by Cat Johnson
Hesitating at first, she finally took it and downed the oddly familiar-tasting contents. Feeling a bit more steady after the wine burned down her throat, she asked, “Do you have a boat? Can you take me back to Knossos?”
“Sorry, no boat.” He shrugged and refilled her cup.
“How did you get here?”
“I’m a god.”
“Fine. Don’t tell me.” She drank more. As long as she was going to die here alone, she might as well drink herself to death now rather than wait around for a slow, painful demise. Though she did regret taking the life of the unborn babe along with her own.
“You don’t believe me?” he asked incredulously.
“No.”
He laughed. “And you’re not at all attracted to me?”
She raised a brow. “Uh, no.”
Pursing his lips, he considered that. “Interesting. I wonder if it’s the child inside you. Your body remembers your love for him even if your mind doesn’t.”
“My love for my child?”
“No, your love for its father.”
Not knowing if she could trust anything this man told her, she asked anyway, “Do you know who the father is?”
“Yes.” He nodded.
“And did I love him?”
“Yes, you did. At least that’s what he claims. I wasn’t there so I can’t say for sure.”
Ariadne searched her brain and came up empty. “Why can’t I remember him?”
“Because you drank too much wine at the bacchanal.”
She thrust the cup back at him. “Then why are you giving me more now?”
He cocked one fair brow. “Why do you care? Do you want to remember what just happened with that watered down, demigod imposter?”
Frowning, she ignored how he continuously spoke in riddles and seemed obsessed with the gods and answered the question. “No. I’d be very happy to forget he ever existed.”
“Good. Then hopefully, with enough wine, that’s what you’ll do.” He poured more into her cup. “Drink.”
“What if I forget about the baby?”
“I think you’ll remember that. If you don’t, the baby itself will remind you soon enough.”
She eyed him suspiciously. “I hope you realize that I’m not going to give myself to you just because you keep pouring me more wine.”
He laughed. “I wouldn’t let you even if you tried. I value my life too much.”
Ariadne shook her head. “I don’t understand most of what you say.”
“I know. Isn’t it fun?” His smile lit his face. In fact, it seemed to light the entire area surrounding them.
Taking another gulp of wine, she leaned back against the tree. Staring up at the sky, she laughed. “I must be drunk. You are far less annoying than you used to be, but don’t get any ideas. I still won’t lie with you.”
As she closed her eyes, the tinkling quality of his giggle filled her ears.
Chapter Six
Dionysus awoke feeling like he had a mouth full of cotton. Worse, when he pried his eyelids open, the sight that greeted him was Eros, leaning low and peering into his face.
Frowning, he pulled his head as far away as the headrest of the chaise would allow. “Eros. What are you doing here?”
“I come bearing gifts.”
“I don’t want your gifts.” Then as the haze began to clear from his brain, he sat straight up. “It’s daylight. Theseus must be dead by now.”
He had to get to Knossos and comfort Ariadne.
“Nope. He lives.”
In no mood for Eros's riddles, he shoved at the other god’s shoulder and pushed him away so he could rise. “Don’t be ridiculous. Of course he’s dead. How could he have survived?”
Eros shrugged. “I don’t know, but he did. I saw him emerge from the labyrinth myself, just as I watched him sail away after he abandoned Ariadne, alone and weeping, on Naxos.”
“What?” Dionysus couldn’t believe his ears. “He left her there? Alone?”
“Yes. Don’t worry. She’s fine. I just checked on her. She’s sleeping but she should awaken soon. I thought you’d like to be there when she did.”
“You left her there alone too? Why didn’t you bring her here?”
Eros's golden head swung from side to side. “I couldn’t be the one to rescue her, you dolt. The one she loves must be her hero.”
Of course. Eros was right. Dionysus grabbed the god by the shoulders and kissed both of his cheeks.
