Chapter Two
The Isle of the Gods
Before Records Began
Caspian blinked as he stared up at the seething goddess at the end of his bed. “I thought I made it clear several centuries ago that women weren’t welcome in my bed.”
“You did,” replied Medina, her tone as icy as her glare. “You’ll note that I’m not in your bed, unlike my priests.”
Caspian smiled and stretched as he took in the delectable sight of his most recent bed mates. “They came to me willingly. It took very little persuasion to convince them that they might find the touch of men as satisfying as that of women.”
“As my priests are specifically chosen because they are attracted to both genders, this doesn’t come as a surprise to me. I have no issues with them seeking pleasure with each other when I’m otherwise engaged.”
“You mean once you’re bored with them,” Caspian replied.
One of the priests stirred beside him and Caspian patted him on the rump.
“My priests can bed whomever they wish,” Medina said, “just not when they’re due to perform ceremonial duties in my temple.”
“I’m not keeping them from their duties. They are free to leave whenever they wish.”
Medina gave the nearest priest a shove, waking him from his slumber and nearly sending him to the floor.
“What the—?”
“Your goddess requires your presence,” Caspian explained.
“The dawn blessing!” The priest darted from the bed, waking the other three occupants in the process.
There followed a mad scramble of arms and limbs as Medina’s priests clambered to their feet and rushed around the room in search of their robes.
Medina ushered them out of the door before casting a final vicious glare at Caspian. “Do you think now that you’ve bedded all my priests, you might turn your attentions elsewhere?”
Caspian shrugged. “Maybe, maybe not. Your priests are most talented.”
Medina snarled, her lovely face becoming ugly for a brief moment, before she disappeared through the archway, leaving only a lingering trace of her perfume in her wake.
Caspian chuckled and gave his cock a rueful glance. It was a shame—if not entirely unexpected—that Medina had charged in here so early. Maybe he shouldn’t have deliberately enticed her favorites into his bed the night before the dawn blessing ceremony. He’d have to track down one of his own priests to take care of him.
Thankfully, his High Priest appeared in the archway before Caspian had to move from his bed. “Rafe, you must have read my mind.”
Rafe strolled over to the bed and sat on the edge. “Did you have an enjoyable night?”
“Yes, I did indeed. You?”
Rafe gave a half shrug. “It could have been better…if you’d invited me to join you last night.”
Caspian frowned at the possessive chiding. Rafe had become quite vocal recently about his displeasure with Caspian inviting other men into his bed. “You knew when you swore to serve me that I’m not a man who’ll ever stick to one lover.”
“I know.”
“But you thought you would be the one to change that,” Caspian continued.
“Do you blame me?”
“No. You aren’t the first to think so, and I doubt you’ll be the last. Now, enough of your jealousy.” Caspian gestured to his groin and Rafe dove onto his cock, swallowing him eagerly.
Caspian closed his eyes as he let Rafe bring him release. The priest teased him with his tongue and fingers, fondling his balls with a grip that was just a shade too aggressive.
His mind drifted as Rafe sucked him. After last night he had bedded every last one of Medina’s priests, a quest that had taken several years, thanks to the Goddess of Love’s own insatiable sexual appetite. Luring her priests into his bed when they had been largely satisfied in the goddess’ had been quite a feat.
He wondered what his next challenge could be.
* * * *
Caspian took his place at the council meeting, bored as ever with the tiresome wittering of his fellow immortals.
He turned to whisper to his sister Cari, Goddess of Prophecy, before recalling that Medina had taken Cari’s usual place at the table. He quickly looked away and tried to listen to his father reporting on the latest wars among the men who worshipped other pantheons. Once again, the Atlantean gods were relieved that they had protected their people by sinking Atlantis below the waves and gifting them with the ability to survive at great depths. While other pantheons were falling into chaos, their own continued to thrive.
“Wine?” a soft male voice beside him whispered.
Caspian nodded and the priest filled his goblet to the brim. From the corner of his eye, Caspian could see that the priest wasn’t one of his own, and his robes revealed him to be one of Medina’s. He couldn't remember bedding this one. Was he new?
The moment the meeting was over, Caspian made a beeline for the young priest. He was fair of hair with a clear and creamy complexion and Caspian was sure he hadn’t had the pleasure of his company.
“And who might you be?” Caspian asked as he matched his pace to that of the priest, who was hurrying to keep up with his goddess.
“Bai,” the young man replied with a hurried bow. “Your servant, sir.”
“Have you been serving Medina long?”
“Just two days.”
“And she already has you serving her at council meetings?”
“As you can see.”
Medina looked over her shoulder. “Keep up, Bai. We have much to do today.”
The priest scurried to catch her, but the goddess had come to a halt. She shooed him on past and waited for Caspian to reach her.
“Don’t even think about it,” Medina warned.
“He’s most pleasing to the eye,” Caspian replied. “Have you taken him to your bed yet?”
“Of course I have.”
