Part 5 (1/2)
Chapter Six.
When they reached the archaeological compound again that night, Fiona found the twins an empty bedroom and told them they had to sleep there.
Pol gave her a glance filled with sin. aBut we want to sleep with you, G.o.ddess. You saved us, and we are devoted to you.a aYes, but if anyone finds out we shared a single bed, Iall lose my job. Postdocs to the Athenian Agora arenat handed out to just anyone, and I work my b.u.t.t off for it.a Both twins turned their gazes to her backside, looking appreciative.
aI think it is still there,a Pol said.
Cas nodded. aIn the best possible way.a Fiona gurgled in frustration, threw blankets and pillows at them, and stalked from the room.
Back in her own bedroom, she got into her nights.h.i.+rt and lay down, but sleep eluded her. Today had been one h.e.l.l of a day. Shead spent half of it chasing two on-the-loose demiG.o.ds, then having her first mnage as she stroked Pol and Cas brought her readily to o.r.g.a.s.m.
Then all that food and drink and watching Pol dance, then Cas stealing off with her to the dark garden walk and having her stand in front of him and play with herself for him.
She s.h.i.+vered again, remembering the night air touching her exposed skin and her own hands working herself to o.r.g.a.s.m. Shead never thought herself capable of it.
Pol and Cas were busily teaching her all that she was capable of.
At least Pol had been amenable to taking a taxi straight back to the dorm without suggesting they drive up to the Acropolis or something for more impromptu s.e.x. Not that she didnat think it was coming.
She also reviewed their story of the demiG.o.ddess whoad ensorcelled them onto the jar. Shead never heard this about the legend of Castor and Pollux, the twins of the constellation Gemini, though she admitted she didnat know much about them.
She knew the story went that Castor and Pollux were very close brothers, and when Castor was slaina”because the twins had carried off two women they wanted and then had to fight the ladiesa suitorsatypical of thema”Pollux grieved so much that when Zeus made Pollux immortal, he asked if he could share the immortality with Cas.
Each day, one of the twins would reside in Hades, one in the heavens. Zeus eventually rewarded their loyalty to each other and made them both immortal. They were the brightest stars of the Gemini constellation and said to be lucky for sailing and good weather.
But the ancient Greeks had come up with many beautiful stories to explain phenomena such as constellations and odd rock formations and echoes and laurel trees. How much was true and how much imagination was difficult to know.
Perhaps the story had been made up to explain the constellation, while the real Cas and Pol lived on, getting themselves into and out of trouble. Then one day theyad met a l.u.s.t-ridden demiG.o.ddess who wouldnat take no for an answer.
She ground her teeth. b.i.t.c.h.
Fiona McCarty didnat say such words, but there was no other name for a woman whoad punish the twins because they wouldnat do the dirty with her. Sometimes people hit it off and s.e.x was great, and sometimes it didnat happen. Most people faced rejection by walking away, licking their wounds, and finding someone else. But this woman had chosen to punish them by trapping them in oblivion for twenty-five hundred years.
Why oblivion? Fiona suddenly wondered. The demiG.o.ddess had meant to trap them into an eternal erotic game. After Fionaas own taste of the twinsa s.e.xuality today, she couldnat really blame the demiG.o.ddess for wanting to spend eternity enjoying s.e.x with them, even though she would not have chosen such a cruel method.
But the demiG.o.ddessas trap hadnat worked. What had gone wrong?
Fiona got herself out of bed, pulled on her jeans under the nights.h.i.+rt, thrust her feet into grubby sneakers, and padded out of her room. Outside the night was quiet, the area around the dorm a silent darkness.
Once upon a time the Agora had been the heart of the city, as bustling and thriving as the rest of Athens today. The Agora had housed the offices of government, temples to Apollo, Zeus, and other G.o.ds, and a huge marketplace. The stoa around the square had solid back walls and pillared walkways that invited people to step into the shade out of the hot sun.
All of Athens met here, the councils, the law courts and juries, merchants with goods from all corners of the known globe, the famous philosophers and the priests of the temples. It bustled with activity, color and life, much like the flea market and other pedestrian area markets of the city today.
Now it was dark and silent, its inhabitants long gone, with only the loving care of people interested in its rich past to remind people of the greatness that had gone before. The American School of Cla.s.sical Studies had worked on this site for nearly a century, restoring and studying the heart of the ancient Athenian empire.
Fionaas specialty was pottery, so she pored over tiny fragments the archaeologists unearthed to see what kinds of things merchants had sold in the marketplace and where they had come froma”wine, oil, perfume and other exotic things.
As she crept into the pottery room and turned on the light, she reflected that shead first thought her vessel had contained wine, but further study by an expert in residues had told her that it had contained nothing, which was strange. Potsa”jugs, bowls, vessels, amphora and so fortha”had been meant to be used. It was unusual to find one that was purely decorative.
The cat had returned. It did not look surprised to see Fiona and moved under the table to wash its face.
