Love's Immortal Passion

by Cat Johnson

  It was no wonder she shunned the attention of all suitors until now. She was meant for better than a mere mortal. She was made for him and no one would have her save him. Eros made himself that vow and spun to exit the room and put his plan in motion.

  If he worked carefully, Aphrodite would be appeased even as he gained his heart’s desire—Psyche as his own.

  *

  Bliss rushed directly to the chamber she shared with her two sisters. She had no idea what it meant that her father demanded to see the three of them in his private chambers immediately, but when the king summoned, his daughters must listen.

  She hadn’t seen Psyche or Adelfa since they’d all bathed together earlier. Knowing her sisters well, Bliss assumed they’d be lounging in bed sleeping or gossiping while she sought the fresh air and sunshine outdoors. That was where she’d been, walking through the garden, when the servant found her and said her father was calling for all of his daughters to come to him immediately.

  With her heart pounding from the speed at which she’d traveled from one end of the palace to the other, Bliss reached the door of their shared chamber only to find the doorknob wouldn’t turn in her hand. Why would it be locked? They never secured their chamber door, for any reason. Perplexed, she went down the hall and sought the back entrance that the servants used. It allowed them to slip in and out of the family chambers without being seen in the main halls. For now, it served Bliss’s purpose. As she pushed the hidden door panel, it slid easily and silently open, affording her an unobstructed view of tangled flesh writhing upon the bed.

  With her heart pounding now not from exertion but from the sight that met her eyes, Bliss stood open-mouthed and speechless. Totally nude, the three females moved independently yet together to a symphony of their mingled moans. Bliss recognized her two sisters easily enough, but it took her a moment to identify the girl beneath them as Hagne, one of their handmaidens.

  Eyes closed and oblivious to Bliss’s presence, Psyche straddled Hagne’s face, obviously enjoying the attentions of the young servant’s tongue as it worked at the juncture of her thighs. Adelfa was similarly unaware they were being observed, her eyes focused solely on the phallus-shaped object she slid in and out of Hagne with one hand while the other pinched the girl’s nipple.

  While Psyche continued to ride Hagne’s mouth, Adelfa pushed the object she wielded deep, then dipped her head low. She suckled the girl’s core until Hagne’s body began to tremble. The servant’s cries were muffled by Psyche’s body as it jerked above her until her sister, crying out her own release, collapsed laughing, over Hagne’s body.

  Bliss shook like a leaf in the wind as the full realization of what her sisters were doing hit her. She knew neither showed interest in the male suitors continuously visiting, but they were younger than her. Bliss assumed they’d grow to become interested, when the time or the man was right. But the last thing she expected to find was their using one of the female staff in such a shocking way.

  Adelfa sat up and withdrew the object from Hagne’s still quivering body. She wiped her mouth and smiled. “See, I told you I could make our little Hagne cry out in ecstasy. Now get off her, Psyche. It’s my turn to be pleasured.”

  “Fine, though I’m not sure my legs will move at the moment.” Psyche rose off Hagne and moved to reposition herself on the bed. Bliss couldn’t keep quiet anymore.

  “What are you doing?” Bliss’s words were laden with all the confusion and horror she felt.

  Hagne jumped from the bed, covering her nakedness with clothing she scooped from the floor. “I’m sorry, mistress.”

  Bliss’s question and judgment hadn’t been directed at the servant, but rather at her sisters, but unlike Hagne they didn’t apologize.

  Adelfa flopped back on the bed, hugging a pillow to her chest. “Oh what’s the matter, Bliss? We’re just having some fun.”

  “You can’t order Hagne to do...that.”

  “She liked it. You saw. In fact, how long were you standing there watching, sister? Perhaps you’re jealous and wish to participate. That’s fine too. We’ll share.” Adelfa rose and walked slowly toward Bliss. When she stood directly in front of her, still naked, she brushed the briefest and most gentle of kisses upon Bliss’s lips. “Can you taste Hagne on my lips? I’m sure you’d like to do that too.”

  Bliss took one step back from Adelfa.

