Aphrodite's Curse

"Well Di-Di, what do you want? As you can see, we are QUITE busy here so state your business and get out." Euphrosyne asked with a growing sense of irritation in her voice. The God of wine had interrupted her party with the Muses, and she was NOT happy about it.

"Now now Ladies" Dionysus winked "Far be it from me to interrupt this delightful estrogen fest, but I really am here on official business from Zeus." Studying the table and seeing the cards he grinned. "But perhaps now that I AM here, I can show you girls how to play cards properly. I am MORE than willing to teach you, because that is just the kind of nice and loving God I am."

As these words left his mouth a collective furious groan erupted from the women and they now all turned and looked at him with a mixture of contempt and indignant feminine anger. Dionysus of course knew exactly what he was doing and he hoped and prayed they would take the bait he so tantalizingly dangled before them. When Euphrosyne huffed and spat out her next words, it took all of his willpower not to betray his feelings of delight and thus blow his plan.

"You sure seem like a cocky little fucker COUSIN. I think maybe WE should teach YOU how to play!!!!"

"Well my beautiful and sexy COUSIN" Dionysus condescendingly dripped "I must warn you, I always play for high stakes!" Looking up and down her body he slowly licked his lips. "And I think you have JUST the right prize worthy of my wasting my mad poker skills on teaching you nubes."

His words again had just the right effect and the gauntlet was now firmly thrown down. Clio, still enjoying the hidden under table attentions of Ganymede on her feet, sat up straight and barked. "Euphrosyne, you surely are not going to let this bastard get away with this trash talk unchallenged are you?" Her feelings were equally shared by the other Muses and Graces, while Euphrosyne said nothing but fumed silently in her chair. Finally, she spoke.

"Certainly NOT! OK Di-DI, we will allow you to join our game. But I think it is YOU who needs to learn a lesson and luckily we are JUST the right "girls" to teach that lesson. So, what stakes do you have in mind?"

"I will go easy on you, because again, I am nice. You put up your delectable hot and moist panties and I will put up my remaining amphorae of special vintage. And, because I know I am at a big advantage, due to my undoubtable superior talents in this area, I will bet one amphora per panty. As there are twelve of you, that is my whole stock and surely worthy of your underwear!" Dionysus giggled as he laid his trap. He knew better than anyone that his special reserved vintage was highly valued, and as it could never be re-created, this was a tremendous prize to win. When all of the Goddesses gasped and oohed in delight at his stakes, he knew his offer would be eagerly accepted.

Grinning, Euphrosyne instantly agreed, and in her own clever and devious mind, a plot of her own began to form. She knew Dionysus was a good poker player, but she also knew her skills were far better than his. Figuring his male ego and bravado, as well as his insatiable lust would be his undoing, she decided to lure him into an even BIGGER bet later. Her plan would require her to convince him of his "superiority" so she would have to throw the first few games. Her used panties were a small price to pay for her ultimate plan, so she laid out the rules.

"Ok Di-Di, you have a deal." Waving her hand, 10 poker chips formed in front of each of the Goddesses, as well as an empty space at the table for Dionysus. "Have a seat, and prepare to lose your wine fucker!!! We will play ten hands, and at the end, if YOU have the most chips, we will all give up our panties. If one of US has the most, you will give us your prize."

The first hands were dealt, and as expected, her two sisters and all of the muses played terribly. Dionysus easily won the first three hands, but Euphrosyne won the next three and was equally his match. As the last few hands were dealt, she saw that she had drawn three kings and decided to discard two in order to force her loss. When she saw the grin on Dionysus's face when he realized his win, and collected his chips, she knew that it was HE who was getting sucked into HER trap.

"Time to pay up ladies!" Dionysus grinned as he played with his large pile of recently won chips. The game could not possibly have gone better and Dionysus thought the girls played far worse than even he would have suspected was possible. Out of ten games, he had won seven with only Euphrosyne showing any talent at cards at all. Seeing the blushing hues of red spreading over their cheeks, he clasped his hands behind his neck and leaned back into his chair. To his surprise, his foot hit something and as he looked under the table, there kneeling naked in the dark, kissing and sucking the beautiful foot of Clio was his old friend Ganymede.

"Ganymede!!!! I was wondering where you were!" he called out. Ganymede's face was completely red in humiliation at being caught in such a compromising position. Nude, hard and throbbing, his mouth firmly planted on the little left toe of Clio, Ganymede said nothing but closed his eyes in shame at having been discovered. Seeing his friend in this state, Dionysus now thought of his next bet.

