Medea by Kerry Greenwood

body moved against her and inside her. He groaned and stiffened in every muscle. When he withdrew from her he was also marked with her blood.
    'It is not the custom of my father's people,' I said to Philos as he pushed me toward the girl, 'to mate in plain sight.'
    I took the girl by the hand and helped her up. She followed me behind the rock into the shadow of the bushes. I let her down onto the moss and said, 'I will not hurt you.'
    'You alone of all men,' she said softly. I removed the mask to see her face. She was very young. She was beautiful, even tear stained and shaking as she was.
    'They will notice if you do not have my blood on you,' she said.
    'Give me some, then,' I replied. She reached between her thighs and smeared me with blood. The phallus rose at her touch, so sweet a touch that I gasped.
    'I would please you,' she said.
    'I will not mate with you. You bleed enough for one festival.' I was still disgusted by the centaur's mating, their violence to their women.
    'Lie down,' she said, 'and I will please you without hurting myself.'
    I lay down under the bushes, in the scent of sweat and smoke and blood, and the centaur woman caressed me with her mouth and her hands, her breasts soft against my thighs, and I felt a rush of fire, and cried aloud.

--- IV ---
MEDEA
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    My father was ill for many weeks. There was no immediate opportunity to inform him that his suspicions as to who was conspiring to take over his throne were directed entirely the wrong quarter. Besides, he would not hear a word against Aegialeus, his only son.
    When Aetes became king, the oracle of Ammon - the Achaeans call him Apollo - had spoken. Thus I had been told as a child, to explain why my father never came to see me or my sister. A bronze horn had blown without human breath and a great voice had said from the sanctuary:
    Thanatos selects from Colchis' herd; his calves or his cows.
    'It is hard to love something which must die,' said Trioda in explanation. I had stored both the oracle and the clarification for future reference, for Trioda seldom answered further questions. Now I understood. Although I had seen the queen's care for my father, although he lay in her arms, he could not afford to love her because he had understood the oracle: if his children should live then his wives would die; as Chalkiope's mother had died, as mine had died, bearing us. He could not love us, for we had killed his wives. The anniversaries of our births were days of mourning for our father.
    'The seed of Aetes is black,' said Trioda, 'death-bearing'.
    I felt fortunate that I was a dedicated maiden, never to bear fruit, for the seed of Aetes was in me. Then again, my sister's children were strong and fine. Perhaps the seed of Phrixos the stranger, was strong enough to overcome the dark. I said as much to Trioda as we compounded yet another combination of heart-strengthening herbs. My father was responding to the medicines, although he flatly refused to allow us to sacrifice to Hekate on his behalf. The shaven, white-robed priests of Ammon visited every day and had interceded for Aetes of Colchis, slaying the bull who is the avatar of their god. I could smell burning flesh from the temple of the Sun as I ground foxglove in a mortar.
    'The sons of Phrixos are healthy,' Trioda said, pouring one decoction into another. 'But death is everywhere."
    'Surely,' I agreed. This was a ritual statement.
    'Closer than you might think, Princess,' she added. I stopped grinding.
    'Mistress, do you mean that my father's illness is induced, and that the sons of Phrixos are plotting to take over, as he thinks?'
    'Tssh, daughter, do not speak so plainly! I mean, maiden, that death is everywhere. Consider the situation, Medea.' She lowered her voice and I moved closer so that I could hear her. The scent of the herbs was making me giddy.
    'There are only two daughters of Colchis who could be married to provide the right to the kingship. There is you, daughter, but you are a