For the Pleasure of Men
Page 14
Kalliope reached up to touch his face; she had not been prepared for this kind of story.
“She became very sick when I was eight years old. I’m not surprised. We lived on the streets and ate scraps. Sometimes she would disappear for days at a time, and I would hover in the dirty streets, waiting for her. When she finally became so ill that she could barely walk, she sucked up the small sliver of pride she had left and went to stay at her sister’s house.
My mother had come from a respectable family, and her sister, my aunt, lived a respectable life. She had married a war hero, and lived extremely well and had a son that was only a year older than me. My mother’s dying wish was for my aunt to take me in.”
Kalliope felt sick as her mind began to make the connections.
“My aunt gave me more love than I had ever known...and I flourished. I missed my mother of course, but I desperately loved my aunt. Her son, my own cousin, became jealous and came to hate me. Everything was a competition to him and I excelled in every category - academics, looks, business, women. He let the hate turn him into an ugly and disgusting person. It broke my aunt’s heart, but he continued to be mean, cruel and vicious to her. He forced her to choose one of us. He said she could only have one son. She refused to choose and he broke her heart and destroyed the family.”
“Spyro,” Kalliope breathed.
Damianos hung his head. “Yes, Spyro was my cousin.”
Kalliope wrapped her arms around Damianos’ neck, kissing him hard on the lips. Surprised, it took Damianos a moment to respond, but he responded just as eagerly, pulling her tightly to him, and sealing his mouth over hers.
Kalliope felt her body come to life under Damianos’ touch and her skin hummed as Damianos ran his hands along her thighs.
“He was evil,” Damianos whispered between kisses.
“I know.”
Damianos broke apart and pulled Kalliope up with him.
“Enough,” he said to himself, and Kalliope looked up with confusion.
“Are you happy here?” Damianos asked, turning to her. “Do you like your life here? Is this what you envisioned for yourself?”
Kalliope wasn’t sure if this was a trick question.
She took a deep breath. “I’m happy with you,” she said carefully. “I appreciate the luxuries here which I never had before.”
“And is this how you envisioned your life?”
Kalliope wondered how to answer. How to tell Damianos that as a little girl, she never thought she would be a whore. How she had hoped to get married and have babies, dreams that her father tore from her when he sold her to Gaia.
“It’s complicated, Damianos. I came from a good family. I imagined I would have been a wife and mother. But then I was sold to a brothel. And then once I was there, I imagined that I would grow old running that brothel. Everything was going the way I had planned but then I was sold and brought here. So honestly, I don’t know what I envision my future to be now.”
“Come with me.”
“What?”
“Come with me,” Damianos’ eyes were filled with excitement. “This doesn’t have to be your life. Come live with me. I have more than enough room, plenty of servants, and if you don’t like my home here in Athens, we can live somewhere else!”
“Are you insane?”
Damianos laughed. “Yes, maybe. But I don’t want to be without you, Kalliope. And coming to visit you in these five little rooms a few times a week is not enough. You are not some pet that should stay locked up underground. Come live with me. Out there.”
Kalliope knew she should ask a thousand questions. That she should be wise. She hadn’t known Damianos for long. But instead, she let her heart answer.
“Yes. Alright.”
“You will?”
Feeling lighter than she ever had, she laughed. “Yes! I will come live with you.”
And with that, he smiled broader than she had ever seen him smile before. Damianos wrapped his arm around her shoulder and led her away from her room. Away from Spyro’s corpse. Away from Hera Selene, forever.
Kalliope was never looking back.
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Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
About the Author