Eros Island

by Lucinda Betts, Dawn Thompson

  His fingertips stroked my sides, my ribs. His touch left me slightly crazy. Insane images filled my mind. I wanted to curl into my bedding with this man. I wanted to be worshipped by him and worship him in turn. I wanted his mouth and hands and cock. I wanted him to explore every bit of my body and my soul.

  I wanted to be his.

  His lips, filling me with a slick heat, trailed from my mouth down my neck.

  My breasts, my nipples ached for him. His hands slid along the base of my shoulder blades, and I arched my breasts toward his hungry mouth, relying on the strength of his hands to support me.

  My heart pounded like that of a captured bird as his mouth inexorably slid toward my breast. When his tongue finally flicked over my pebbled nipple, lightning bolts from the Mother’s Consort, Earth Shaker himself, couldn’t have electrified me any more than he did.

  The hot glide of his tongue over my nipple shocked me. He sucked lightly at first, then more insistently. I arched toward his mouth until I could bend no longer and even that wasn’t enough. I had an ache between my thighs that I couldn’t deny.

  He must have sensed it, must have known we were both ready for more. He picked me up as if I weighed nothing, and he carried me in the direction from which he’d come.

  As he carried me unerringly down the dark trail, I looked at his face, lit by the unearthly stars. His cheek, the long, straight line of his nose; it seemed I knew the curve of his brow as well as I knew my own.

  He carried me into a small round glade carpeted completely with lavender. Tiny owls, like the one that had spoken to me, filled the trees, and they glowed a ghostly bright white. If bone could glow, it would be the color of these owls. And the light was so bright I could see the small purple stars of the lavender, the silvery green of their leaves.

  The Mother was giving us her blessing.

  Chiron gently set me in the deepest stand of flowers, and the scent from their crushed blossoms filled the night. Lying on the ground, I stared up at him, at the stars in the sky. He was beautiful, the length of his thighs, his throbbing manhood. I couldn’t have dreamed a more beautiful moment.

  I would have told him so, but words still felt wrong somehow. How did he feel about having human legs, a human cock? That made me think. I sat up with a grin, crushing moss beneath me. I wanted to take advantage of this opportunity, whether the Mother or part of my personal dreamworld sent it. For his pleasure—and mine.

  Reaching toward him, I didn’t know what I was doing, but I didn’t think Chiron would care. Tracing my way down the hard ripples of his stomach, I slid my palm over his shaft. It was hot, amazingly hot, and hard but so smooth.

  Taking my time, I ran my hand from the wide base to the very top. Liquid spread over the velvety tip. My fingertips memorized every contour, every change in texture.

  Perhaps my touch was too tentative, because he took my hand in his, leaving my fingers curled around his cock. He pushed down, so that his cock strained against my hand. Looking at this face, I could see him contorted in pleasure, and the dripping tip told me how he liked it.

  Did I dare take the next step? A piping call from one of the owls filled the night. I dared.

  Leaning forward, I licked his shaft, tasted the salty liquid. He groaned, and I wanted to cry out, too. Knowing he wanted me so fanned that fire burning in my core. I’d never felt such an aching between my thighs.

  I pulled him to the ground, crushing my breasts against his thighs as I licked him, savoring his musky male scent. He lay back, yielding himself to the touch of my mouth. But my tongue wasn’t getting enough of him; my whole mouth wanted him.

  Crouching over him, I discovered I could rub my aching nub on his thigh as I pulled his entire cock into my mouth.

  It was delicious, this sensation. As my nub slid over his thigh, his cock slid over my tongue. The sliding and gliding, the way he arched into my mouth and pressed his leg against me. Within heartbeats my world shrank to just us, to the points where his skin and mine touched. The heart of the world beat in our mutual throbbing.

  And then the pulsing exploded into something that seemed both natural and expected, and surprising. I’d been told, yes, but I hadn’t anticipated. I saw exploding stars even though my eyes were closed. I exploded with them, then melted into a puddle of molten lava still pulsing with energy from the earth’s core.

  For a moment beneath me, his body was as taut and tight as an ancient oak. Then he quivered. Chiron’s cock pulsed, and the salty tang of his seed filled my mouth.