Sitting back up in his chair he was annoyed now, annoyed that Ganymede was being used in this degrading fashion, although a part of him was envious at Ganymede job of servicing the sexy feet of Clio. "Alright girls, quit stalling and let's see those hot little G-strings start hitting the floor. And make your removal slow and sexy for me, I earned them fair and square!" Smiling in a horny fog, he looked back and forth over the women and asked "Now which one of you lovelies are going to be the first to peel off those sexy silken wonders."

Grinning wildly and basking in his victory as he leaned back, silence loomed over the patio of the Graces as all of the Goddesses looked at one another with both looks of trepidation and growing humiliation. To the Muses, as well as Euphrosyne's sisters Thalia and Aglagea, this was an unmitigated disaster. To Euphrosyne however, this was just phase one of her plan. She had needed to lure Dionysus into a false sense of overconfidence, and it was obvious that he now was pegging off the scale on that front. Sensing rumbling agitation and stiffening resistance in the other Goddesses, Euphrosyne leapt up onto the table and sensuously walked over to Dionysus, whose open eyed gaze of horny astonishment could not believe what he was seeing.

Her eyes smoldering in a heavy lidded lusty haze, Euphrosyne stood tall over Dionysus when she reached his end of the table. He was gobsmacked as he looked up at her towering and delicious curves looming over his hungry eyes. Putting her hands up under her gown, her torso undulated in a small circle as she slowly lowered her panties to the floor in a sensuous snake like circle, her long luscious legs coming fully into view as she bent down into a wide squat. Now panty-less, she sat down on the table, and kicked off of her sandals while letting the tiny silken G-string dangle from her right big toe. "There you go you pervy little fucker! You won it fair and square!" she teased as she slowly rocked the garment back and forth in front of his face.

Instantly hard as nails, Dionysus leaned forward and clasped the moist aromatic panties firmly in his teeth. Smelling her glorious musky feminine scent infused into the fabric, he could not help but drool both from his mouth and his cock as he salivated at the strong womanly taste seeping onto his tongue.

"DAYYYYUMMM!" he grinned as the panties dangled from his lips. "I have said it before and I will say it again Euphrosyne, you are one very very very sexy woman!"

Grinning, and now commando under her gown, Euphrosyne sashayed her way back down the table and sat back down in her chair. As she sat, eleven pairs of panties from the Muses and her two sisters all emerged from under the table and were thrown onto Dionysus's face. Now covered in so many soft and strongly scented silken unmentionables, he grinned. "Ladies, I am SOOOOOOOOOOOO very glad I dropped by today!"

The shit eating frat boy grin on Dionysus's face seemed to enrage the other Goddesses deeper, but NOT Euphrosyne. Now that he had what he had come for, he tied the panties into a nice neat bow and flicked the package with his finger into the air. Under his power, the panties flew back to Zeus's palace to join the other remaining items needed for Demetrius's quest. Even though he was greatly enjoying his afternoon with the ladies, Di-Di wanted to make sure he took care of official business first before continuing on with more delightful diversions. Now having completed his task, he looked back at Euphrosyne and winked. Turning to his right, he also saw Clio biting her lip as Ganymede was being especially attentive to her under the table.

"So, up for another game?" he asked.

The Muses and the other two graces all groaned and grumbled and from the sound of their consternation, Dionysus was afraid that the afternoon was going to come to an abrupt and sadly non-erotic end. Wishing he had bet them all of their clothes as well as their panties, he smiled when Euphrosyne took it upon herself to speak for the whole group.

"Of course! We can't let you just swoop in here, with your obviously finely honed card shark skills, and take advantage of a bunch of helpless women without you giving us at least some chance to win some of our dignity back?"

Scratching his chin he mused on the possibilities. Perhaps the afternoon fun was not over yet. Answering her, he asked "Well Euphrosyne, far be it from me to take advantage of a bunch of helpless women, but what would you like to play now?"

"Oh, the same game, but I think due to your OBVIOUSLY superior skills, you should give us a small handicap to even up the odds a bit." she grinned as she felt him fall slowly but relentlessly into her trap. Playing the innocent poor damsel with the skills of the finest actress in Athens, with her bare foot she reached under the table and began running her toes up his leg. Reaching his crotch, she felt the tell-tale sign of a very hard cock throbbing under his robe, and tweaking the purple head with her toes, she placed her foot back hard against his hot hard twitchy flesh.

