Black Sail (Mythos Series #2)

By Brenna Lyons

When a strange man washes up on the shores of her beloved Naxos, Ariadne longs to be his. Dionysis has no clue who Ari is or how she came to Naxos, but he won't rest until he knows--and until she is his. Can a former princess with no faith in gods learn to love again?

CONTENT ADVISORY: This is a re-release title.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Fireborn Publishing
• Release date: Feb 5, 2017
• ISBN: 9781946004321

Brenna Lyons

Brenna Lyons wears many hats, sometimes all on the same day: ex-president of EPIC, author of more than 100 published works, teacher, wife, mother... She's a member of ERWA, IWOFA, Broad Universe, and more than 60 other author groups. She's taken Spinetingler's Book of the Year for 2007, and she's also finaled for multiple times for the EPPIE, PEARL (including one HM, second to Angela Knight), CAPA, and once for a Dream Realm Award. Brenna writes in 25 established worlds plus stand-alone fiction books and stories, poetry, articles, and essays. She's a bestseller in indie/e fantasy and horror, straight genre and cross-genres thereof. Brenna has been termed "one of the most deviant erotic minds in the publishing world...not for the weak." (Rachelle for Fallen Angels Reviews) Milieu-heavy dark work is practically Brenna's calling card, with or without the erotic content. She teaches classes in everything from POV studies to advanced editing, networking to marketing.

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Fireborn Publishing Copyright Statement

Black Sail

© 2004/2006/2015/2017 by Brenna Lyons

eBook ISBN: 978-1-946004-32-1

eBook Publication: February 2017

Cover Artist: Brenna Lyons

Photo Credit: 123rf

Logo copyright © 2014 by Fireborn Publishing and Allison Cassatta

Licensed material is being used for illustrative purposes only. Any person depicted in the licensed material is a model.

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All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is strictly coincidental.

This book is written in US English.

Publisher

Dedication

Ms. Harrigan, who assigned Edith Hamilton's Mythology to her Sophomore class and fed my love for mythology.

Ms. B, who taught me careful research and cross-checking facts.

All the people at the Mystic Moon, who will understand this story better than anyone else who knows me.

Author's Note

All my facts come from Edith Hamilton's Mythology. Initial readers challenged the facts I used to weave the web of this story, but careful examination showed that cross-referencing the facts does tie the basic premise of Black Sail together. I hope you enjoy the story, and rest assured, there are more like this to come.

NOTE for those who don't know the story of Theseus intimately: Theseus was killed at the home of his friend King Lycomedes. I will leave it to the reader's imagination to decide exactly how that happened after reading this tale.

Happy reading!

Brenna

Black Sail

The birds were loud that morning. Ariadne opened one eye a slit, viewing the lush vegetation of Naxos. Do the blasted birds have to celebrate the day so early?

Apparently so. She rolled over with a sigh and pushed the woven blanket off. It was a warm, sunny day with a brisk breeze—a good day to hang the blanket to air and wash the meager clothing she had created for herself in the last year.

Naxos was a beautiful place, a fitting exile for a princess, she supposed. Ariadne laughed at the pampered life she'd once had. A daughter of Minos! A princess of Crete! Ha, she barked at the clear, blue sky, startling a family of birds into hasty flight.

"A princess!" Of course, that had always been her problem. Ariadne was simply a princess, not the princess. She had never been the princess.

When Theseus had come to her father's kingdom, Ariadne had not known he was the prince of Athens. She saw a wealthy man, a beautiful and fearless man, a man unlike any she was like to have on Crete.

With her sister Phaedra around, no man was interested in Ariadne. If only the pampered toy had married, perhaps one of her lovesick throng might have glanced Ariadne's way. Phaedra, however, would not deign to simply choose a husband. She was like to taunt the men endlessly, raising the stakes of her affections until some fool set the stars at her feet in homage. By then, Ariadne would be an old woman.

When beautiful Theseus boldly offered himself as a sacrifice to the Minotaur's labyrinth, Ariadne saw her chance. She sent for Daedelus and bribed him for a way to