Free Seeds by M. M. Kin Page A

garden. Without a word, he rose from his seat, heading in to his chambers, thinking about what he had just seen. Well, the fact that the women he desired sometimes had husbands or lovers already had never been a deterrent to him...
     
    o0o
     
         The cavern was quiet as Demeter sat there, meditating. For the last year, asleep and then fully conscious, she had carefully and slowly released the energy to its rightful owners until the flow of energy had resumed its natural beat. What a huge contrast this year had been to the last! And the visible change in the mortals!
         It had taken a year, but now that energy was appropriately dispersed, and she was fully recharged. However, she had no desire to leave the valley. She enjoyed the quietness here and almost forgetting that she was a goddess. She hadn't had to listen, much less deal with the squabbles and wars in her family, and she had a lover who satisfied her. The only thing that saddened her was that he was a mortal. There was no way to make a mortal a god, even if the humans could have their youth and lifespans extended. However, that did not come without cost. Was it any wonder that even after all these years, never-aging Endymion still slept, never again to see his lover in the waking world?
         She had indeed fed extra lifeforce and some ambrosia to Iasion, giving him more vitality than the renewed men around him. But time would wear on in its inexorable way, and not even the extended lifespan Demeter sought to give him would save Iasion from his eventual demise. Giving him even more than what she was carefully infusing within him in small amounts could cause him to end up like Endymion, and she had no desire for a lover who would never look at her with delight in his eyes again.
         Mmm. She looked forward to tonight. The festival had been over for several days, and people were settling down for the winter, this time without any fear that they might starve or freeze to death.
         When she approached the house, she saw the light of the fire glimmer through the shutters and eagerly stepped in. The large bed that Esthanes had carved for his brother and sister-in-law sat against one wall, piled high with comfortable pillows and blankets that had been woven by the Goddess herself. Across it laid her lover, handsome and naked, the light of the fire illuminating his flesh beautifully.
         He shot her a grin.
         “My goddess, may I offer myself to you as a sacrifice?” he asked, resting his head on one arm and looking utterly charming, his dark, curly locks framing his face beautifully. How could she say no?
         “Your offering pleases me.”
         Iasion had been a shy lover the first time she had let him 'worship' her, for he had never been with anyone else. But he blossomed under her loving attention, becoming a knowledgeable and confident lover, expert in different ways to please his goddess. He was a thoughtful lover, so she always looked forward to her intimacy with him.
         The night started off as it usually did when they were making love. At first he was attentive enough. But as the night went on, he acted in such a way she had never seen before. He was firm, even bordering on rough, in his attentions to her, but it wasn't the playful fierceness that he would sometimes employ. His hands roved where they would, no longer caring about touching her particular erogenous zones or doing little things that held her attention and keep her pleasure going.
         “Iasion - “ Her protest at a particularly rough thrust had his lips slamming onto her face, firmly silencing any other words she might have to say. She started to fight, but he kept her pinned down. Even with the extra strength she had bestowed upon him, he would never be stronger than her. There was just no way...
         His movements became even more frenzied, and when he came to completion, Demeter cried out as she felt a jolt of electricity