"Roberta Gellis - Bull God" - читать интересную книгу автора (Gellis Roberta)

their eyes for their lascivious entertainment."

She knew it wasn't safe to press him further and yet it might be equally dangerous to let him leave
without some proof of what he had promised. She glanced out toward the people, most still kneeling and
all in attitudes of prayer. They couldn't hear what she and Dionysus said, he had told herтАФand then she
noticed that gray film and remembered that he had said they couldn't see either.

"My lord," she whispered, "I can see your worshipers, but you said they couldn't see or hear us."

"They cannot."

She joined her hands prayerfully before her small breasts again. "Then they cannot know what we have
been doing, can they? Oh, my lord, would it outrage you just to be seen naked with me?"

He looked at her, eyes half lidded and kind again. "You're a clever little minx. If that will satisfy them and
confirm you as my priestess, I'm willing. Let the fools believe what they will."

His hands went to the heavy gold brooch that held his tunic at the shoulder and pulled it loose. The cloth
dropped down exposing his broad chest, not bare as Cretan men's chests wereтАФeither by nature or by
pluckingтАФbut with an inverted triangle of golden curls stretching between and a little above his nipples.
The point was at the end of his breastbone, and from it grew a narrow band of sleek blond hair that
reached down toward his navel. Ariadne had started to undo the laces of her bodice, but her fingers lay
idle as she watched him untie his belt. He caught the tunic as it slid down his body and tossed it on the
foot of the altar.

When he turned back to her, she was still staring at him and he said, "Are you afraid? I promise I won't
hurt you."

"You are beautiful," she said. "I don't fear you. I am your priestess. You are my god. You won't harm
me."

She didn't know what he read in her face, but he looked pleased, and what she said was true. It was the
right thing to say, too, at least to this god, because he came close, smiling.

"Let me help you," he offered.

"Is it right for a god to wait upon his handmaiden?" she asked anxiously.

He only laughed in response, but she dropped her hands submissively and let him undo the laces of her
bodice and then the ties of her belt and skirt. The heavy garment fell into a heap and she stepped over it,
wriggling out of the bodice, which she dropped unceremoniously atop the skirt. It didn't occur to her as
she took his hand and drew him back upon the altar that she didn't feel the smallest flicker of discomfort.

"Shall we lie down?" she asked.

"Why not?" he said, grinning, and then, "You atop me. I would mash you like trampled grapes if I lay on
you."

She giggled. "Oh no. Jests are made of men who allow their wives to take that role, and the god must
plow the earth." He looked rebellious, and she flung her arms around his neck and kissed his cheek. "I'll