  Collapsing against his muscular leg, I inhaled his musky scent. I wanted it to fill my nostrils for eternity. “Chiron,” I said, almost whispered.

  With that word, my world altered. The colors changed in a subtle way—but profound, too. The moon shone with a more natural light and the stars receded to their usual distance. The glowing owls disappeared.

  “Chiron,” I said, clutching the man beneath me.

  But my fingers curled around cool lavender stems rather than hot muscle.

  And I might have believed he was just a dream, a figment, but his scent told me otherwise. His masculine musk lingered in my nose and on my tongue as I drifted to sleep.

  4

  “P rincess Akantha,” the Lapith King said, waking me with a nudge of his foot on my naked hip.

  “King Lycurgus,” I said, bolting awake. Standing, I refused to feel embarrassed. He’d only caught me…sleeping. “How did—” I tried to mask my confusion. “You’ve found me.”

  “I tracked you to this glade.”

  That thought gave me pause. What kind of prints had I left during the night? Best not to dwell on that. “But I’m glad to see you in good health, Lord Lycurgus. First I’d thought you fallen to a centaur arrow; then I thought you’d fallen prey to earthquake fissures.” I crossed my arms around my naked breasts and wished I had my clothing, which had vanished with the vision. “But you seem very much alive.”

  “Yes,” he said succinctly. “You’ll take a chill.” He wrapped me in his cloak. Seeing Kleio at my throat, he did his best not to flinch. “Did that beast injure you? Where is he?”

  The magic from the Mother’s Glade still had its tendrils wrapped around my mind. “What beast?” I pulled the cloak around me, grateful for both its warmth and its protection from Lycurgus’s gaze.

  “The centaur.” Revulsion underlay his words.

  A beast? “Lord Chiron?” I asked. “He didn’t hurt me.” But I didn’t want to discuss the King of Centaurs, not with Lycurgus. “Thank you for the cloak.”

  “See?” Lycurgus said, adjusting the collar. “We can find a way toward mutual respect. We mustn’t let a clash of our cultures stand in our way of happiness, my lady.”

  His dark hair tumbled to his thick shoulders, and his eyes were as green as spring grass. Lycurgus would appeal to some women. He’d appealed to me once. “Do our cultures clash?” I replied.

  “We mustn’t let our cultures stand in the way of love, either,” he said, ignoring my question.

  “Love.”

  “It occurs to me,” Lycurgus said, “that our differences lie with the centaurs.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “If all humans united against the centaurs,” Lycurgus explained, “peace would reign on Crete. No force from the mainland could threaten us.”

  “Are you suggesting a war against centaurfolk?” I rubbed the last of the Glade’s enchantment from my face. “But we see so little of them in general.”

  “We’ve seen too many today. They’ve kidnapped you, shot at me. They’re constantly inebriated and foul-mouthed.”

  Shame washed over me, and I couldn’t argue the point. Even yesterday, I would’ve agreed with him. But after the Mother’s vision in the Sacred Glade…I wondered if I’d been too hasty in my judgment. Today I felt reluctant to call Chiron’s mouth foul. His masterful lips gliding over mine were anything but offensive.

  “So I’ve discovered a solution to the problem,” Lycurgus said, stepp
ing back from me and putting his hands on his hips. He whistled three sharp blasts, and then he looked at me expectantly.

  “What is it?”

  “I’d planned on giving this to you after the Mother Rite, after you were mine. But a day early will make no matter.”

  “You’d be mine,” I corrected. Again.

  A crashing sound broke through the forest to our west. Expecting a pygmy elephant or a river hippo, I reached for my ankle dagger, but I had nothing—no weapon, no clothes. Only Lycurgus’s robe and my asp.

  Seeing my reaction, Lycurgus chuckled. “He won’t harm you, Princess.”

  “What is it?”

  But the question answered itself as a large cat—as massive as a centaur—bounded toward us, eyes locked on Lycurgus.

  It landed next to the Lapith King with a graceful bound. His sword-scarred hand reached to stroke the beast, which purred and twisted around his hand. Its eyes, staring at me, were mercilessly black, and onyx circles swirled over its amber coat.

