Tangles and Temptation (3 page)

The daring woman propped herself higher upon her pillows, allowing more of her bounties to be blatantly displayed. She thrust her wares proudly forward, but her answer appeared rather cautious. “Other than the fact that I go by the name of Kyra, I cannot say. As for your brother’s need for privacy, I cannot say either. I see there is another difference between you and your twin. You speak with a lisp.”

Eris grinned. “It is said it is derived from my forked tongue, which is only
one
of the many attributes it possesses.” One of his slender brows arched slyly. “Care to see, Kyra?”

Kyra laughed softly. “Ah. And you are the mischief-maker of the two. Now tell me, brother of Sappho, why does your brother keep you so well and intentionally secreted from me?”

Relaxing back into his chair, Eris countered, “I was wondering the same. But alas, here we are. Now, you may tell me how you find your gorgeous self acquainted with my brother.”

A deep frown marred her features. “You make it sound as though a nefarious plot is underfoot. Fear not, Erpo, the snake. Your brother’s sting lay unharmed and untouched.” Eris slumped slightly. Her next words set him on alert once again. “As does his lance remain untouched by me, at least not
yet
.”

For some unexplained reason, he did not want to hear of a possibility of this woman and his brother being sexually involved. The thought surprised him vastly. He had never before found reason to question Sappho’s illicit affairs.

He eyed the beauty upon the kline. She did not appear to be threatening, but there was no denying the power she held, a certain magnetism. More dangerously, from the way she now smirked at him and regarded him beneath seductively lowered lashes, she was well aware of her power, and she was not shy in its usage. She was absolutely captivating and most alluring.

Kyra ran her tongue over her front teeth. “What irks you, brother of Sappho? Find you your lance jerks in readiness, eager to rent and plunder my softness and spit forth its evidence of might and glory?”

Eris drew a quick intake of breath. “You are uncommonly brazen. Surely you are already moistened and heated. Whyever has my brother dithered? I assure you I have no similar compulsion.”

Kyra smiled slyly. “Moistened I am. Your brother has seen to that by flaunting his wares before me. However, I find the idea of having the both of you within me quite appealing. What say you, brother of Sappho? Do the snake and scorpion share their women?” Kyra ran her nail deliberately over her engorged nipple, hardened and peppered, straining and stabbing provocatively against the sheer nightgown. “I can assure you I would know who was who between your two lances.”

Eris rose and towered over her. His eyes followed the path of her caressing nail hungrily. While he had had his reservations about Sappho bedding her, he found no compunction with sharing. He would at least have a taste of her. “We share a willing wench. Set the arrangement with Sappho. I shall avail myself. I shall see you scream your delights to the heavens.”

Kyra licked her lips in anticipation. “And what name shall I scream, brother of Sappho?”

He leaned forward until his breath fanned her moist lips, “
Eris.
”

* * * *

The blunt handle of the blade caught Eris unaware. He dropped to one knee, bringing his scythe up in a sweeping, protective gesture. He knew before looking at his attacker who he would find. The sting appointed to the snake’s tail upon his chest burned like acid through his tender skin. He kept his weapon at the ready as he raised himself up and faced his attacker. “And to what do I owe this rather cowardly attack upon my unprotected back, brother?” Sappho did not waste a moment in enlightening him. He swung the blade around, allowing the lethal-sharp razor edge to now face his brother. Without further warning, Sappho struck.

Eris opted to keep his mouth shut and allowed his confused brain to concentrate. The scythe came up quickly, knocking the advancing blade off course. He spared just a second to witness Sappho produce another deadly weapon. Eris rolled quickly on the ground and dove the last meter to his second idle weapon. He discarded the scythe in preference for the sickle. Instinct warned him he would have need of a free hand for this battle. A quick scan of the perimeter showed that they had garnered an audience. This did not surprise him. It was not often that the snake and scorpion came to blows, and when they did the outcome was nothing less than savage. However, now his aim remained on defense rather than attack. It did not aid his cause not knowing the reason for Sappho’s sudden attack.

