LVIII

Silas and his men made their way around the country.

He was a different person when he donned his battle gear – powerful, strong, in control.

One couldn’t help but be intimidated in his presence.

Everyone bowed to the King as he rode adeptly through the country.

He would be gone for months, maybe even years and he had a job to do, villages to conquer, battles to fight – he became a very efficient leader.

But Inanna felt there was a darkness lurking just below the surface. She felt it had something to do with the fact, he really wasn’t this person the aggressive, alpha male and he was merely putting on a mask, when he put on those princely robes.

He didn’t want to fight, he didn’t want to conquer – it just wasn’t in his nature, but like so many things, this path was thrust upon him and who was he to tell them he wasn’t interested.

No, King Silas played the role very well – tough, resolute, unrelenting and inflexible.

When King Silas spoke, you listened.

He was king – in control and powerful and he exercised this power daily in the form of death and destruction and nightly in the form of women.

He could get any woman he desired – his sexuality was hard to resist.

Having these sorts of conquests seemed important to him.

He seemed to use sex manipulatively, to seduce others, to gratify himself, with no regard to the truth of his heart.

Perhaps he thought he could only be appreciated for his sexuality and attracted partners who fulfilled this belief.

Or maybe it was just because he was afraid of getting too close, of exposing the truth in his heart, of exploring the deeper areas of a relationship, preferring to have the sex without the baggage.

To Inanna, a partner offered more than just temporary relief. She knew real intimacy could heal, that sexuality was an integral part of that process.

If only Silas could risk allowing more of his vulnerability to show.

There was no doubt he was smooth and seductive and there was a different woman almost every night.

He was sewing his wild oats all over the kingdom.

Old habits, die hard.