“Eros. You truly are the god of love.” Then a thought brought a frown to his face. “Wait. Will she fall in love with me again because you’ve shot her with one of your golden arrows?”
“Stop asking me that. For Zeus’s sake, meddle with a few people’s lives over the centuries and you never live it down. No, I didn’t shoot your love, Dionysus. If she loves you again, it is your doing, not mine.”
Relieved, Dionysus hugged him. “Good.”
“But if you do need me to interfere, just ask.”
“I won’t need you to.” Dionysus was about to run out the door, bound for Naxos when Eros stopped him with a hand on his arm.
“Be gentle with her. She has a gift for you too.”
Be gentle? A gift? It took his brain probably longer than it should to put the pieces of the puzzle together, but when they fell into place, he nearly stopped breathing. “A babe?”
Eros nodded, his dimples prominent as he grinned. “Yes.”
That knowledge nearly took him off his feet. “I need to get to her now. Naxos you said?”
“Yes. She sleeps beneath a canopy of trees near the harbor.”
“Thank you, Eros.”
“My pleasure to help. Though I could use a bit more of your wine…”
“Take it. Take it all. Take the maenads too if you wish.” He laughed. “As long as they’ll have you, that is.”
“You are truly most generous, my friend.”
Running out the door, he heard Eros behind him summoning someone to “bring him the personal wine and attendants belonging to Dionysus”.
He couldn’t have cared less what Eros took of his. Ariadne awaited him.
*
On the isle of Naxos Dionysus came upon the sleeping Ariadne. He stopped at the first sight of her, taken aback by her peaceful beauty. Eros had left her in a secluded and safe enough place, though he shivered to think how many misfortunes could have befallen her while she lay helpless and alone, carrying his seed as it grew in her womb.
Falling to his knees beside her, he marveled at that as he stared at her belly. Was it just a bit rounded? No. It was too early, but soon. A few mortal months and she would begin to grow round with his child. He touched her cheek ever so gently, but she stirred from the contact. Then those beautiful eyes, the color of the Aegean Sea, were open and gazing upon him.
“You’re him, aren’t you?” she asked sleepily. He noticed how she laid her hand over her belly.
Dionysus nodded, not trusting his voice as a lump formed in his throat.
She squinted at him for a moment, taking in his features.
“You are familiar.” She sat up and placed her fingers over his. “Tell me about us. Help me remember.”
“Our time together… I may make you blush with the telling.” She did blush then and he smiled. “You’re sure you want to know?”
“Yes. Every detail.”
“All right.” He sat on the log and laid her back in his lap. Stroking her hair, he related the entire tale. How the wine and the fervor of the bacchanal had confused her into thinking him a bull even while at the same time she wanted him. How they’d lain together the first time beneath the tree. Then how he’d taken her away from the fray to a secluded spot where he’d loved her again and again, exploring every inch of her body, and her every inch of his.
They hadn’t observed day or night, making love as they pleased. Eating when hungry. Resting when they had to. Bathing naked in the cool spring. Then he told her the painful part, how she’d forgott
en him.
She gazed up at him with pain in her eyes. “Then I fell in love with another.”
“Yes.” He swallowed the acid in his throat.
“I was a fool, but still, you should have come and gotten me. Taken me back from him.”
He laughed. “You didn’t know me.”
“I don’t know you now, but I feel as if I do.”
“Then I am the fool for waiting. I won’t make that mistake again. From now on, you’ll be mine and I’ll never let you go.”
“I have something to tell you.” Again she touched her stomach.
He laid his hand over hers. “I know and I couldn’t be more pleased.”
“Really?” Tears shone in her eyes.
“Yes. We’ll get married tomorrow. The island of Dia will be lovely for a wedding this time of year. I’ll ask my father Zeus to give you immortality as our marriage gift. We’ll never be apart again, my love. You, me and our child will be together forever.”
“Then you truly are a god?” She frowned.
He nodded. “Yes. Does that frighten you?”