  “Enough, Adelfa.” Psyche lay on her stomach, kicking her feet in the air the way she used to do when they were younger and would stay up late in bed and tell stories to each other. Only then, she hadn’t been naked. “Don’t tease our poor Bliss. Being the oldest, she has to worry about us.”

  “It doesn’t mean she can judge us.” Adelfa’s gaze burned in Bliss’s direction.

  “I wasn’t.” Bliss felt the lie of those words. Glancing at the servant, she saw the shine of tears in the girl’s eyes. Were they from embarrassment, or because she’d been forced to do what Bliss had seen? Bliss didn’t know, just as she didn’t know if the answer to that question would change the ill feeling in her gut at having seen it.

  “No, you don’t think so?” Adelfa let out a big sigh and flopped backward onto the bed, draping a leg over Psyche’s thigh. “It matters not. The mood is broken now anyway.”

  “No, it isn’t. Hagne can come back to bed. She has no chores to do for hours yet.” Psyche fingered the marble penis in her hands. “Bliss? Join us?”

  It was time to put an end to this and though she had no idea how to deal with her sisters’ sexual diversions, Bliss did finally remember why she’d come here to begin with. That would end this game for the moment and give her time to figure out what to do. “Father summons us. Immediately.”

  Adelfa let out a snort of derision. “He can wait.”

  Psyche shook her head. “No, Bliss is right. If father calls us, we must go.”

  With a scowl, Adelfa rose. She walked to Hagne and ran one finger down the girl’s arm. Goosebumps rose on the bare flesh in the wake of Adelfa’s touch. “We’re not finished. Come back tonight after everyone has gone to bed. Now that Bliss knows, there’s no need to hide any longer.”

  The girl’s gaze shot to Bliss before she nodded to Adelfa. “Yes, mistress.”

  Bliss’s heart clenched. How long had this been happening right beneath her nose and how could she not have noticed? And how could Bliss possibly lie in her bed tonight and listen to her sisters in the next bed knowing what they were doing?

  As Adelfa dressed she spoke. “You know, Bliss, if Hagne isn’t to your taste there’s that new guard who isn’t unattractive. Why you’d want a hairy, smelly, rutting man when you could have the soft sweetness of a woman, I don’t know. However, all it would take is one word to have him naked in your bed. No one need ever know. We wouldn’t tell if that’s what you’re worried about.”

  Bliss shook her head at the suggestion. “I could never order anyone to…to…”

  Adelfa laughed. “You can’t even say it. Really Bliss, your name is wasted on you. You’re so serious I doubt you’ve ever felt blissful in your life.”

  Dressed now, Psyche laid a hand on Bliss’s forearm. “I think your name suits you perfectly, sister. Now, shall we go? Father awaits us.”

  As one more disturbing reminder of all Bliss had come to learn in such a short time, Psyche slipped the marble phallus beneath the mattress and turned toward the door. Bliss swallowed hard. What else was she unaware of? Perhaps she didn’t want to know.

  Chapter Two

  “How can Father do this to me?” Psyche sobbed facedown into the same pillow that had supported Hagne’s head barely an hour prior when Bliss had discovered her sisters’ predilection for female flesh. What a difference the falling of a few grains of sand within the hourglass could make to a person’s whole world.

  Feeling helpless, Bliss rubbed Psyche’s shaking back. “The order came down from the gods themselves. He had no choice. I’m so sorry.”

  Adelfa paced the room. “He had a choice. He c
ould have said no.”

  “And then they could have taken everything away from all of us,” Bliss pointed out.

  Psyche rolled over, her face marred with tears and misery. “I can’t do it. I can’t go stand on that mountain and let who knows what kind of man or beast claim me and then force me to…to… I can’t do it. I would rather die.”

  “No one said it would be a beast. What if it’s a perfectly nice man? Perhaps one who you’ve already met here at the palace.” Even her own words sounded ridiculous to Bliss’s ears.

  “If he were a perfectly nice man, as you say, then why won’t he show his face? He didn’t offer for Psyche in person, but instead went through the gods to procure her through a direct order from Mount Olympus. There is something foul afoot.”

