by Cat Johnson
“But we need it…” she glanced down to where he’d only begun to breach her.
“I won’t risk harming you when I’ve only just found you. There are other ways. Wrap your legs around me and hold on.”
Ariadne didn’t need to ask about his other ways as he sat back so that she perched in his lap, wrapped around him. Rocking them both, slowly back and forth, her own weight drove him a bit deeper. Then his hands went to work. One finger reached between them, circling her clit until she moaned, rocking harder against him. She turned her head and pulled one of his fingers into her mouth. She suckled the digit, closing her eyes, wishing it were another part of him.
When she opened her eyes again, he was smiling. “We’ll have to do that later too.”
He slipped his finger out of her mouth. “Can you hear my thoughts?”
“No need. You’re desires are written clearly upon your face.” He ran his hand down her back and between the cheeks of her buttocks. Her breath caught in her throat. He smiled wider. “You’ve never been touched here.”
She drew in a shaky breath. “I’ve never been touched anywhere.”
His eyes opened wide, before narrowing on a groan, then his lips crashed into hers. Both of his hands moved to her hips, where they pressed her down, forcing him deeper. He guided her, up, then down, up again, then down farther, pushing against the tightness until it gave way and she slid all the way to engulf him completely. He wrapped his arms around her and squeezed, taking her breath away even as his breathing came in sharp bursts.
She found herself on her back as Dionysus himself rose above her like the god he was. Holding her body high, he pounded inside. His face, raised to the heavens, was so intense she tightened her muscles against him, frightened. The more she tightened, the more the pleasure increased until she bore down around him not for self-preservation, but for sheer delight. The harder she squeezed, the more it affected him too, until he was crying out her name and professing words of love she’d never heard another man utter to her before.
It all melded into one intense sensation. Her mind swam as her body began convulsing on its own, rhythmically gripping him inside her as stars exploded behind her eyes and she heard a roar that shook the very ground beneath her until everything became nothing but a blur.
Chapter Two
Dionysus punched the column, sending shards of shattered marble skittering to the floor.
“Ho, my friend. Tell me what’s wrong before you bring the very roof down upon our heads.”
He shot Eros a look that would have had any other being running, but not him. Instead, the golden boy laughed, risking the safety of both his immortal life and the roof.
“Leave me alone, Eros.”
Only the truly stupid would ignore him. Apparently, Eros was truly stupid. He sat his toga-swathed buttocks in a chaise and snapped his fingers at a serving girl. “Wine. The good stuff. I want what he drinks, not what he serves the rest of us.”
The serving girl hesitated, waiting for orders.
“I only share my private stock with those who also share my bed,” Dionysus reminded him. Thoughts of his dark haired, green eyed lover and what harm the wine had done sent another pain darting through his heart. “On second thought, give him as much of my wine as he wants.”
Eros's brows shot up to his halo of sun-colored curls. “Why? Do you have plans for my sharing your bed tonight, Dionysus? Because if so, I have to tell you, though my tastes run generally toward those of the female persuasion, when I do indulge in a group event involving other males, I prefer my lovers less…large.”
Even in his horrendous mood, he had to laugh at that. “I can assure you, I have no plans for you to be in my bed, Eros. Not tonight, not ever.”
“Good to hear.” The god of love accepted the cup of wine and took a sip. “Though you truly are a bastard, Dionysus.”
“As are most of us here on Mt. Olympus. Your point is?”
“I can’t believe you would hoard this heavenly nectar for yourself.”
Dionysus flicked a hand in his direction. “Take it. Take it all. I no longer want it.”
Rather than take the flagon and go, Eros once again proved himself dim-witted and not only remained, but rose, came to Dionysus, and touched his arm. “What’s amiss? Tell me.”
He stared at the hand until Eros removed it. “No. Thank you. Take your wine and leave me.”