“What a shame. I would have enjoyed initiating him into the art of love.”
Medina snorted. “What do you know about love?”
“I know as much as I need to.”
“You know nothing!”
Caspian laughed. “For the Goddess of Love, you’re equally ignorant in such matters.”
“I know that you’re leaving a trail of broken hearts behind you. I’ve had three of my priests begging me for help with capturing your heart.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
“And what did you tell them?”
“The truth.”
“Which is?”
“That you don’t have a heart to be captured.”
Caspian clutched his hand to his chest. “You wound me.”
Medina smirked at him. “Not yet, but give me time.”
Quick as lightning, Caspian grabbed Medina by the throat. “You dare to threaten me?”
Medina slipped from his grasp with ease. “You take men to your bed and once you’re done with them, you cast them aside without a second thought. One day you’ll feel the pain that they have suffered. There will come a time when the one you love will tear out your heart, and I cannot wait to see it.”
“It’ll never happen.”
“Don’t be so sure.”
“I won’t be falling in love, with anyone, so your threat will never come to pass.”
Medina reached into her robes and pulled out a small vial held on a chain around her neck. “Are you sure about that? Bai is most handsome. I knew he would catch your eye from the moment I saw him in my temple. You couldn’t take your eyes off him, could you? Tell me, Caspian, did you enjoy your wine?”
“Your love potions don’t work on other gods,” Caspian reminded her.
“Not usually,” Medina agreed, “but this has a little something extra, especially brewed for you. Love is coming for you, Caspian. I’ve made sure of it, but you won’t have it for long. You’ll soon know what it’s like to nurse a broken heart, and I will enjoy every second of your torment.”
“You’re bluffing,” Caspian said, though he did recall a certain tang to the wine that he hadn’t tasted before.
“I never bluff,” Medina replied as she turned on her heel and strolled back to her temple, a jaunty whistle on her lips.
Caspian watched her walk away as he wondered whether she had truly managed to concoct a potion that would work on a god. Maybe his mother would know. She and Medina were close friends, after all.
Caspian found Odessa in her garden, pruning her roses. “Mother, do you have a moment?”
“Of course. Take a seat.”
Caspian sat on the stone bench that was surprisingly comfortable for such a hard material. “Can I ask you a question?”
“Yes, what is it?”
“Is it possible for a love potion to work on a god?”
His mother whipped her head around to face him. “You don’t have enough men in your bed already that you think to lure more in with magic?”
“No, of course not.”
“Then why would you ask such a thing?”
“Medina was hinting that she’d slipped a love potion into my goblet at the meeting earlier.”
“Oh, that’s what it was, was it? I did wonder.”
“You saw her?”
“Yes. I’m surprised you didn’t, but you were rather distracted by her new priest.”
“Damn. Do you think the potion will work on me?”
“Who knows?” his mother replied. “Most love potions are of short duration and merely invoke lust rather than the stronger and most lasting emotion of love. Even if she has brewed up a more powerful one for you, I doubt it would have any lasting effect.”
“Good. The last thing I need is to fall in love.”
His mother laughed airily. “I think it’s long past time you fell in love. You need to find a nice young man to warm your bed for many years.”
“I have plenty of men in my bed.”
“And I’ll bet you can’t remember most of their names.”
“Probably not, but what’s the point, when their lives are so fleeting?”
“Perhaps you should look to finding a lover from another pantheon, if you truly cannot find someone among the Atlantean immortals—not that I imagine you’ve been trying very hard.”
Caspian had no intention of doing anything of the sort. “The Egyptian gods are pretentious. The Norse are barbarians, and as for the Greeks and Romans—”
“You simply aren’t looking hard enough,” his mother interrupted. “If you got to know them, you’d find the gods of other pantheons are not so different from us.”
“That may be true,” Caspian agreed, “but it still doesn’t change the fact that I have no intention of falling in love…with anyone.”
“Maybe Medina’s love potion, if she truly has slipped you one, will help with that.”
“I doubt it. She said quite plainly that she wants me to fall in love and lose him.”
His mother, who had been regarding him with mild amusement during the course of the conversation, paled considerably. “She’s cursed you? I’ll have her head!”
“Calm down, Mother. She didn’t invoke her powers. She was just ranting.”
“Still… A god or goddess should always be careful of their words. Let’s hope that you don’t lose your love.”
“How about we hope I don’t find him at all?” Caspian suggested.
Odessa sighed. “I don’t understand why you’re so opposed to finding a nice young man to share your life. Your father and I have been content for centuries, and I’d like to see you happily settled too. People do comment that I, the Goddess of Fertility, Family and the Home, have a son who openly shuns everything I stand for.”
“Don’t start…”
“I’m not,” Odessa replied, even though Caspian could see that she definitely was.
“I need to head to my temple,” Caspian said, making a quick escape before his mother could launch into one of her tiresome lectures on how he lived his life. He had heard it all before and had no intention of changing.