  There was no way to argue. Bliss agreed, though to admit it aloud would only serve to upset Psyche more. It was barbaric of her father to agree to give Psyche as if she were chattel, body and soul, to a stranger they knew nothing about. To send her away to live on an isolated mountain far from everyone she knew and loved. Alone. Afraid. How frightened she must be.

  Bliss’s stomach twisted in empathy. As oldest, it was her job to protect those younger. She couldn’t do so if they were separated. “We’ll go with you.”

  Her sister stared at her with the first look of hope Bliss had seen since the decree had been rendered. “Would you?”

  Adelfa fell to her knees beside the bed and took Psyche’s hands in hers. “Of course, we will.”

  Hagne, who’d been in the room silently packing Psyche’s things for the journey, stepped closer to the bed. “Mistress, I’ll come too.”

  There was true affection and deep emotion in the handmaiden’s tear-filled eyes when she gazed upon Psyche. This was something Bliss would have to consider more later, Hagne’s apparent feelings for Psyche, which seemed more than just those of a servant for her mistress.

  Bliss brushed one tear-dampened strand of hair from Psyche’s face. “See. You won’t be alone. Whatever you have to face, we’ll confront together.”

  “What if Father won’t let you?”

  “He won’t be able to stop us.” Adelfa’s look of determination reflected exactly what Bliss felt.

  Psyche nodded. “I’ll try and be strong and deserve the love and loyalty you’ve all shown me.”

  A knock sounded on the door and a loud male voice came through the wood. “Tis time.”

  “One moment.” Bliss’s heart pounded as she jumped from the bed. “Come, we must quickly help Hagne pack our things. Then we will take a stand, together.”

  The three others nodded though Bliss was well aware this was very likely the last time they’d stand together in any place they could remotely call safe or home.

  *

  “I was expecting you alone, Psyche.”

  The voice reverberating through the vast empty marble hall sounded human enough except for its amplified intensity and the fact the speaker was nowhere to be seen. Its humanity was certainly not evidenced by the ghostly servants sent to meet them on the mountainside. These guides, which were more like wisps of smoke in the shape of humans, led the group from the mountain to what could only be called a palace since it rivaled the home of even their father the king.

  Psyche paled at the sound of the voice directly addressing her by name. She shook so hard, Bliss grasped her hand, afraid she’d fall to the ground in a dead faint. Speaking seemed beyond her sister, so Bliss answered the unspoken question. “We are Psyche’s sisters, accompanied by her servant.”

  “So?” Was that annoyance or amusement in the disembodied voice? “Why is who you are of any consequence to me? I asked Psyche only be delivered.”

  “Any being who claims to love her would want her to be happy. For her to do so, she needs to be close to those who are familiar and care about her.” Bliss’s own courage seemed to be coming from some place other.

  What kept her from shaking, what gave her voice strength, she didn’t know. Perhaps it was the maternal instinct she’d developed being the oldest. Maybe it was insanity brought on from the thinning air at the extremely high elevation. Whatever the cause, Bliss was grateful for it at the moment.

  “Who are you that you speak for Psyche and the rest while the others remain silent?” His annoyance was clearly evident in the tone of the question.

  “I am Bliss, the oldest among we three.”

  “Well, Bliss the oldest, I want to hear Psyche speak. My love, tell me, do you wish your spokesperson and the rest to remain with you here?”

  “Yes.” Her voice trembled, but was still firm. Her desire was clear. Bliss’s heart filled with pride at her sister’s strength.

  “Then it shall be so. Your days will be your own. The four of you will have every freedom you could want within this home and the adjoining exterior courtyards. However at night, once darkness falls, Psyche will share my chamber with me alone. Do you understand?”

  Though his voice grew tender as he spoke of granting the request they all remain, her sister’s shaking began with new vigor at the mention of sharing his bedchamber.

  When Psyche didn’t answer his question, Bliss did. “Yes. We understand.”

  “Why does she not speak for herself?” There was no doubt he was truly annoyed now. “I went to an enormous amount of trouble to make mine the woman whose voice sings to me like a chorus of angels and yet she refuses to speak. Instead I must listen to her sister. I can tell you, there will be no room for an interpreter tonight in my bed.”