"Ok, and so what are the stakes now?" he asked, formulating his own plot in his mind.

"Well, instead of just panties, let's make each hand REALLY count. We will play again with the same number of chips, and for every three chips you win, one of us will remove one of our garments. For every ONE chip we win however, you will remove one of yours. Since you are so much better than us, that seems fair doesn't it?" As she spoke to Dionysus about her proposal, Euphrosyne's foot was quite busy under the table, teasing and stroking the target dangling between his legs.

The distraction of Euphrosyne caused Di-Di to fail and do the math, so he eagerly and quite foolishly agreed to these lopsided odds. Convinced that they really did suck at cards, he was completely sure he would win every hand, and would then have the enviable opportunity to witness his own private strip show by the nine gorgeous muses and the three equally desirable graces. The other Goddesses mumbled at bit when Euphrosyne made her proposal, but when she winked at them, all of their nerves were calmed. It was obvious to them that she knew what she was doing so they let her take the lead. Realizing that ANY hand any of them won would lead to the loss of something for Dionysus, where he would have to spread his wins out over the twelve of them assured his almost certain nudity and failure, no matter HOW badly they played.

Whispering to her sisters and Clio, Euphrosyne had them all agree to throw the first five games. This she felt would not only make Dionysus more reckless in his bets, but as this would have them barefoot, they could all join her in distracting their mark without really revealing anything.

Throbbing and desperately horny now, Dionysus gasped as her toes continued their task. "D-D-D-DEAL!!!!" .

Back in Zeus's palace, Hera sat alone in her garden despite the chill. Winter was fast approaching and the solstice was just a few days away. Her regular Saturday afternoon guests were expected at any moment, and at times like this she truly did miss having her loyal servant Ganymede around. He alone knew how to entertain, and the nymphs she had to employ during his slavery to Euphrosyne were pale shades of his efficiency and intelliigence. Seeing Pethio coming up the hill, she waved and grinned, motioning to her servants to bring the first of many large Amphoras of wine to her table. . Pethio was a boiling cauldron of mixed emotions as she walked. Her body still glowing and tingling in post orgasmic bliss from her long satisfying romp with her husband, she snickered to herself as she envisioned both Pan and Mercury still both hopelessly erect, completely helpless and no doubt teased to insanity back in her bedroom. Still, knowing that Zeus had sent Demetrius to Egypt to bring his Mistress Europa back to Greece, Pethio was duty bound to let Hera know about it. Goddesses had to stick together, and the perpetual and flagrant infidelity of Zeus needed to be exposed and punished. Being the first Goddess to arrive at the luncheon, she sat down at the table and greeted Hera, forcing a grin on her face as she tried to think of the most delicate and polite way to break this news.

After some innocuous small talk, it was obvious to Hera that Pethio was nervous and highly agitated. Turning to her friend, she asked. "Pethio, what is wrong with you today? You seem very distracted by something, so do tell."

"Well Hera, I hate to be the bringer of bad news, but I have something rather disturbing to tell you about your husband."

As these words left her lips, Hera sighed and leaned back into her chair with a slight bemused smirk on her face. "Well, GO ON THEN, I am a big girl, so say what you have to say."

With a light dew of perspiration forming on her brow Pethio told Hera all about Zeus's plan that she had teased out of Pan. To her relief, Hera did not seem particularly upset by the revelation nor shocked. Listening intently, Hera seemed far more curious about what future torments Pethio had planned for Mercury and Zeus, and after a few minutes, both the Goddesses were laughing hysterically. The news that her husband was preparing a new outrage on their marital vows seemed not to affect her at all, although internally Hera's rage boiled to overflowing, her stoic and regal face betrayed none of these feelings.

Thanking Pethio for her honesty, and for watching her back, she straightened up and waved down the hill as both Amphrite and Persephone had now arrived. . Very little of consequence was said for most of the rest of the afternoon, and all of the Goddesses peppered Persephone with questions about what devilish activities she had planned for Hades on her return to the underworld. Hera as well as the other Goddesses had enjoyed many a good laugh listening to Persephone describe tying her husband down and teasing him for months, and each eagerly wanted every delicious dirty detail she could spill. Amphrite uncharacteristically was silent during the meal, and to the even greater surprise of all, she drank very lightly of the wine. Occasionally exchanging knowing glances with Pethio, she was focused like a laser beam on the large ruby hanging from Hera's necklace to the exclusion of all else.

