Black Sail
Brenna LyonsErotic romance
Available from Phaze
ISBN 1-59426-624-7
November 2006
| Princess Ariadne, daughter of the King of Minos of Crete, was not the Princess of Crete, that was her beautiful sister Phaedra, the jewel of her father's eye. King Minos of Crete is the ruler of the isle where the dreaded the Minotaur of the underground labyrinth resided, the fearsome half beast, half man who requirs a sacrifice of a living humans at regular intervals. Theseus, Prince of Athens has bravely volunteered to be that sacrifice and Ariadne has fallen in love with him and bribes the guards to give him a way to escape. To seal their commitment Ariadne gives up her virginity and Theseus gives her his embroidered sash as a way to board his ship and await him there to sail back to Athens as his bride. But Phaedra, Ariadne's older sister tricks her and steals Theseus for herself by waiting until Theseus' ship sails before revealing her treachery. Theseus prefers the extravagantly beautiful Phaedra and allows Ariande to release him from their marriage bond, Ariadne not wanting a man who doesn't love her. Theseus either doesn't realize or doesn't care that Phaedra had marooned Ariadne on the deserted isle with minimum supplies to live on and sails away to Athens to marry Theseus and become his queen. Ariadne, who has always lived in her more beautiful sister's shadow, manages to build a comfortable life in lonely exile at peace without her tormenting sister. Accustomed to being alone she bathes in the fresh waterfall on the island and is discovered by the god Dionysus who stops on the isle for the same reason, a bath in the wonderful waterfall in isolation only to find the beautiful Ariadne bathing naked. He falls instantly in love with her. Deciding not to reveal himself as a god he tells her he is a shipwrecked wine merchant named Baccas. Using his powers to find out who she really is, using magical wine, since she will not tell him her story and how she came to the island, Dionysus already in love with her finds his hatred grows for the wrong she has been done. He tells her of the tragedy that has befallen Theseus in Athens for in his infatuation with Phaedra he forgot to change the sail on his ship from the Black Sail to the While Sail on his return voyage to Athens from Crete signaling his safe return from the labyrinth. Theseus' father had killed himself in his grief. Dionysus, (Baccas) and Ariadne live for four years as man and wife and Hera, Zeus' wife-goddess overlooks her dislike of her husband's bastard son Dionysus and blesses Ariadne with a son because of her faithful love of her husband and simple prayers for a child. While Ariadne is close to giving birth, Dionysus is called to Olympus by his sibling gods and goddesses and his father Zeus because of the misdeeds of Theseus and because Theseus is going to Nexos to claim Ariadne as his own after her sister has proven to be an unfaithful queen and unable to seduce Theseus' brother had killed herself. Theseus, intent on claiming Ariadne as his next queen in the original bargain had begun a voyage to Nexos to claim her but his crimes had become so great that the gods and goddesses could no longer over look them. Measures must be taken and Dionysus wishes to petition Zeus for immortality for Ariadne. As with all Greek Myths the gods and goddesses will have their way over mortal lives and this myth is no different. Ms. Lyons has again taken her readers on an erotic adventure behind the known story showing us what happened to the other characters in a well known myth as originally written by Edith Hamilton. Her imagination has given us another wonderful story and a different slant to a tragic Greek tale with true love and an erotic fantasy for her readers to explore. Perhaps her stories will someday be studied along with Edith's myths. This Myth shows the gods and goddesses with more of a human side.
Overall rating:
Reviewer: Orange Blossom |