  Psyche let out a small gasp and Bliss laid an arm around her waist just as she felt her sister’s knees give way. “She’s afraid because you have not shown yourself.”

  “Why would that frighten her?”

  “Why do you not show yourself?” Bliss countered, more sharply than was wise considering their situation.

  “I won’t be questioned.” The booming voice vibrated the very ground they stood upon. “I have few rules, but they are to be followed. One, I will not now or ever show my face. Not to anyone. I will share my chamber with Psyche in the darkness. Two, I will not accept the answers of another when I ask a question of my love. Do you understand?”

  Bliss longed to tell him that he could talk of love all he wanted, but deeds spoke louder than words. Every word he uttered, every rule he laid down, caused Psyche to stiffen further beside her. Bliss expected her to bolt out the door at any moment and she wouldn’t have blamed her a bit for it.

  “Now she is silent. Bliss who is never quiet and speaks for all—do you understand?”

  Straightening her back and bringing herself to her full and not inconsiderable height, Bliss confronted the being she could only hear and not see. “Rule number two states I'm not allowed to answer a question asked of my sister.”

  “I was asking that question of you, not her.”

  “Ah, my apologies. You were unclear. Loud, but unclear. Yes, I do understand.”

  After a brief hesitation during which Bliss fully expected a lightening bolt to pierce through the vaulted rotunda ceiling and strike her dead, she could almost feel his anger. Then he spoke. “Darkness falls in one hour. Psyche will be summoned and placed in my chamber to await me. I expect to neither see nor hear from the rest of you again. Ever.”

  Though he had never really been in the room, Bliss could feel when he was gone. The rest of the group must have sensed his departure too. Adelfa began complaining loudly about the man and his rules as Psyche took that moment to collapse to the floor. Hagne, silently stoic throughout, rushed to her mistress along with Adelfa. Bliss was about to do likewise when the ethereal servants reappeared.

  “Don’t touch me!” Psyche pulled her arm from the grasp of an entity none of them could see clearly but that obviously possessed the strength to grip her.

  Psyche was teetering on the edge of what Bliss feared would soon turn to complete hysteria. Invisible servants leading her to the bedchamber of a man, or possibly not a man, she’d never seen and would never see w
as more than any person should be expected to bear.

  Bliss stepped forward, feeling strange addressing the ghostly mist hovering above her sister. “We’ll help her walk, if you could just lead the way.”

  The sisters helped Psyche to her feet and half led, half carried her up the stairs to what would be their shared chamber, except at night when she’d be taken from them and given to him. Whoever and whatever he was.

  When the non-corporeal mist left and the room felt clear, Psyche got strangely quiet. “I’d like to be alone.”

  Adelfa stepped closer to the bed where they’d placed Psyche. “Are you sure?”

  “Yes, quite sure.” She nodded.

  “Do you want me to unpack your bag?” Hagne stood next to their four bags, which had been magically brought up when they weren’t aware.

  “No. I can do it.”

  “All right. If you’re sure.” Bliss didn’t like this sudden change in her sister’s demeanor one bit.

  “I am.” Psyche’s eyes had a distant look in them.

  The moment the door closed behind them with Psyche on one side and the three of them on the other, Bliss had a feeling of dread.

  Adelfa ran one hand down the closed door and then turned to Bliss. “Why does she want to be alone? She brought us here to be with her.”

  “I don’t know. It’s all too much, I guess.”

  “She’d said she’d rather die than be given to him. Remember?” Hagne’s voice was tinged in panic. Their servant, who had never spoken so boldly before, addressed her mistresses directly now. “I’m afraid—“

  The sound of the lock being turned had all three sets of eyes focused on the door handle.

  “She’s locked herself in.” Bliss spun to Hagne. “What were you saying? What are you afraid of?”

  The handmaiden’s eyes opened wide with fear. “That she’s going to do it. Kill herself.”

  “How?” Adelfa asked. “With what?”

  Bliss turned to really take in their surroundings for the first time. The hall in which they stood opened onto a balcony. It most likely mirrored an identical balcony off the bedchamber where Psyche had locked herself in. “Dear goddess, she could jump.”