Disclaimer: I of course do not own these characters.
Author's Note: So this is probably not very good, but it has been knocking around in my skull for a while now and I had to get it out. I'm looking for a beta reader who can help me out with this.
Filthy. Covered in the blood of her fallen countrymen, that is how she first meets him. Standing at the prow of this ship she must wonder if perhaps the winds that push them back to Greece will sweep away this memory. If that is what she truly wishes.
She wonders how many Greek women can say they once held a knife to their lover's throat. Lover not husband. She hid below deck that first day at sea, afraid to face Apollo's eye, a priestess defiled. Still, Achilles assures her they will be wed once they have reached Greece, once they have returned to the land of his mother. He laughs when she asks him in darkness in the bed they share, if his mother is a goddess as they say.
She does not think it a silly question. After all she has seen the things he can do with a sword. Saw his group of fifty men storm the beaches of her homeland and claim victory, heard his voice callously order the destruction of a god's temple. Strange to think the hands that stroke her so tenderly can kill so effectively. She remembers the smell of her tormentor's flesh as Achilles drove the branding iron into his neck, for her.
She is one woman on a ship of dozens of hardened soldiers. She is a princess of Troy, was a priestess of Apollo, and she has never been taught to handle a weapon. Yet she does not fear these men. They stay far from her, if not for respect of her person, for fear of Achilles blade. Briseis is a woman used to being feared; because she was a princess, a priestess, and now because she has given her heart to man with too much blood on his hands.
She wonders at the life towards which she is rushing. Wonders if being held in this man's arms will be enough to help her forget the homeland she is leaving behind, the land she is betraying. She wonders if Achilles will ever be truly happy with her, just her and none of the glory she knows he hungers for.
Author's Note: So this is probably not very good, but it has been knocking around in my skull for a while now and I had to get it out. I'm looking for a beta reader who can help me out with this.
Filthy. Covered in the blood of her fallen countrymen, that is how she first meets him. Standing at the prow of this ship she must wonder if perhaps the winds that push them back to Greece will sweep away this memory. If that is what she truly wishes.
She wonders how many Greek women can say they once held a knife to their lover's throat. Lover not husband. She hid below deck that first day at sea, afraid to face Apollo's eye, a priestess defiled. Still, Achilles assures her they will be wed once they have reached Greece, once they have returned to the land of his mother. He laughs when she asks him in darkness in the bed they share, if his mother is a goddess as they say.
She does not think it a silly question. After all she has seen the things he can do with a sword. Saw his group of fifty men storm the beaches of her homeland and claim victory, heard his voice callously order the destruction of a god's temple. Strange to think the hands that stroke her so tenderly can kill so effectively. She remembers the smell of her tormentor's flesh as Achilles drove the branding iron into his neck, for her.
She is one woman on a ship of dozens of hardened soldiers. She is a princess of Troy, was a priestess of Apollo, and she has never been taught to handle a weapon. Yet she does not fear these men. They stay far from her, if not for respect of her person, for fear of Achilles blade. Briseis is a woman used to being feared; because she was a princess, a priestess, and now because she has given her heart to man with too much blood on his hands.
She wonders at the life towards which she is rushing. Wonders if being held in this man's arms will be enough to help her forget the homeland she is leaving behind, the land she is betraying. She wonders if Achilles will ever be truly happy with her, just her and none of the glory she knows he hungers for.