The blade lashed out, pulling his mind once again to the battle at hand. Sappho was well capable of killing him—should he foolishly choose to underestimate his brother. And judging by the furious light spark in his eyes, his brother had nothing less than death on his mind. The sickle spun fast, deceptive in its motion due to its angular design. He caught hold of Sappho’s wrist and twisted. Sappho refused to be intimidated. He grasped the sharp edge of the sickle. Blood oozed from between his fingers as he clutched the razor-sharp blade and forced Eris back.

The snake head upon Eris’s chest came up, scenting the unmistakable stench of blood. Its jaws gaped open and fangs protruded, a sign of its lusting for the battle ahead. The claws of the scorpion upon Sappho’s chest cluttered silently together, just as the stinger rose up threateningly, its lethal tip poised dangerously forward. The battle was now no longer within just their hands. Their beasts had been awakened. And each beast craved the spilled blood of the other.

Sappho threw blades in quick succession. Eris just as quickly knocked them astray. The scorpion reared up in frustration, and Sappho acted accordingly. He leapt forward, beating the path of the swinging sickle, and punched Eris hard under the chin. Eris’s head jerked back with a slight flinch before he reacted by his own fist connecting with Sappho’s jaw. Sappho’s head barely jerked, but blood sprayed from the tender flesh rent upon his lip. The taste of his blood spurred Sappho’s rage. His flying fist caught Eris across the left eye, just as Eris brought his sickle up protectively. The sickle edge drew a jagged tear down Sappho’s arm.

Blood dripped from his hand and fed the earth. Blood flowed and blinded Eris’s sight in one eye. He kicked out, connecting savagely with Sappho’s ankle. But Sappho stood strong against the blow and retaliated with a well-placed knee to Eris’s middle. Eris likewise stood unfazed by the attack. Fists began to fly, unchecked, unguarded. Neither ducked the blows. They simply stood hard and retaliated in kind. Punch was traded for punch, kick for kick. They were like stone gnashing against stone. They eroded away minute sand granules and tiny pebbles, but neither could bring the other down.

“
Cease.
” The command came from the stone balcony high above them. Both men stopped, but neither dropped their guard. No other could have commanded them to stop other than their king himself. And now their king, Vasilis Amyntas, defender of their realm, stood high above them commanding them to do just that. “Your king summons you. I will have an explanation for this unruly spectacle.” With that he turned on his heels and headed for his council chamber. He did not wait to see to their obedience. He had commanded, and they would obey.

Eris chose the moment Sappho sheathed his last blade to inquire. “What matter of madness has overtaken you? What is your reasoning behind this attack on my person? I would not face our king ignorant, brother.”

Sappho grasped him savagely by the throat and shouted in his face, “This is for your unwanted meddling in affairs that are none of your concern.”

Eris shook himself free of the offensive grip. “You can only mean to speak of one thing, or rather one person, for that is the only secret you hold. She is just a wench who begs a thorough impaling. What matters it if I see to her satisfaction, seeing as you have been rather remiss in that quarter.”

Gritting his teeth, his brother hissed in anger, “Guard your words, brother. You will address her with respect upon your tongue.
She is mine. I found her.
”

Drawing back in mock horror, Eris needled him. “
Found her?
Would you have me believe you plucked her off the streets as you would a stray hound and offered her your undying protection and unbound loyalty?” He leaned forward and spat out, “She asked for a night of pleasuring, and I shall deliver.” A single dark blow rose. “With or without you.”

Sappho retaliated by punching in him in the nose, hard. “You will not touch a hair upon her body, or I shall see you dead.”

* * * *

As they strode out the door and into the adjoining courtyard, they bowed before the king. Eris blurted out, “This brother of mine seems to think he has wandered through the orchard and plucked for himself of a tree a ripe morsel—a
woman
. He secretes her within the palace walls and denies her the sexual satisfaction of his lance. Now he seeks to vent his impotent rage upon me who wishes to slake this thirst for her.”

“
Explain.
” The command came as soon as he ended his tirade. The voice roared and echoed through the vast halls. Sappho took a threatening step toward Eris but was stayed with a simple command. “Speak, Sappho.”