  “It’s a leopard, like the cloak you gave me,” I said.

  “Yes, from Egypt,” he replied, still petting the beast. “A nice pussy to lie in one’s lap.”

  “It looks…dangerous.” I wished this one were a cloak instead of a living, breathing creature. Something evil glittered in its eyes.

  “It is.” He flashed me a feral grin of his own. “It’s been taught by the pharaoh’s own trainers.”

  “Taught to do what, exactly?”

  “Why, to find and kill centaurs, of course.”

  Lycurgus nodded to a soldier standing in the shadows, and that soldier nodded at another. Finally they dragged in a young centaur woman whose name I didn’t know.

  Desperation enveloped her. Although her bustier was still in place, her fine-spun robe had been shredded to rags and her hands were bound behind her. Someone had gagged her mouth with a wad of doeskin leather.

  “Let me show you,” Lycurgus purred, giving a shrill whistle to the cat. “This pussy’s quite skilled.”

  “No!” I shouted, but it was too late. The soldiers holding the girl scrambled away as the cat sprang like some coiled storm. It lunged for the girl, white teeth shining with saliva.

  “Watch,” Lycurgus commanded, grabbing my arms as I struggled. Horror flashed in the centaur girl’s eyes. “Princess Akantha, together you and I shall eradicate this hooved blight from our island.”

  This girl? A blight? Not with her fine skin and lovely golden coat. “Oh Mother,” I said. “No.”

  I thought my prayer was answered. The girl bucked spectacularly, landing a solid blow on the leopard’s chest just before it pounced on her. It fell to the ground, breath slamming from its chest with an audible huff.

  But Lycurgus just chuckled, unimpressed by the girl’s show of force.

  A muffled scream came from behind the gag, and the girl spun on her forelegs, lashing at the circling cat with her back hooves. Her golden tail whipped behind her like a banner.

  “Now watch!” Lycurgus demanded, turning his attention to the leopard.

  With new respect for the girl’s hooves, the big cat paced around the centaur as she fought the bonds tying her arms behind her. For her sake, I was glad her bustier covered her breasts. I couldn’t imagine what the leopard’s claws or teeth would have done to that sensitive flesh. I didn’t want to imagine.

  “This leopard has never lost a prey,” Lycurgus said. His dark confidence sent a chill through me. “And it won’t lose one now.”

  But the girl had a different idea. She’d quit trying to scream, and she was focused, her eyes tracking the cat. The leopard would not take her unawares.

  Then the cat sprang.

  She kicked her back hooves but the leopard was quicker. In an amber flash, it landed and sank its claws into her golden equine back. Quick as my asp, the cat latched its powerful jaws around the girl’s throat.

  “You monster!” I shouted to Lycurgus. “You’ve made your point, now stop!”

  “They’re the monsters.” The Lapith king didn’t take his gaze from the centaur and the leopard.

  Using the speed and agility for which centaurs are renowned, she spun and bucked madly. She dropped her head and flung her heels high into the air, twisting at the same time.

  Terrible bloody tracks welled on her back as the leopard struggled to remain astride, but the creature kept its inexorable grip on her neck.

  I quit struggling in the Lapith’s grip. I needed to reason with this man. “Please stop this, Lord Lycurgus. You’re above torture and chaos.”

  “You need to see reason, Princess Akantha, if you’re to rule by my side. You there,” the Lapith said, pointing to one of the soldiers. “Retrieve the cloak. The cat can scent it when he’s finished with this beast.”

  The soldier retrieved a sack and pulled a long red robe from it. My mouth went dry.

  The garment belonged to Chiron.

  Lycurgus looked away from the struggle. “I don’t know where your centaur princeling has gone, Lady Akantha, but the leopard will find him. And you and I shall follow. It will be a fine hunt, don’t you think?”

  “No!” I screamed. I slammed my fist directly into Lycurgus’s face, then I brought my heel hard into his groin. As he writhed in pain, blood pouring from his nose, I slid his sword from his belt. I kicked him again, and satisfaction filled me as I felt his nose crumple beneath my blow.

  The two soldiers stepped toward me, but the girl collapsed in a heap between us, her face blue. The leopard clung to her neck.