She shook her dark head. “No. Should it?”
“No. Never.”
A wrinkle continued to mar her beautiful brow. “This strange blond man came to me and said he was a god too. I didn’t believe him.”
Eros. “What did he do then?”
“He laughed at me and gave me spiced wine to drink.”
Dionysus steeled his nerves and asked the question he feared the answer to. “Did he touch you?”
“No. He said he valued his life too much and wouldn’t touch me even if I wanted him to. Just so you know, I did not want him. He seemed a bit put off I didn’t find him attractive.”
He laughed. “Good.”
She smiled and all the strangeness fell away.
“I think I do remember you.” Her cheeks grew rosy and she looked away, before being able to meet his gaze again. “I remember your, um, tongue.”
As unexpected as that statement was, he couldn’t control his giant burst of laughter. When he sobered again, he leaned closer. “Perhaps this too will jog your memory.”
He touched his lips to hers, softly at first, until his carnal urges took over and he kissed her more deeply. She didn’t seem to mind, responding in kind, grabbing his head and crawling into his lap. When she finally separated her lips from his, she said, “I remember I liked parts of you very much.”
Groaning, he stilled her wandering hands when they sought his hardened cock. “We have to be careful.”
“Why? I already carry your child. You can’t be afraid of spilling your seed in me.”
He smiled. “That was not my concern. I don’t want to harm you or the babe. Perhaps you don’t remember all the details, but…”
“You’re hung like a bull? Yes, that I remember.”
“You are recovering your memories.” He grinned. “What you said before was correct. You did enjoy my tongue immensely and that, I know, can’t hurt you. Lay back, my love.”
She did, saying, “That’s not the first time you’ve said that to me.”
Spreading her legs so she was laid out before him, his for the taking, he lowered his head. “No, it’s not. Nor shall it be the last.”
ERATO
Chapter One
The heat thrown from the fire crackling in the hearth nearly overwhelmed him, adding to the sheen of sweat already bathing his body. In spite of the high temperature, a shiver stemming from pure pleasure ran down his spine.
A tangle of limbs so complex Erato couldn’t tell where his body ended and the next person’s began, writhed as one on the large, soft, down pillows covering the white marble floor. The trickling of the waterfall filling the pool just a few feet from the group was barely audible over the mingled symphony of the beings taking pleasure. With so many various moans, sighs and cries, Erato couldn’t be sure who made which sound. What he did know was that he was close to coming. The sensations assaulting all parts of his body were too much for his resolve.
A nearly feral groan, loud and deep, rose from within Erato’s chest.
He tensed every muscle as he attempted to fend off his impending orgasm, refusing to be the first among them to lose control. He felt the female beneath his hands and mouth begin to shake and took that as an indication that she, too, was close. Redoubling his efforts, he switched from tongue to teeth, scraping them against her swollen clit as he slid two fingers inside her slick channel. She laced her fingers through his curls, pulling his mouth tighter against her honey-sweet cunt as she trembled. Erato’s fingers found just the right spot inside her and worked it with expertise gained over centuries of practice and experimentation, hoping to send her tumbling to completion before she tore the hair completely out of his head.
While the woman beneath his mouth clenched and squirmed from his ministrations, the second female between his legs clasped his erection tighter within her hot, talented mouth. She began to move faster, up and down his length, just as he felt an oil-slickened finger deftly probe his hole, and then slowly breach him, sliding into his ass and causing him to gasp. He squeezed his eyes shut. His muscles clenched against the invasion, knowing this final assault on his body would be the end of him. In spite of his efforts, the determined digit penetrated deeper and hit the sweet spot inside him.
That was it. Erato knew he was done. Giving in, he relaxed his muscles and felt a second finger invade him. He rocked back, forcing them deeper, riding both the fingers and a wave of pleasure as he let the sensations overwhelm him. Thrusting his cock farther into the throat engulfing him, he shuddered and shot all he had into her.
