Joanna Wylde - Dancing With Dionysus

Aphrodite laughed again, stretching her arms up in the air like a cat.

"Cretan," she said with satisfaction. "I rescued him from a shipwreck; he's been showing me his appreciation ever since. I'm sure I'll tire of him eventually and let him return to his people, but for now? I'm certainly enjoying myself. What is it that you needed?"

"Do you remember a priestess of mine named Kalle?"

Aphrodite cocked her head, thinking. "Refresh my memory."

"It's been years, but you lured her away from me," Athena said quietly. "I was quite upset at the time. She was traveling in my service when her ship ran aground on Naxos. She fell in love with a weaver, a runty little man. I never understood her interest in him."

Aphrodite thought for a moment, and the memory came to her.

"Oh, yes," she said, her face softening. "They were very much in love, Athena. I never meant to steal her away from you, but I simply couldn't bear to separate them. They were meant for each other!"

"Really?" Athena said wryly. "If they were meant for each other, how come she died ten months later giving birth to her daughter? She regretted what she had done toward the end, you know. She called upon me to accept the girl into my service, and watch over her."

"That was the pain and fear talking," Aphrodite said gently. "She didn't mean it. Besides, true love transcends death. They're together in the underworld now, and happier than ever."

"Well, regardless of how much happiness it brought them, they left a daughter behind with no one to protect her. Her name was Kalliara," Athena said coolly.

"Do you know what happened to her?"

"I have no idea," Aphrodite said lightly. "As you so gently reminded me, her mother gave her intoyour service, not mine."

"Dionysus' son, Sabiniano, tried to rape her yesterday," Athena said. "She's dead now. I saved her. But Dionysus is angry with me for interfering and he's decided to retrieve her from the underworld. He's doing it purely out of spite."

"What?" Aphrodite asked, her face twisting in disgust. "That poor child. She doesn't deserve that. Dionysus makes me so mad sometimes…He doesn't give a damn about the people under his protection."

"Yes, I know. That's why I need your help," Athena replied. "He's forbidden me to interfere. If I do, he'll consider it a direct challenge, and I'm not sure I can afford to fight that battle. But he didn't say anything about you interfering."

"You want me to go and save her?" Aphrodite asked, shocked. "You know I’m no match for Dionysus, Athena. He's so violent, and I don't even know how to fight. I could never beat him in a direct confrontation."

"You can't beat me in a direct confrontation, either," Athena said, her voice filled with bitter humor. "It didn't stop you from stealing Kalle from me. You did it right under my nose. I never saw it coming. I want you to do the same for Kalliara. It's too late to keep Sabiniano from getting her. But if he falls in love with her, he'll treat her well and she'll be spared suffering whatever Dionysus has in mind…"

"Athena, as much as I want to help, I can't make love appear where there's no feeling at all," Aphrodite said, her voice filled with concern and pity. "I can encourage it to grow, but I can't create it out of nothing. If Sabiniano doesn't have any softness in his heart to begin with, then he's beyond my touch."

"I didn't realize that," Athena said slowly. "I thought you could make anyone fall in love…"

"No, I can only encourage what's already there, sister," Aphrodite said sadly. "Otherwise I'd share the gift of love with everyone."

Athena stood slowly and walked across the room, deep in thought.

"What if there was a hint of softness in Sabiniano?" she asked finally, turning slowly toward Aphrodite. "Could you do something then?"

"Perhaps," she replied. "I've never sensed openness in his heart, though."

"When I took Kalliara away from him, he was upset," Athena said slowly. "I could hear his howling all over the island. His reaction was very strong, far stronger than losing a human woman he had just met should have evoked. Could there be something behind that anger? Aren't love and hate closely connected?"

"If he was truly as cold as he seems, then he shouldn't have cared about losing her," Aphrodite said slowly. "But are you sure his anger wasn't simply because you stepped into his father's territory? He may not have cared about the woman at all, you know."

"Yes, I know," Athena said, her voice tired. "But it's the only hope I've got for Kalliara, sister. He'll rape her and give her to his satyrs when he's done. And when they're done, the Maenads will rip her apart and drink her blood. I can't let that happen to my child, Aphrodite. If there's a way you can make Sabiniano fall in love with her, then she'll be safe."

"If she falls in love she won't be your child anymore," Aphrodite said gently. "She'll be mine. You've never willingly given me one of your daughters before."

Athena turned to her, and to Aphrodite's shock, there were tears in the goddess' eyes.

"I've failed her, Aphrodite," she said simply. "I failed her mother, and now I've failed her. I promised to keep her safe. If I have to attack Dionysus, I will, but that will mean war here on Olympus. It would be better if you could take her from me and keep her safe."

"I didn't realize it was this important to you," Aphrodite said softly. "Of course I'll try to help. But I can't make any guarantees."

"That's all I ask."

Sabiniano lay back in his bed, staring at the ceiling. It was made of smooth black marble, inset with thousands of tiny diamonds representing the stars.

A blue-haired nymph lay snuggled next to him, her fingers running idly over his body. He couldn't remember her name. But he could remember the feeling of her hot flesh closing over his cock.

It had bored him.

Even now, she was trying to bring him back to life, to bring him to physical pleasure yet again; but no matter how many times his body responded, it wouldn't make a difference.

Now, his little human…

A twinge of that aching sensation coursed through him for the thousandth time. It had been a full week since the human had died, and yet he was still unable to shake this feeling of sorrow at her death. Why had he allowed her to jump? If he had only paid more attention, thought more carefully about his actions, he never would have lost her. But he'd allowed the heat of the moment, the god's madness, to overcome him.

He'd almost raped her, and for what, a moment's pleasure, surrounded by pain?

He truly was his father's son, he thought in disgust.

The nymph's fingers danced across his stomach, and against his will he could feel his muscles tightening in anticipation. He could feel her fingers running along the ridges of his stomach muscles…then they dipped lower, and she was running them toward his semi-flaccid penis. Gently, she touched it, taking it into the circle of her fingers and slowly moving them back and forth along its length. He sighed, closing his eyes. Maybe she could take away the memory, if only for a short time.

He flung one arm up and over his head, and dropped the other across his face.

She was moving lower on his body now, kissing her way down his chest. Her mouth grazed his belly, tongue darting into the small indentation in the center. What would it have felt like to have his little human touch him this way, he wondered? A twinge ran through him, and he could feel his cock hardening. The nymph kissed down further, until her lips came into contact with hard length. He groaned, twisting his hips beneath her ministrations and imagining the human touching him…

Her hot, wet tongue came out, slowly tracing the ridge that marked his cock's head. He shuddered, and her mouth opened, sucking him in steadily. Her clever fingers massaged the base, then drifted lower to cup his balls lightly. She squeezed them gently, rolling them between her fingers within their sacs of flesh. A low groan came from between his lips.