and in you will continue to live our love. Swear to me that you will not end your life if I were to be killed. Swear!"
Helvius bowed his head and, for the first time in years, tears ran down his face. "How you order me, my flower, I swear it." he murmured in a broken voice.
Romulus caressed his face, wiping away his tears. "Thank you. I love you, you are really my sun... forever!"
Helvius waited by the window, holding his beloved in an embrace, until the watch passed. Then he gave him one last kiss and slipped out, jumping nimbly down to the street and silently walked away, feeling a heavy cloak of pain covering him.
In the next days, Orestes gathered the legions that had remained loyal to him and waged war on the mutinous troops, but Odovacar's forces were preponderant, so he was forced to retreat into the well-fortified Ticinum, which was immediately attacked by his adversary. Orestes was taken prisoner only five days after he had retired to that city and was beheaded in Placentia, on the site of the defeat suffered by the emperor Avitus twenty years earlier.
The victor Odovacar, was acclaimed king of the Herulians on August 23, 1229, according to the Germanic rite, by his barbarian soldiers. He marched on Ravenna, where Romulus waited for him, frightened but determined not to flee. On 31 August Odovacar killed in battle Paulus, one of the brothers of Orestes, and on 4 September he entered Ravenna as the triumphant and sole arbiter of the destiny of the Western Empire.
The soldiers who remained on guard at the imperial palace did not oppose the entry of Odovacar, but rather saluted him as their king. He went to sit in the throne room, and ordered that Romulus be brought before him.
The boy, knowing that Odovacar had entered the palace, wore a tunic and a toga alba, without any sign of imperial dignity, and escorted by the soldiers who were supposed to protect him, who instead had abandoned him to his fate, entered the presence of the victor. Against all his expectations, the fear seemed to have left him.
Odovacar was struck by the erect bearing of the boy, by his straight, proud gaze, in which he could not read a trace of fear.
"So, Flavius Momyllus Romulus, here you are. What should I do with you now?"
"Do you ask me?" the boy answered him with a clear voice and with a slight smile. "Is not all power in your hands now? Are you not the one who can dispose of my life and command my death?"
"Life or death, my choice. For starters, I dethrone you..."
"You already sit on it..." the boy pointed out. "That throne was never mine, you know that very well. I was made to sit there after two other men were chased away by my father... first Glycerius, then Julius Nepos. My father made me sit where you sit now, and you tell me I do not have to sit on it anymore. Good."
"And what do you ask me, boy?"
"Nothing. I do not think I'm in a position to ask. "
"Do you not invoke my clemency?"
"If you so wish, you'll show it to me; if you do not , you will not show it to me... no matter what I ask you."
Odovacar burst out laughing, and all his men laughed with him. But the king made an imperious gesture and the hall fell suddenly silent.
"What are you laughing about, men! Here, there is before me a boy who has more pride and courage than all of you! It would be a shame to take the life of a boy so beautiful, it would be a shame to humiliate such a proud boy! Self-respect without haughtiness, without unnecessary pride. Hope your children grow up like this boy! Go back to your rooms, for now, Flavius Romulus. I will let you know my decision regarding you. But from now on I declare before my men that I call my witnesses that you do not have to fear for your life. Not from me, nor from those who are faithful to me."
Romulus was escorted back and locked in his private rooms. When he was alone, he sat on a stool and began to tremble, unloading all the tension he had been able to hold inside himself till then, but which now overcame him.
His thoughts ran immediately to Helvius...
He, was standing in front of the imperial palace, waiting anxiously to know what the victor had destined for his boyfriend. He was perhaps the only one in all of Ravenna to care about the fate of he whom, now more openly than before, people called mockingly Romulus Augustulus.
When he saw the head of the servants coming out of the building, one of his clients, he approached him.
"Hello, Geganius..." he greeted him.
"Oh, you... I do not need one of your boys for now. Maybe in a few days...
First I have to see what changes the new tenant will do in the palace...
If he keeps me in my place or not."
"Do you know what happened to the emperor?"
"Who, Momyllus? I only know that Odovacar has decided to spare his life... Maybe he will make him rot in a prison... or he will order him to take sacred orders and he will have him shut up in a monastery, who knows? I would not have expected that... the barbarian did not kill the boy as he killed his father and uncle... Obviously he feels strong enough not to fear him. "
"Yes... but will he keep his word?"
"And what do you care about it? Think of your life, rather... and your business. In these times nothing is certain, nothing is stable, nothing sure anymore. The Roman eagle is old and its has had its ass plucked and everyone just waits for it to kick the bucket. Everyone has to think only of himself, and which way the wind blows!" the man said to him and hurried away, his face dark.
Helvius breathed a sigh of relief at the news that Odovacar had decided to spare the life of his little flower... If he would lock him up in a monastery, he thought, he would become a monk too... or he would ask to be accepted as a servant... But if he were locked in prison... well... he would have tried to find a way to help him to escape, to free him and they would run away together...
He returned home. His boys were in the kitchen playing noisily with the astragals: since Odovacar had attacked Ravenna, business had stopped and no one had requested their services.
"Where is Cimon?" he asked as he entered.
"In the back room fucking Icenius." one of the boys answered quietly.
Helvius entered the room used as a dormitory. Icenius was crouched on Cimon's lap and was happily bouncing up and down vigorously, impaled by his master.
"Hey, I said not to come in... Oh, that's you Helvius?" said Cimon.
Icenius stopped, hearing him enter, but immediately resumed his carefree ride. Helvius smiled and sat down on one of the pallets.
"It seems that Odovacar has decided to spare Romulus's life..." he said.
"Good, I am delighted." Cimon replied and went back to rubbing his boyfriend's nipples.
"We just have to hope that he does not lock him up in a prison..." Helvius remarked.
"Sorry, buddy, I understand your concern, but do you mind, now, letting us fuck in peace?" Cimon asked with a smile.
"Well... yes. We'll talk about it later. Have fun. "Helvius said with a sad smile and went back to the kitchen.
One of the boys asked him, "Hey, Helvius, what do we do if there's no work?"
"Do not worry, soon everything will return like before and I will find you customers, old or new. What do you have to fear, or worry about? Here you have something to eat, a place to sleep. The world can collapse, it can change who is in charge, but sex will always have a flourishing market."