Truth and Sparta by Camille Oster Read Free Book Online

question was if he would refrain from punishing her based on a
technicality. Spartans weren’t known for their fairness or mercy on
anything, let alone arguments about terms. Maybe she could just
stay clear until he left and then forget all about it. Or he could
be here tomorrow morning looking for her.
    She wouldn’t
admit it to herself, but she also harbored some curiosity about
him. She didn’t quite know what to make of the time they’d spent
together, or the act that he so clearly enjoyed. He was so very
different from Peracili in every way she could describe.
    When it came
down to it, she couldn’t risk the punishment of not going. It was
one more night, it hadn’t taken more than an hour the evening
before and it hadn’t been strictly awful. She really couldn’t
justify the defiance.
     
    She reached
the Menares house a little later than the day before. It was well
past dark by the time she got there and the same Helot answered the
door. He didn’t bother asking her anything this time, just led her
quietly through the house to the same room. Chara felt less anxious
this time because she had a better idea of what was about to
happen.
    She waited a
little longer which made her wonder if she was supposed to come at
all. She couldn’t sneak away now as he would have been told she was
there. Maybe he would tell her to leave, having had enough of her.
She hadn’t even considered taking on the idea that she might be
rejected by him. She should be ecstatically happy, but a rejection
was a rejection.
    “ Who gave you your name?” he said. She hadn’t even heard him
come in.
    “ My parents,” she responded. “I don’t know exactly.”
    “ Do they love you?”
    “ Yes.” It was an odd question.
    “ What about your husband, did you grieve him?”
    She didn’t
answer. The answer was no to the both of his question. Her
relationship with her husband hadn’t developed like she’d hoped.
She had foreseen a sweet relationship, but he was a surly boy who
didn’t particularly like anything about her.
    “ Did you wish him dead?” he asked teasingly.
    “ No,” she responded. Actually there had been a few times when
she’d wished just that, but it wasn’t like she had prayed for it.
She hadn’t thought it would actually happen.
    She felt her
heart beat faster as he stepped closer. There was something
instinctively intimidating about him even though she knew he was
not going to hurt her. His hand came up and he stroked her hair.
She didn’t know how to react so she didn’t.
    “ Was he considered a lucky man?”
    “ Well, he died very young of a fever, so I don’t think so,” she
said feeling uncomfortable under his scrutiny.
    “ Am I ruining your prospects for remarrying?”
    “ Not more than a dead husband.” His death had pretty much seen
to that, particularly as there was such a shortage of marriageable
male Helots. He stroked her cheek slowly with his thumb.
    “ You are so very pretty,” he said. She couldn’t hide the fact
that she liked hearing it. It wasn’t something she had heard
before.
    He kissed her.
She was getting used to his touch now—and to his taste. The kiss
felt less awkward and less confronting than the previous ones. But
he wanted more than a kiss. He lifted her up and carried her to the
bed. He pulled her tunic off and exposing her.
    He directed
the whole act and he made her ride him while his gaze roamed her
body. It was much more confronting than the previous night where
she’d just lain there. She complied, but it was much more difficult
to keep a distance in her mind as his eyes sought connection with
her the entire time. She wondered what he wanted from her. Her
curiosity only grew as she watched him being increasingly overcome
by the sensations she was harnessing in him. He had given her
control—why would he want to do that, she wondered.
    Chara flatly
ignored any sensation what was being drawn in her. She knew it was
there and she chose not to delve into it.