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PART I

Chapter 1

Sparta, The Bronze Age, 1200 BC

In a playfulup sprays of sparkling rainbows He ducked under the falling drops to let a tickling stream roll down his back He often came to the river on an idle afternoon, and today, he heard a wobirds Her lilting melody drew him around the curve in the riverbank, and he slipped into the reeds to watch the lovely young woe

Swireeting to the king of gods and Zeus nodded in return TheZeus with a deliciously provocative idea In an instant, he beca bather

Leda had escaped her husband's palace and her fawningthe riverbank as a child and sought to recapture the effortless joy before she waswarmth, and she welcomed the water's chill on her bare skin She turned as she squeezed theup, found aclose A beauty of his kind, he fascinated her, and she rehten him away

The s wide and reached out to stroke her cheek with the tips of his glea the smooth swell of her pale breast as he dreay He cocked his head to cast a sly look, as though expecting sohed and took a backwards step, but he swam closer

"Clearly you're so to feed you," she exclairacefully curved neck

The swan again spread his powerful wings to easily capture her against his breast Surrounded by his feathery softness, Leda's breath caught in her throat, and the world began to spin Drawn up into the swan, she felt as though she were flying, floating a the clouds Lost in the exquisite sensation, she closed her eyes, but what she saw in her mind was not the handsome swan, but radiant Zeus, in all his physical splendor

It was the god's mouth upon hers, his arms that held her in a fierce hold She dared not open her eyes and lose such an incredible dream, but when he entered her with a forceful thrust, he felt fiercely real He flooded her with pleasure so intense it skirted pain and yet she clung to hi still more even if the cost were her life He kept her cradled in his ar her very soul until she was too lost in hi

Herher knee with a gorgeous white feather fro hands as they helped her into her long skirt and bolero, but she gave no excuse for eluding them earlier As they walked back toward the palace, she turned to gaze at the river, but the swan had vanished, and she doubted she would ever see hihter of rare beauty, she knew her as a god's child and named her Helen

Chapter 2

Sparta, Six years later

The Palace of King Tyndareus

Leda pulled an ivory co curly hair "Be still child You cannot ride with your brothers looking like a wild creature from the woods"

Helen giggled "I am a wild creature!"

"No, you are a lovely princess who must learn to behave as one Today, you may ride with Castor and Pollux, but afterwards you must bathe and dress in finer clothes You ether"

Helen skipped away the instant Leda laid her comb aside "Yes, Mother"

Leda went to theand waited for her youngest daughter to ride by with her brothers Helen sat a horse better than either of the boys, and when she was old enough to race, she was sure to beat thehter and waved as Helen and her brothers rode by heading toward the open fields surrounding the palace They were such handso beauty When she becae to wed, suitors would come from near and far to vie for her, but not today while she was still a carefree child

Clyte a bolt of linen "Is this fine enough for us, or should I send the weavers back to their looms?"