Briseis swallowed down the lump that had formed in her throat, at the same time pushing down the strange swelling in her heart. She reached out again for another grape, inwardly startled and annoyed to find that her hands were trembling slightly. Biting carefully into the plump fruit, she murmured softly.

"I thought you were a dumb brute," Her voice resonated clearly between them. She paused as Achilles facial expression stiffened slightly, his eyes boring into hers for more explanation.

Turning her eyes down quickly, she added, this time her voice lower than before. "I could have forgiven a dumb brute."

Focusing all her attention onto that one grape, she ate it slowly, the lack of response from him making her question her words. Finally the grape was gone and she had could do nothing but look up. He was not looking at her though, but instead sharpening his dagger and spear.

The jarring sounds of hard metal scraping against stone continued into the night. No more words interrupted the continuous rhythm and finding herself feeling increasingly insecure, Briseis gradually fell into a restless sleep, huddled in a tiny corner of the tent.

……………………………..

Suddenly her eyes flew open, her heart pounding rapidly in her chest in loud, heavy beats. Still lying down, curled up, Briseis looked around her, seeing a faint velvet darkness enveloping the tent, feeling the cold sea breeze swirl gently about her.

When her breathing had mellowed, she sat up quietly, turning around cautiously to look for Achilles. There he was, lying rigidly on his back upon a thick pile of mats. A thin silk cloth of dark blue covered his waist and torso, but apart from that he was bare. A pale shaft of moonlight sifted through the leather flaps, illuminating his gleaming tanned skin.

He seemed to be dead; lying untouched, unarmed and unawares. Everything seemed to have tamed in him, except for the firm, stiff exterior outside. Only the gentle rise and fall of his chest spoke of the life within him.

Briseis could not take her eyes off him. There was something about him that drew her to him then; the vulnerability and innocence his face seemed to exude then, the strength and power in his stilled muscles. It was like a mirage, she could not tell what was real and what was not, almost as if she was in a dream.

She began to move, all her thinking and reasoning leaving her. She could not remain this way, increasingly drawn into him till she would lose sight of what was truly important; Troy and her honor.

Briseis saw the dim gleam of the gold dagger she had hidden before, and moving silently towards it, she wedged it out of the crevice, clutching the cold metal in her sweaty palms. She had to kill him, now, while such an opportunity presented itself to her, to kill off Greece's hope for victory, to secure Troy's safety, the safety of her family, and to ensure the her own sanity.

She did not think then, of the consequences after she killed him, how she would escape from the men's trained eyes and ears. All she could think of, was to kill off this threat that would soon overtake her whether she wanted him to or not.

Crawling her way towards his sleeping body, she drew herself up beside him, positioning the knife above him, her face staring down at his. She breathed out shakily and raised her hands to strike. Barely a hair's breadth away from his throat, her hand stopped.

No! Her heart seemed to be telling her.

Her heartbeat quickened, it's raging beat like a war cry coursing through her. Her heart and mind were at conflict. At that all-important moment of decision and strength, her heart had betrayed her, revealing what she truly wanted to do.

Do it! Her thoughts screamed at her. Her grasp on the hilt tightened and her knuckles turned white. Briseis pressed the knife harder against his throat, the sound of her breathing filling her ears.

She had to do it now. He would wake up from sound of her breathing and the pounding of her heart, and catch her ready to kill him. Achilles would surely unarm her and fling her aside, and then he would give her to the hungry men before killing her.

"Do it."

Her heart nearly jumped out of her chest, and her eyes flew wide open. His eyes had opened without warning and now the frozen blue was boring holes in her.

Briseis opened her mouth to say something, but closed it again soundlessly. Her fingers curled tighter around the slim hilt, and the feel of something deadly and hard in her hands only made everything seem so painfully real. She did not want to choose like this, because she knew what her decision would be.

Unknowingly his hands had creped up and found hers. She started at the forcefulness of his coarse hands around hers, pressing the blade harder against his throat. Her eyes flew to his, shocked at his reaction.

His cold blue eyes stared back. "Nothing is easier."

His voice was surprisingly gentle, with no trace of hate or disgust in his tone.

"Aren't you afraid?" she asked, her trembling voice sounding distant and weak in her ears.

"Everyone dies," he replied with indifference, his eyes impassive and nonchalant. "Be it today or fifty years, what does it matter?"

He wants me to do it.

Briseis stared at him, at this point of time unable to do anything, much less think clearly and rationally. His hands shot up to grasp her arms and he pulled her further down and by doing so, pressed the dagger dangerously hard on his throat.

"Do it." he ordered tersely.

"You'll kill many more men if I don't kill you," Briseis heard herself say, the words sounding strange and unfamiliar to her.

"Many," he reaffirmed.

The resolute confirmation in his words brought her wild thoughts and desperate wishes crashing back upon her, and her eyes focused in on his face, now in such close proximity with hers that she could hear his calm breathing and feel their warm breaths against her face.

Briseis searched his eyes, almost pleading for some way out of this mess that she had created. Wondering, asking if dying was what he really wanted. Searching for an answer as to what she should do. Still his blue eyes remained hard and indecipherable.

But in her heart she knew the answers. She could not kill him; her heart had decided upon that even before she had instigated this plan to kill him.

But then, what could she do now? Drop the knife and what?

Before she could think anymore, he had swiftly flipped her on her back, the dagger still pressed perilously close on his skin. His heavy weight was upon her, his body covering her tiny frame. His body pressed on hers, and she could feel the sticky heat radiate from his body. The solid, warm pressure of his body on hers caused an eruption of sensations within her that she had long thought were dormant. Her breathing became more labored, her heart beating so fast she could not hear nor feel it anymore. His face looked down at hers, so near that she could see every line and hair on it.

Then, slowly, he bent down and began to kiss her. His blue eyes never left hers as he brought his lips down to meet hers, and its expression never changed, only when his lips touched hers, did an indistinguishable hint of a smile appeared in them. His lips were so warm and soft, lingering with the bittersweet taste of wine and grapes. He kissed her softly; over and over again, capturing her lips with his, before slowly beginning to ravage her with powerful, heated kisses filled with passion and want.

Her mind was overtaken completely by the taste and feel of him, the insanely want and need for more. From somewhere in the recesses of her mind, she heard the heavy thud of the dagger sliding from her fingers onto the ground. But all that was ignored as his kisses began to fill her with an unquenchable thirst for more and she kissed him back, overpowered by a burning passion and heat that had unearthed itself inside her. Her hands found its way up his back to his neck, tangled in his tousled golden hair.

She could feel his rough hand slide up her leg, pushing her torn robe away. His hand traveled up her side, stroking her skin tenderly with his coarse fingers, leaving a fiery trail of awakened senses in its wake. A burst of life and raging passion pulsated through her and she fell into euphoria as his hands touched her and his lips never ceased to caress hers.

She forgot all about Apollo, about Troy, about Hector, Paris, her vows, her honor, her dignity. She forgot about everything, except to satiate that desire and hunger inside her that she had never released because she had been too busy trying to kill it.

…………………………………

Hello. Thank you for all your reviews. I appreciate it very much. I'm so sorry for such a long delay, but school has been really busy and tiring, what's more with upcoming exams. Thank you for waiting. Hope you like this.