"You asked to see her, my lord?" Proteus’ voice was low and cool. "This is Amphitrite, daughter of Nereus and Doris."
"Amphitrite," Poseidon repeated, allowing her name to linger on his tongue. "I watched your dance. I was impressed with your grace and beauty."
"Were you?" the girl asked blandly. Poseidon waited, but she didn’t say anything more. Her face was expressionless as she regarded him with no more interest than she would have looked at a handful of sand. Demeter suddenly choked off a laugh, but when he turned to glare at her she was looking off in a completely different direction.
Unaccountably, Poseidon felt heat rising to his cheeks. "Yes, I was. I thought you were the loveliest of them all."
"Oh." Again, she didn’t remark further and Poseidon had the uncomfortable thought that she was just waiting politely for his dismissal.
"Have you nothing else to say?" he demanded, somewhat nettled at the girl’s composure.
"No." Amphitrite’s eyes met his, and they were darker now-dark and cold, like the floes of ice floating at the northernmost reaches of the sea.
"The god of the seas has paid you a compliment." He leaned closer and caught the faintest whiff of her perfume-light and spicy, like the morning breeze against the shore. The rest of the immortals near them had quieted, staring at the scene with amused interest.
"I thank you for it. Will that be all?"
Poseidon’s mind was whirling thickly behind the fog of nectar. She...she didn’t like him! The realization stunned him. Never before had a young maiden been this unaffected by his attention! Always, the nymphs of the sea and the land had fought among themselves for Poseidon’s favor, always struggling to capture his notice. But this maiden? She looked up at him with disdain flashing from her dark eyes, her lips pressed so tightly together it was a miracle she could breathe.
He rose from his couch, nearly trembling in rage. "Not all women would scorn the compliments of a god," he snarled quietly.
"Or welcome them," she finished curtly.
"You would say such a thing to me?"
The look she gave him was contemptuous. "Why not? I have no fear of a man who would flee from the sight of my sister."
Without another word, she bobbed a brief curtsey and turned on her heel. The other gods roared with laughter; even Aphrodite was giggling helplessly, muffling her laughter in her spangled veil. Flabbergasted, Poseidon watched as she moved through the crowd, heading toward that ridiculous satyr Pan who was watching the scene with his mouth hanging open. |