The young god frowned, and then staggered backwards, catching himself from falling by grasping the back of the chaise before he lowered himself into it. He looked up with real anguish in his eyes. “What in the Hades happened to cause you such pain?”
Dionysus stared at the man. He was barely holding onto his temper since losing her. Eros peering inside his emotions might just be enough to push him over the edge.
“You had no right to do that. Leave me now before I do something we both regret.” His voice came out as a near feral growl.
Eros shook his golden head. “No. You can’t harbor such intense emotions alone. What you tell me will go no further than this chamber. That I swear to you.”
He laughed bitterly. How could he possibly speak of it with Eros when he had yet to be able to even think her name? “Tell you? Tell me. What can you possibly do to help me?”
“I won’t know until you tell me. If it has anything to do with love, you know I can help. Does it?”
Drawing in a deep breath, Dionysus considered the options. Could he accept Eros's offer? One golden arrow and she would be his again. No. He didn’t want her on those terms.
“She was a mortal. The first woman I’ve felt even more than a passing interest in for centuries. I felt so strongly about her so fast…” He frowned at Eros. The god of love’s involvement would explain a lot. “I’m starting to wonder if you and your golden quiver were involved. Were you?”
Eros rolled his eyes. “I have better things to do than follow you around and meddle in your love life. Besides, you’re always surrounded by nymphs and maenads, I would have never thought you’d have time to dally with mortals.”
“It was the sacred rites in my honor.”
“Ah, so you deigned to grace the mortals with your greatness.”
“You can leave now.” He turned his back on the cocky bastard.
“I apologize. Go on. What happened? You felt for her and…”
“And I gave her too much of my personal wine.”
Eros's eyes opened wide. “It killed her?”
“No.” He may have preferred that to what did happen. “We drank wine and made love for three days straight, for the entire duration of the rites. I should have noticed she was imbibing too much. When she finally slept, for an entire day and night, she awoke with no memory of me whatsoever. When I tried to explain, she ran from me in fear.”
“So? Woo her again. It might be fun. The first time with a woman is always the best anyway. Now you get to relive the excitement.”
Exciting was not the word for it. Soul shaking, perhaps. Soul stealing even more accurate because since losing her on that mountaintop, he’d felt a gaping hole in the vicinity of his gut that no amount of wine could fill.
Disoriented and confused, she seemed to know where she lived and how to return there, so he’d let her go, figuring he’d do just as Eros suggested, woo her again. Only that wasn’t meant to be.
“She’s fallen in love with someone else.” Saying it aloud pained him.
“So fast?”
Dionysus narrowed his eyes at Eros. “Yes, it was rather fast. Did you have something to do with that?”
“I don’t know. I truly hope not, my friend. Who is she?”
“Ariadne. Daughter of Minos.”
“No. Never saw her.” Eros frowned. “I seem to remember hearing of some scandal involving Minos.”
“His wife fell in love with a bull and gave birth to the minotaur.”
“Ah, yes. Now I remember.”
“Did you have anything to do with that?” Dionysus accused.
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Eros threw his hands in the air. “Why do I get blamed for everything? No. I didn’t, thank you. I try to avoid the love lives of beasts. Humans keep me busy enough.”
“Just checking.”
“So back to your woman. I can go down—”
“No,” Dionysus interrupted his offer. He did have some pride.
“Is it another mortal she loves?”
“It’s Theseus.” Even saying the man’s name angered him.
“I’m not familiar with him.”
Dionysus shot Eros a look of shock. “Do you not follow anything that happens below?”
“If it affects me, yes. Otherwise, no.” The god shrugged.
“Theseus is the son of the god Poseidon and Aegeus, the primordial duke of Athens.”
Eros appeared to consider that as a frown marred his perfect brow. “The two men bore the child together?”