"Hera!" Amphrite finally and suddenly blurted out "That is such a beautiful Ruby around your neck, where on earth did you get it? That cheap bastard husband of mine would never get such a stunning and rare prize for ME!"

Smiling demurely in appreciation at the praise, Hera lifted it from her neck and held it up in the sunlight. "Yes, this my dear is a memento of better days with Zeus. He gave this to me back when we he wasn't the lying cheating bastard he is now, but that was sadly long long ago." Looking off blanking into the distance, Hera squelched her welling emotions back down and continued with a brief sniff. "You know, this is no ordinary ruby, but is actually crystalized dragon's blood, which is very very rare."

Hera's sad words about Zeus cast a sudden and depressing pall over the party. Pethio, Amphrite and Persephone all looked at each other uncomfortably and silently shifted in their chairs during her brief outburst, unaccustomed to any show of weakness from Hera. None liked to see the Queen of Heaven upset, and the revelation of her obvious deeply hurt feelings was the first indication by her publicly of how angry and humiliated she was by Zeus's perpetual philandering. Seeing her guests discomfort, she now grinned to ease the tension, and tossed her ruby to a delighted and very surprised Amphrite to instantly move attention away from herself.

"Why don't you take this bauble dear. It will look better on you anyway, especially considering how the red balances so delightfully with the green of your dress?"

Now Amphrite felt guilty about her inadvertent part in Zeus's treachery, but she kept the ruby anyway and slipped it inside her palm. She had been quite worried about how she was going to obtain such a treasure from Hera, that when it suddenly fell into her lap so easily and unexpectedly the experience left her mind reeling. As she studied the deep fiery stone in her palm, her eyes mesmerized by the internal flame flickering inside the stone. Hypnotized by such a rare gift she only looked up from her palm when Hera clapped her hands.

"Now, girls let's have some coffee and dessert! First though, I want to apologize that the coffee will sadly not be as good as what you enjoyed before. I have long depleted the stock of glorious cream we all enjoyed last summer." Turning to Pethio now, she mysteriously and mischievously winked as she continued talking. "But I have a feeling that very soon I will have a fresh stock that will make the old cream seem like ancient curdled hippo milk in comparison!"

This announcement caused all of the Goddesses to giggle in delight, as the accolades for the cream was all true. The milk from last summer, unbeknownst to them, was the delicious unspent pre-cum of Demetrius, and was a delicacy they all craved to taste again. Continuing on with dessert, the conversation turned back towards the upcoming annual going away party for Persephone on the winter solstice. Despite putting on a good front and outwardly betraying none of her feelings with her words, the glowing red flames in Hera's eyes indicated sinister plots churning in her mind as she joined in the mindless girly chatter.

On the other end of the ancient world, in far away Babylon, another Goddess also burned in unquenchable fiery anger. Alone in her temple, Ishtar continued to fume in quivering rage as she relived the escape of Demetrius and the sacrilege of his praying to Aphrodite in HER own temple. Despite the soothing words of her husband, the God Marduk, she was irreconcilable. Ishtar had two all consuming obsessions now; milking Demetrius forever to provide an unending supply of aphrodisiacal wine from his leakage and sending her competition Aphrodite off the plane of this earth bound existence. The world needed only ONE Goddess of Love, and in her mind, that position rightfully belonged to her and her alone.

King Dion's continuous and inconsolable grief at the "kidnapping" of his only daughter to Greece, and his repeated and pitiful prayers to Ishtar for help, only added to the Goddess's humiliation. The knowledge that such outrages had occurred under HER watch and protection and in her very own temple gnawed at her constantly, the shame adding fuel to the raging holocaust of her unquenchable fury. The passage of time only made her hatred of all things Greek grow exponentially day by day, as now everything was blamed on Demetrius and Aphrodite, with Carya somehow being portrayed as an innocent. Deciding to go Greece and retrieve the errant human herself, Ishtar planned also to have her revenge on Aphrodite at the same time. Being a powerful Goddess, (and being on her turf) she knew that taking on the Greek Goddess of love would not be an easy task, but this obsession would not be diminished until completed, regardless of the dangers involved.