  Lycurgus’s sword was much too large for me. Still I swung it at the cat, awkwardly hitting its head with the flat side of the blade. It landed with a clanging sound. At least the beast released the centaur. Then it yowled, a blood-chilling sound unlike any I’d ever heard. The cry deafened me, and the leaderless soldiers fled.

  Cowards.

  Then the cat turned its soulless eyes toward me, and I thought the soldiers might have the wisdom of it. It yowled again, and I tried to balance the heavy sword in my grip. My sweating palms didn’t help. Neither did the Lapith King. Lycurgus staggered to his feet.

  I had no shortage of foes. The cat took a wary step toward me, eyeing the blade. Lycurgus stepped to the other side.

  “I don’t want to hurt you, Princess Akantha,” he crooned. “I want to wed you. Together we’ll create a stronger Crete—an undefeatable Minoan empire.”

  I stepped back cautiously, knowing I couldn’t outrun the leopard even if I escaped the man.

  But the eyes of the centaur woman, who still lay prone in the dirt, fluttered—no, winked. And her chin jerked in invitation. Get on, she told me.

  “Lycurgus,” I said, hoping to placate him. “I couldn’t let your cat kill the woman. I apologize for your bloodied nose.” I held the hilt of his sword out to him.

  With one hand holding his dripping nose, he made a gesture to the leopard. The beast twitched its tail angrily, but it sat and began to wash its face.

  “Beloved,” Lycurgus said in a voice made nasal by my blow. “Please, let us not argue.” He took his sword and slid it into its scabbard. Then he held out his hand in invitation.

  I held out mine—and then leaped. I landed on the golden back of the centaur girl hard, and I heard her catch her breath.

  “What are you—” Lycurgus started to say.

  But the centaur girl was already scrambling to her feet. Gripping her sides with my knees, I grabbed her waist and tried to stay off the deep claw wounds on her back.

  “I agree,” I said. “Let’s not argue. Toward that end, I’m leaving.”

  The centaur needed no second clue; she bounded into the forest.

  5

  “T hank you for saving my life,” I said to the centaur girl. We were still deep in the forest, and I didn’t recognize any of the paths.

  “You saved mine, too. I owe you equal thanks.”

  I saw blood still trickling from her back and neck. “Let me dismount.”

  “Thank you
,” she said. “My wounds aren’t likely to fester, but they ache fiercely.”

  “I’m Princess Akantha of Palace Knossos,” I said. “If you return to the palace with me, we’ll get them attended.”

  “I know who you are.” The girl—no, woman—flashed a smile at me as I walked by her side. Her face shone with beauty. “I’ve seen you in the augury. The Mother Goddess has need of you.”

  My stomach curled around itself at those familiar words. “Chiron said much the same.” And I didn’t believe him. But it was difficult to disbelieve this woman. Her golden eyes reflected only honesty. “Perhaps I should’ve paid closer attention to him.”

  “I wouldn’t have believed it either, if one of your folk brought this news to my village,” she said, diminishing my guilt. “I’m called Pholus the Augurer.”

  “Well, Pholus the Augurer, could you direct me back to Knossos? I have a Mother Rite to oversee, and I’ve no idea where I am.”

  “Oh,” she said with a disarming laugh. “You cannot return to the palace yet. I’m taking you to the Sacred Glade.”

  Vision or no, Chiron’s scent still clung to me. I’d no wish to return to the magic of that place. “I need to return to the palace.”

  “My apologies, Princess, but that man,” she spat the word, “interrupted the solstice revelation. The Mother still needs you—and the Tears of Eternity.”

  My face flushed at all the knowledge this young woman seemed to have. “How do you know this?”

  “I’m the augurer.” She stopped in her tracks. “And I must leave you here.”

  “Here?” I asked, certain I’d not heard her correctly. “Alone?”

  Pholus the Augurer simply nodded, her blond hair waving in the breeze.

  “Without a weapon?”

  “Blood cannot spill during the solstice in the Glade, not without weakening the Mother.”

  A great weariness overtook me. When had the world become so complicated? I closed my eyes and sighed. “Very well, Pholus. Leave me.”