“No, idiot. Theseus’s mother lay with both her husband Aegeus and Poseidon in the same night. The result of those couplings was Theseus, who now possesses all the qualities of both men. He’s a true hero in the mortal realm. Rushing around the world to conquer evil and save the downtrodden.” Which apparently, Ariadne found irresistible from the first moment she’d seen the Athenian’s face. Dionysus swallowed the acid taste forming in his mouth.
“Still, a mere son of a god, actually, only half a child of a god since the seed was watered down by that of a mortal man, is no match for you.”
“She is besotted.”
Eros shook his head, making his golden curls bounce. “You’re a fool for giving up.”
He sighed. “I’ve haven’t given up. I’m waiting.”
“For what? The man to die?”
“Actually, yes.”
Eros's brows shot up. “You know something.”
“Yes. Last I checked on her, she was working to come up with some way to help save her lover.” The word left a bitter taste in his mouth. “He faces certain death in her father’s own labyrinth. No one escapes from the labyrinth. I’ve heard the designer himself became lost in it. Add to that the minotaur and Theseus shouldn’t have a chance.”
“Yet she still attempts to find a way to save him.”
Dionysus sighed. “Yes.”
“And that is what bothers you most.”
“No. It is that quality I love about her most.” Her kindness, the very thing that kept her from him, made him love her. The gentle woman who’d befriended him in the guise of bull, even though he frightened her. The woman who would defy her father and shed all vestiges of her heritage to perform the rites to worship him. The woman who would never give up until she found a way to save the man she loved from certain death.
“When does he go into the labyrinth?”
“Very soon.”
“Then why are you here? We should be watching.”
“I can’t bear to.” He could not watch Theseus kiss her lips. Those lips, as well as the rest of her, rightly belonged to Dionysus. He could not stand by and watch Theseus love her body, the body he was the first to ever fully possess. Now, she gave it willingly to his rival without even remembering the pleasures of his touch.
He looked up to find a deep frown crease Eros's brow. “What’s the matter?”
“I let my guard slip. I felt the full force of your emotions again.”
“That is your own fault.” Dionysus scowled.
Eros shook his head, his eyes sad. “It’s horrible. How can you possibly stand it?”
“I ask myself that same question every waking moment. Even in sleep she haunts my dreams.”
“I can help you,” Eros offered.
“I said no.” His tone left no question.
“Then I will pray to Aphrodite that your love returns to you.”
Their eyes met and Dionysus saw the sincerity within Eros. “Thank you.”
The other god rose from the chaise. “Until then, I’ll take your wine and go, because you, my friend, are too painful for me to be around when I’ve been drinking your potent nectar.”
Since he’d leave himself if it would help him escape the pain, Dionysus could do nothing but laugh, saddened by what was the absolute truth.
Chapter Three
“Daedalus, you must tell me the secret of escaping the labyrinth.” Ariadne hated the begging tone in her voice, but to save Theseus from certain death, she was willing to beg and more.
“There is no secret, child. I designed it to be inescapable. I became lost in it myself and only escaped by the grace of Zeus.”
She raked her hands through her hair, frustrated, panicked, more afraid than she’d ever been. “There must be some way.”
“It matters not. Simply finding a way out does not save one from certain death from the minotaur.”
Ariadne shook her head. “If the minotaur was killed...”
“Your father would be very angry.” Daedalus’s eyes narrowed and his voice held a warning.
“Do not threaten me, Daedalus. You of all people bear a good portion of the burden for the minotaur’s existence. You built the contraption that allowed my mother to lie with the white bull, which led to his birth. You are the one who designed the labyrinth that imprisons my half brother.”
“Yes, he is your brother, yet you seek to find a way to have him killed.”
“Death is preferable to that cursed life. He is neither man, nor beast. All alone. Crazed so that he knows only violence and hate. Do you think he wants the yearly sacrifices? Would he enjoy ripping seven souls apart if he could think sanely? He wouldn’t want to continue as he is. I feel that in my very bones. Now, help me find a way for Theseus to escape your creation.”