Fiona turned the jar around in her hands. The two handles looked the same, but the faint lines where shead fitted the pieces together had vanished. The twins faced away from the center, arms folded, frowning. And between them, a great gap where the woman had been.
If the twins were still in the picture as well as able to walk around Athens, not to mention pleasure Fiona, did the fact that the demon demiG.o.ddess had disappeared mean she was gone?
Best not to jump to conclusions. It might also mean that the twins were still tied to the jar somehow while the demiG.o.ddess had escaped it completely.
The fact that all of this was completely impossible made her head ache.
She turned around and saw Pol leaning against the door frame. Fiona gasped and nearly dropped the vessel but caught it at the last minute set it back on the table. The cat meowed as though in disapproval.
aYou scared the daylights out of me,a Fiona said.
aI move softly.a He smiled, the wicked twinkle in place in his eyes as he closed the door and came to her. aI am here before you hear me.a Her skin p.r.i.c.kled with his nearness. Cas warmed her all over, but Pol made her hot with curiosity about what he would do.
He gave her a knowing look, waiting.
aOh G.o.ds,a she said, realizing. aWas that you I heard in the garden walk near the taverna? When Casaa She stopped, figuring if it wasnat him, he didnat need to know the details.
Pol took one step closer to her. aWhen Cas licked your sweet p.u.s.s.y and made you scream, then had you stand up in front of him and make yourself hot?a aYes. Thatas when.a She blushed, her face scalding. aYou were there. I knew someone was watching.a aPeace, sweet Fiona.a He touched her hair. aaTwas only me, and I enjoyed it very much.a aHow completely embarra.s.sing.a He leaned down, his body every bit as warm as Casa and every bit as exciting. aWhy, sweetheart? I loved looking at your a.s.s while you spun your fingers in your honey. I nearly came watching you.a Fiona swallowed hard, feeling that honey flowing once more and just as hot. aCas saidaa aHe said he wanted you to himself. He told me.a She backed one step but the table was behind her, its edge sharp against the backs of her thighs. aSo why are you here teasing me?a aCas is asleep. No wonder, you wore him out.a Pol grinned. aCas likes different things in a woman than I do. He treats you sweetly, very loving and generous. Pleasuring you and asking nothing for himself.a aI like him.a aOf course you do. Why should you not? But what I like from my women is a little moreaobedience.a He threaded his fingers through Fionaas red hair and twisted his hand, not hard, but enough that Fiona would not be able to get away without pulling her hair painfully.
aObedience,a she repeated, her lips numb.
He smiled as though pleased she understood. His black eyes fixed on her, lashes still as he gazed at her steadily.
aFor instance, if I found my lady alone in the small hours of the night in her nightdress in a room far from inhabited ones, I woulda”hmm, now what would I do?a The corners of his mouth quirked in his habitual smile as he thought.
aWhat?a Fiona faltered.
Pol released her hand and took a step back. His smile remained in place, as wicked as ever. aIad command her to take off her clothes.a aYou would?a A slow nod. aI would. Take off your clothes, Fiona. Strip for me.a To her consternation, her hand went to the placket of her nights.h.i.+rt and skimmed it aside to bare her shoulder. aCasa I told himaa aCas is in bed. I am here. I wonat usurp his territorya”no f.u.c.king. He claimed you first and Iall let him have you first. But I want to play.a She bit her lip. aBut this is the pottery room.a His smile went feral. aI also have some ideas on what to do when my lady disobeys me.a She s.h.i.+vered as both cold and hot sensations moved through her body. He was a demiG.o.d, if she believed in all this. What kinds of things could he do?
Fiona McCarty, whose dissertation on Athenian and Persian amphora won her acclaim, did not strip for men, did not obey them when they smiled like a cat happening upon a mouse they particularly wanted to tease.
No, not a cat, she thought with a glance at the animal was.h.i.+ng its face under the table, ignoring them.
Pol was more like a leopard or a panther intent on his prey. His smile was slow, eyes never moving. He knew Fiona would obey, and Fiona knew she would too.
Slowly she eased the wide opening of her nights.h.i.+rt down her arms, baring her b.r.e.a.s.t.s to the harsh light. Pol waited, expression unchanging. She let the nights.h.i.+rt drop to the floor then she popped open the b.u.t.ton of her jeans and slid them down her legs.
A muscle moved in Polas jaw, but other than that he was a living statue, his body hard under his American School of Cla.s.sical Studies t-s.h.i.+rt, his c.o.c.k stiff against the zipper of his jeans.
Fiona slid her underwear down her legs and stepped out of the circle of clothes. There. She was naked except for the sneakers on her feet.
Pol ran his gaze from the top of her head to the tips of her worn shoes. He took his time, raking his sensual gaze slowly from eyes to lips, throat to b.r.e.a.s.t.s, belly to quim, thighs to calves. She felt as though someone had touched her physically, warm fingers brus.h.i.+ng her skin all the way down.
aVery nice,a he p.r.o.nounced.