AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Many. When grown, they take to the skies and tend to stay there.” Apollo tilted his head up, and since we were in a courtyard, it was open sky above us, night sky, all a twinkle. “They are visible from time to time, and I do visit them. Have you ever seen the blazing skies on a cold night, when it seems alive with dancing lights?”
“Oh, yes.” I recalled such spectacle vividly, like shimmering, iridescent silk fluttering in the heavens. “A truly wondrous thing to witness.”
“That is them. But there is one young foal not ready to join her kin.” Apollo whistled, and I wondered if he had a different tone for each of the horses, for none of the others responded.
Instead, a small foal whinnied and made her appearance, galloping out from behind a pillar, where she must have been dozing. She was as fiery as her parents, Pyrois and Eous I’d guess, given she was a vibrant violet color.
“I named her Espera,” Apollo said, “for she is the color of the horizon just before the last of the sun sets into evening.”
“How lovely.” In my excitement to pet her as she leapt around us, like a pup at play, I didn’t realize I moved too quickly for Apollo’s hand to stay in mine.
“Wait!” He pulled me against him with a shocking strength before my unthinking act meant a scorched palm—or worse. “Please, be more careful.” Apollo’s voice shook, spoken beneath my ear with breath on my neck due to his slighter height. The feel of him holding me so desperately from behind made me more aware of just how blessed I was.
A god had his arms around me, had allowed a kiss from me, and was so worried for my sake, his voice trembled while scolding me. I leaned my weight against him, knowing there was no threat of unbalancing us.
Apollo might be slight, but he was a marble pillar as strong as the dawn was certain.
“Forgive me,” I said. “I forgot myself. She is lovely. And lively.” I chuckled, when it seemed Espera was indeed like a young pup, for she leapt up toward us as if jealous we were embraced, and she was not part of it.
With one hand holding tight to Apollo’s arm around my waist, I reached with the other to pet the foal’s nose. Apollo relaxed and reached to pet her too. Our hands bypassed each other at first, but I was soon drawn to brush Apollo’s fingers and tangled them with mine.
His firm body, and his firmer cock twitching from within his tunic behind me, confirmed that my advances were not unwanted. And yet, when I brought our linked hands to my lips and began to lick one of his tan digits, he jerked away from me.
“Perhaps we should call it a night,” he said, voice still a tremble, though no longer out of fear, I thought. Espera had trotted away from us to leap around her parents’ feet, and I was no longer in danger of an accidental touch.
That did not mean I felt relief. With the chill left from Apollo no longer being molded against me, I felt an uncertainty that, as an acolyte nearly unparalleled in skill and seduction, I had only ever felt when competing with Aikos.
I faced Apollo. His erection was evident. His want. His blush even. But he would not meet my gaze. Perhaps there was fear in how he shuddered. All was not lost, but I had to be patient. Truly epic romances were rarely achieved in a few days.
“Of course, my lord.” I bowed. “I can find my way back. Thank you for gifting me the meeting of your fine steeds. Will I see you again tomorrow?”
Apollo’s golden eyes returned to mine at last. His tension waned, and he offered a strangely warning smirk. “Yes. But be warned, it might be a more harrowing excursion for you than our previous encounters.”
“O-oh?” A stir of dread filled me. “May I ask why?”
“Because,” he said, “my sister has asked to meet you.”
I was as nervous as I’d been those first few moments in the Olympian salon. Today, I was to meet Apollo’s sister, down upon the earth, where he led me to a field with an obvious archery range. Which meant she’d be armed, though I doubted she ever wasn’t. She was the goddess of the hunt, after all.
Artemis, also goddess of wildlife, the moon, and… possibly ruthlessness, given some of her more vengeful stories. One notable example being Acteon. The poor doomed man had accidentally discovered her bathing and was turned into a deer to be eviscerated by his own hunting dogs.
And here I was trying to court her beloved twin.
“Should I be prepared for anything?” I asked of Apollo as we neared the archery range. It was in a small clearing but with thick forest around it. There were no obvious signs of people or animals. Even the birds and ambient noises of the forest seemed to have gone quiet in expectation.
“Be you. Be honest,” Apollo said. “And you needn’t fear a thing.”
An arrow shot across the entirety of the clearing and wedged with an audible thunk into the center of the middle target. I startled with my heart in my throat but saw no one. Then, from the branches of the tallest tree on the farthest side of the clearing from where the arrow had struck, dropped down a graceful wisp of a woman, who landed with no sound and as if the distance she’d fallen was no feat at all.
I must have stopped moving because Apollo took hold of my elbow to lead me forward. As we neared his sister, there was no question she was beautiful. She looked just like him. Same height, similar build, given her defined muscles, just a slightly more feminine curve to her jaw.
The greatest difference from Apollo was her coloring, like silvery moonlight in contrast to his sunshine. Her skin was pale, hair and eyes true silver, and she wore her silvery-white, waist-length hair tied back in one long, thick braid, with a few curls framing her face. Her simple tunic seemed purely white at first, with occasional crescent moon-shaped embellishments like Apollo’s sunbursts, but upon closer inspection, when the fabric shifted in the light, it showed silver embroidery in the shape of animals, weapons, and constellations.
Artemis bore no smile as she looked at me, her eyes as sharp as the point on her already nocked next arrow. “He seems fit enough,” she said, scanning my form with detachment.
“Be nice, sister,” Apollo scolded. “He is more than fit. You need only get to know one another to see that. Shall we make a contest of it?” He released my elbow now that we had reached her and proceeded to summon a bow out of nothing like he’d summoned his lyre yesterday. Apollo’s had a bit more character to it than Artemis’s, and like his lyre, was painted in gold. I admired the simplicity of hers, unadorned for pure function.
“A contest between me and him?” Artemis sneered.