He drew in and released a long, slow breath. “Perhaps if one could somehow keep track of their journey through the maze, he could then retrace his path back to the beginning, but how? Maybe a trail of pebbles dropped on the path?”
“It’s too dimly lit. They’d be impossible to see.” Ariadne hung her head, her hands idle, her needlework lying untouched in her lap. Her eyes opened wide as they hit upon the rolled ball of red wool. “Oh, Daedalus. You truly have saved him. I must go.”
Jumping up, she grabbed the red ball and ran. She had much to do and not much time in which to accomplish it.
The servants looked up as she flew through the door. “How much red wool do we have?”
One sitting at a spinning wheel stopped the motion of her foot and hands and swung her arm to indicate the tangle of strands hanging from a drying rack. “We just dyed a batch yesterday. It’s drying now.”
“I need it all tied together to form one long length, then rolled into a single ball. Quickly, it must be done before tonight.” She thrust the wool in her hand at the girl. “Add this to it. It must be as long as possible.”
The servant didn’t dare question her. Though appearing confused, she nodded, rising from the stool to look toward the others. “Come, girls. Begin separating the strands and tying them together.”
Confident they’d complete her task in time, she couldn’t believe otherwise and still maintain her shaky hold on her sanity, Ariadne ran in search of Theseus. She found him in the courtyard, practicing his sword skills.
“I’ve found a way.” She whispered it when she was close enough for him to hear and no others.
He shook his head. “Everyone agrees, there is no way out, Ariadne. That is why I must hone my skills to kill the minotaur as swiftly as possible, then resign myself to a life within the labyrinth. If I can conquer him before he tears the seven sacrifices apart, we can live a happy enough existence together, I suppose.”
She frowned. Her love would never choose to live in the maze with seven strangers over escape and a happy life wedded to her. Theseus simply didn’t understand. “Listen. I truly have the answer. I got it from Daedalus.”
The mention of the architect’s name seemed to give her claim more credibility. He looked around, and then pulled her to a secluded spot. “Tell me.”
Laying her pla
n out for him, she saw the excitement build on his face. She concluded by saying, “Once the minotaur is dead and you’ve retraced your steps to the entrance with the help of my red yarn, we’ll be free to be together.”
“Your father will be very angry with you for helping me and betraying him.”
“That is why you’ll take me to Athens with you. He can’t touch us there.”
Theseus nodded, seemingly deep in thought. “The thread to mark my path may just work.”
She grabbed his forearms with both her hands. “I know it will.”
It had to. She would die without Theseus in her life.
Finally, he smiled. “Of course it will, my clever girl.”
Basking in the glow of his praise, she stepped forward and touched her lips to his. “Make love to me, Theseus, before you go into the maze.”
“I must prepare.”
“What better preparation than to gain strength from my love?” Her hand roamed over his chest, down to his thigh where it snuck beneath his clothing to find his manhood. It began to wake in her hand.
They’d lain together for the first time the night before. It was to be their farewell before he went into the labyrinth. She’d heard talk of how wonderful lying with the man you loved could be. She wanted to experience that, but last night’s brief coupling with Theseus had only served to leave her unsatisfied, craving something more. Though in her inexperience, she didn’t know exactly what.
His eyes drifted shut as she stroked his growing length. “Perhaps you are right.”
“Of course, I am.” She smiled and dropped to her knees.
Taking him between her lips as she’d secretly watched a serving girl do to one of her father’s guards, she worshiped him with her mouth. His hands grasped her head and guided her motions. He plunged into her mouth faster and faster until he cried out, thrust one last time and spilled his seed deep in her throat.
Breathing heavily, he pushed her head away. “When will you have the yarn for me?”
Coughing, she rose and answered. “Before nightfall.”
“Good. I must go prepare. I will see you then, my savior. Before the sun sets. No later.”
“Yes.” She nodded. Forgiving his abruptness as distraction over the coming battle, she brushed the dirt from her knees and watched him go.