Satisfied At Last (Mythology Erotic Romance): Part Twelve of the Erotic Adventures of Heraklea by Roxie Noir Page B

of this, but suddenly things began to fall into place: the menagerie she’d collected for the king, with the hind and the boar and the mares and the cattle. The belt she’d had to fist an Amazon Queen to get. The apples she’d just brought back. All prizes so he could woo his new Queen.
    Klea felt a little light-headed, and not caring that she was stark naked, she pushed herself out of the hot water and sat on the edge. The guard seemed to not notice her nudity in the least.
    “Oh,” was all she could think of to say. She had to admit it made an almost nauseating amount of sense.
    He flicked at the water with two fingers.
    They’d had something, she thought. He’d come to watch her fuck Atlas, only a few days ago. Sometimes he crept into the baths to talk to her, he invited her to dinner in his quarters. Klea could have sworn that there was something between them, even if it was something kind of weird. Finding out that it wasn’t at all what she’d thought, she realized how much she’d wanted it and how disappointed she was.
    She focused back on the guard, luxuriating in the hot water.
    “Why are you telling me this?” she asked.
    He shrugged, the points of his shoulders catching the torchlight. “You seemed to think there was something there.”
    Klea looked off to one side, embarrassed that he’d picked up on it.
    “It seemed unfair to keep you in the dark any longer.”
    I can’t believe he led me on , she thought.
    “Thanks,” she said. Even though I thought you were an asshole , she thought.
    “You know—“ he started, and then stopped. He shook his head slightly, as if clearing a thought out.
    “Know what?”
    “Nothing,” he said. “Don’t worry about it.”
    Klea frowned and splashed one foot in the water.
    “Come on,” she said.
    He sighed and looked away, his tantalizing chest rising and falling. “If you left without doing your last task, I don’t think he’d notice,” the guard said. “He’s a little distracted right now.”
    Slowly, it dawned on Klea that the guard had told her this so she’d leave. He still didn’t like her, for whatever reason. That was his problem. He’d come here to tell her that she should just go, mostly so he wouldn’t have to look at her face any longer. For a moment they locked eyes, but then Klea eased herself back into the bath, looking away.
    “When does she get here?”
    “Day after tomorrow.”
    “Could I just leave now?”
    “I think so.”
    She didn’t like to let a slimy asshole like him win, but Klea really didn’t care. The king was going to marry someone else and she didn’t want to be there when it happened.
    “All right,” she said.
    He stood, the water coming just to his hipbones, running down him in rivulets. Despite everything, Klea held her breath and hoped against hope that maybe he’d be willing to rub himself against her.
    Instead, he left the bath, climbing back   up the steps, giving her a view of his perfect ass. Steps padded back across the floor and then he was gone.

    Two hours later, Klea was in the stables in her riding cloak and armor, carrying bags full of food she’d borrowed from the kitchen and a sleeping roll. She’d be spending some nights outside now, she guessed.   It was still dark outside, the horizon just hinting at gray, as she rode from the palace stables.
    “King’s business,” she told the two guards stationed at the entrance, the same thing she said every time she was on a mission from him. By now, they no longer questioned her, just opened the gate and let her go.
    For half an hour, she ambled through the countryside on the horse, leaving behind the palace and thev village around it, getting close to the next one. She watched the sun rise and the farmers get out of bed and go to milk their cows and goats, everyone looking a little suspicious of a well-armed woman riding a very nice horse through their lands at dawn.
    When she entered the woods, she rode with one hand on the hilt of her