Chapter 1

The young prince Alcaeon had only a narrow experience of sex. He had witnessed an encounter between a man and a youth in the baths, but both wore towels, and the younger man didn't appear to enjoy the episode as much as he tolerated it for the sake of money or some other necessity. This wasn't to Alcaeon's taste, at least not in terms of being the boy.

He realized that, as the king's nephew, he could conceivably find a smooth boy himself to bugger, but that wasn't his main interest. Homosexuality was only a curiosity for him. He was very much his father's son, sprung from the loins of the famously amorous Isocrates. His eyes noticed the fair sex far more often, especially in the form of the luscious and saucy Zoe.

Her short, brown hair, hazel eyes, and athletic body were merely the external form of her appeal. She also had a love of danger and taboo trysts. This drove her long-standing affair with the archigallos, Bellerophon, who was required by law to be celibate on pain of death. Zoe knew that she could be executed herself for sacrilege if they were caught. She also understood that Bellerophon wasn't totally sane. She simply refused to be deterred by risk. In fact, she thrived on constant peril.

Alcaeon, of course, had no indication that Zoe was intimate with the priest. He might have informed on them, had he known about it, from both jealousy and a general hatred of the unpopular servant of the Gods. He was aware, however, that the brunette had made no effort to deny that she had a sexual interest in him. In fact, she used every opportunity to indicate her lust for the prince.

Though he could have been wrong about Zoe's true intentions, the lad wasn't in this case. It was a new challenge for the former spy and lover of the late, unlamented Cleon and Polycrates. She had grown bored with Bellerophon and his stupid paranoia.

She was also annoyed with his refusal to finish himself inside some part of her body. She could grasp his reason for withdrawing, but at least he could put his seed in her sphincter, or even her mouth. She hated that the archigallos always pulled out, and never even considered buggery. The king could execute them for the affair, she thought, for Aphrodite's sake! The least that they could do was enjoy themselves without any pointless restraints.

As Zoe considered the idea of seducing a prince, it especially aroused her. He couldn't be worse than Cleon or Polycrates, could he? She knew that he was inexperienced, but that could be enjoyable, too. She would get the chance to lure him into her bed, which would be only the start of her greatest fling. She wanted to be his mistress, a role that could stay attractive and thrilling over the years.

She couldn't be a princess, even by marriage, but that didn't matter. Let Alcaeon take a few wives and concubines, perhaps even a male lover or two, she smiled. None of them would ever make him groan with lust and youthful wonder like her. He wouldn't drop her before she died, Zoe laughed to herself. She had ways to keep a man attached to her.

There was just the question of how to entice him in the first place. What method would she use to charm him into bed? Having seduced many people, of both sexes (she had even bedded a eunuch, though they naturally did nothing but orally pleasure each other), the hetaira decided that she would appeal to a young man's impulsive nature. A willing and available bedfellow, of either sex, would be difficult to resist for anyone who dreamt of greater sexual convenience, as was the case with youths like Alcaeon.