The Lies Of Dawn

C H A P T E R 9

"Abashed the devil stood and felt how awful goodness is and saw Virtue in her shape how lovely: and pined his loss" Professor Russ' voice echoed through the auditorium as he quoted John Milton's Paradise Lost.

Celia had been pleasantly surprised when she heard the words he uttered. Perhaps, they were going to compare Milton's philosophical views on the loss of innocence and virtue to Dante's opinion on purity and beauty and lack thereof. Were two of her favourite creators, she couldn't possibly view them simply as authors, going to be discussed in that suffocating room?

"I'm sure most of you are familiar with John Milton's Paradise Lost but for those who aren't, I will just say this: in this passage Milton is talking about how regretful the devil is at his loss of statue and his virtue. He becomes a villain and he happens to come across Eve. Now, remember that before he interfered with the life of Adam and Eve, they lived in absolute oblivion. The world was perfect and they were not even aware of their nudity." The professor spoke with certainty as he addressed his pupils. Nathaniel knew that not even half of his students were all that interested in his lecture but he was old enough to realize that not everyone was clever enough to understand philosophy.

Or, to enjoy it.

He was arrogant, he knew that, but then again, Aristotle been, too. It was, in his opinion, one of the most common traits for people in his field of studies.

"But then, Eve accepts the help offered to her by the snake and she too falls from grace. In truth that had been Adam's fault but we won't be discussing this in today's lecture." The students were silent, some captivated by their professor's words while others were magnetised by the way his white button-up shirt clung to his muscled figure.

Celia belonged to the first category.

He was attractive, the fact could not be denied but he didn't make her heart flutter around her ribcage and also, why would she look at another male when one was more than enough for her, especially one as intense and all-consuming as Ax.

The two had sought each other's company quite a lot these past few days after their visit to Eros' house. But it was quite apparent that something as mundane as company was not suitable for their arrangement.

Celia would meet him every night at the bridge after her lessons and he would took her to his home. There he would free her from her clothes and attack like a passion-driven, starved animal. But after their moments of pleasure disappeared, he would drive her home or she would drive herself, seeing as she had, finally, gotten her car back, and that would be the end of their night.

To be fair, Ax had invited her to stay a few times but she always declined and chose to conjure up excuses as to why she had to be at her home, instead. Truthfully, she didn't want to grow attached to him. Celia knew that if he wrapped his arms around her and slept with her tucked to his side, she would be fighting a war there was no chance of winning.

She was already addicted to him carnally, to create an emotional bond too, would be catastrophic. There would come a time when Ax would grow bored of her and he'd leave to find a new conquest. Celia simply didn't want to feel the loss of the man from her life weigh down on her. She had been through enough pain to last her a lifetime, she wasn't about to sign up for more.

"What we are going to talk about is Hybristophilia." Nathaniel smiled arrogantly as most of his students looked confused at the term. "Hybristophilia is a paraphilia of sexual nature. It revolves around sexual attraction towards someone who has committed a crime. That crime could have been a minor felony or something much more atrocious, such as murder and rape." Celia sat up quickly. Hybristophilia? Is he serious?