“I found the maid, disorientated and neglected, upon my daily inspection of the mountains this week past. I aided her with clothes and food and sheltered her, pledging my protection to her.”

Vasilis Amyntas eyed him closely. “This is most unorthodox, Sappho. Why did you not inform me of her presence so I may have contacted her kin to come rescue her? And how can you be sure she is not a simple serf who’s run away?”

Sappho sighed heavily. “When I came upon her, it was evident that she had been accosted. A severe blow to her head has rendered her useless with regards to information. She recalls nothing of her past other than the name she goes by. Her apparel spoke of wealth—quality linen and brightly colored. The headdress upon her forehead was
polos
, a valuable metal headband reserved for royalty. She is no common slave.”

A sudden shift behind the king made all three men pause. Vasiliki Akantha, the queen, strode forward and looped her arms around the king’s neck. She whispered huskily against his thick throat, “You speak of this female with a gentle tongue, Sappho, the scorpion. She must possess an intriguing character and fine womanly curves indeed to have garnered such a reaction from a well-trained warrior in just a week. Is it possible you have allowed yourself to fall in love with her?”

Sappho shook his head in denial, but it was Eris who chose to answer for his bother with a disgusted snort, “
Love?
A fine figure she may possess, but she is as wanton as a common harlot with a raging, overheated body and wicked tongue to match.”

Vasiliki Akantha laughed huskily and moved away from her husband. She faced Eris. A spark of amusement glimmered in her eyes. “You think her common because she has a thirst for the pleasures of the flesh and a mouth that is uncensored in requesting that pleasure? I would estimate her to be exactly the material befitting men of your stature. You are gladiators, are you not? Do you honestly believe a simmering, cooing damsel would hold your attention for any length of time?”

The king reached out a hand and lovingly stroked the plump flesh bunched at the top of his wife’s low gown. His fingers trailed a leisurely path, eliciting a delighted shiver from her as he addressed the men. “My wife is in the right of things. She is a thorn, and a thorn is ultimately what a gladiator requires in his bed, feeding his soul, challenging his manhood. He will be satisfied with no less.”

The queen spent a moment in silent speculation. Her eyes widened in fascination as the brothers’ faces darkened. “I do believe, dear heart, that you had knocked this particular nail on its flat, hard head with a well-aimed mallet. She has issued a challenge, has she not?”

Eris chose to look at every other item within the large chamber other than her. Finally Sappho broke the deafening silence with an angry roar. “She has requested that we both bed her—
at the same time
!”

Eris mumbled beneath his breath for the benefit of his brother, “Only because you have been negligent in your duties.”

Sappho bristled visibly but refused to rise to the bait. Vasilis Amyntas tilted his wife’s face up at the chin and kissed her lustily upon her lips. He kept his attention solely on her reddened, swollen lips as he spoke. “Then why do you dither? Meet the challenge and see who the victor is once and for all, with regards to this feisty female—and in the
bedroom
as is befitting, not in my arena.” He lowered his lips once again for a thorough sampling of his queen’s tender lips. He ignored the outbursts from the disgruntled men, but the queen chose to address them instead.

She pushed gently away from her husband and strode forward. She reached out and ran a caressing finger over the mark of the snake upon Eris. Her finger moved unhurriedly along the ridges of clenching muscles, up the corded veins of his throat, and lightly touched the smear of blood dripping down the side of his face. She watched him as she lifted her reddened finger away and delicately touched it to her tongue. “The snake disparages so utterly earnestly.”

She then moved to Sappho. Her extended hand explored the planes of his chest and soothed the mark of the scorpion. Her finger trailed up his throat and dipped into the blood at the corner of his lips. Once again she brought her fingertip to her tasting tongue. “The scorpion protests so totally adamantly.”

She turned and strode back to her husband and kissed him upon the lips. “And yet the snake and scorpion have shed blood over her, a woman no one wishes to openly claim. The body seems to travel in one direction while the tongue contradicts its every move. How utterly entertaining.” She moved suddenly toward the entrance. “I wish her presence immediately. I would meet this captivating woman for myself.”