Erato’s own cry was muffled by the thighs clasped tightly around his head as the female he pleasured with his mouth shattered as well. He rode both his own and her orgasm until neither one of them could take anymore.
Bonelessly rolling away from the two women, he saw more participants had at one point joined them, unnoticed by Erato until now. Neck deep in the pool of water nearby two men grunted, front to back, obviously enjoying each other. Closer by, a nude male moved in and buried his cock deep between the thighs of the woman who’d had Erato in her mouth just seconds before.
Spent and exhausted, but not opposed to enjoying a bit of voyeurism, Erato watched as the man rammed himself deep into the female while lifting her hips high off the ground. She began to shudder and scratch first at his arms, then at the clenched muscles of his ass, leaving long, raised, reddened welts as her nails dug into his formerly perfect skin. That had Erato dipping his fingers into one of the many bowls of oil scattered around the floor and stroking himself as he watched.
A newcomer arrived, his eyes brightening as he observed the scene. He dropped the cloth towel covering him and knelt on a pillow behind the man on the floor. The new arrival dipped his fingers into the oil, lubricating his not inconsiderably sized erection until it glistened. As Erato continued to observe, the new man slid three well-oiled fingers, one by one, into the ass of the man on his knees who had now paused his thrusting into the girl beneath him to give the latecomer easier access.
Erato leaned back on the pillow, stroking himself and watching as the newcomer, having stretched the man before him to his satisfaction, removed his fingers and replaced them with the head of his cock. A visible shudder ran through the recipient of his attentions, whose eyes squeezed shut with a blissful look on his face. Once completely filled by the cock, he resumed thrusting into the female as the male behind him matched the rhythm, the three moving in an erotic dance.
As the three-way coupling became more frenzied, and then finally completed with a series of grunts and groans, Erato found himself hard as steel and completely aroused once again. His gaze roamed to the girl still recovering from the orgasm he’d provided her with by using his oral skills just moments before. She’d been touching herself as she watched the threesome through heavily lidded eyes, as entranced as Erato had been.
As he crawled back between her thighs, the two
men who had coupled in the pool had since left the water and now lounged lazily atop chaise lounges covered by white towels. While observing the scene with twin amused looks on their faces, they accepted the wine and plump grapes fed to them by servant girls.
Erato did his best to ignore the pair, whom he’d never liked, as he concentrated on the female beneath him. Lifting one of her knees, he wrapped it around his own narrow waist, poised to thrust his erection into her just as a figure standing in the doorway cleared his throat.
“Yes?” Annoyed at the interruption but not letting it stop him, Erato pushed inside the female below him.
“Your presence is being requested.”
The look Erato shot the messenger would have most likely killed the man, had Erato been endowed with that particular power like some of the others in the room were. “I’m a bit occupied at the moment.”
His mind still on the tantalizing lovemaking he’d just witnessed, Erato considered flipping the female over and indulging in her sweet ass, until he was once again rudely interrupted.
“And what message would you have me deliver to Aphrodite as to why you cannot attend her summons?” The messenger dropped the goddess’s name casually, as if he didn’t realize it would garner Erato’s complete attention, even as the head of Erato’s cock breached the warm, wet folds that promised so much pleasure.
It figured the summons would have to be from one of the gods. Not just any goddess either, but Aphrodite. A command from anyone else, save perhaps Zeus himself, and Erato would have ignored it until after he’d satisfied himself. However the expression on the face of the messenger echoed Erato’s thoughts exactly…when Aphrodite was unhappy, everyone on Mt. Olympus suffered. And if she knew he didn’t fly directly to her side because he was taking pleasure with another woman, a mortal woman no less, the waves of her displeasure would spread through Thessaly and beyond. To ignore her now could cost him a millennium of agony. A few moments of mindless rutting, even with a mortal female whose pussy tasted of honey and who craved his every touch, was not worth that.