I had to duck down to get my eye level with the hole, I was sure from Nico's position he could have just leaned forward and been at the right height. But I was higher, sitting on his lap, which was disconcerting and distracting and felt wrong. I pushed those thoughts aside and peered through the gap.
A large white room surrounded by tall white columns sat on the other side. Several white robed people, both male and female, sat across a long table, that stretched from one side of the room to the other. The council, I was betting, and in the centre on an ornate throne, sat the King. Our vantage point showed us their faces clearly, but only the top of the heads of anyone who stood before them, giving their reports or answering to crimes. I was only guessing, but the room held the feel of a tribunal. And the person on trial right now was Isadora.
I breathed out a slow breath and Nico pushed me gently aside to take a peek. He pulled back and stretched up to whisper, "Perfect timing." My heart sank into my shoes.
I leaned forward to have another look and a voice sounded out, the first we'd heard since arriving, and almost made me squeak. Nico squeezed my waist in warning and I bit my bottom lip to ensure I didn't make a sound.
"Are we ready to proceed then?" A man on the council, two down from the King on his right, said. Murmured words of agreement ran along the line of council members.
"Isadora Petros, please give your report," the man announced in a ringing voice.
I watched as Isadora straightened her spine and lifted her head, mentally and physically preparing herself for her moment.
"It is with grave regret that I must bring the Pyrkagia council dangerous news," she said, sounding every inch the regretful messenger that she portrayed. "The Gi have, until several days ago, been quite settled. Had I left last week, I would not have uncovered this development. I thank Aetheros that I remained long enough to bring this change in circumstance to you."
"On with it," one of the women on the council snapped, clearly not enjoying Isadora's grandstanding. Isadora shifted nervously when the woman spoke, but pulled herself together to deliver her 'dangerous message'.
"The Gi became suddenly distressed. The forests uneasy. A sense of something big... no momentous" - she corrected herself with a nod of her elegant head - "occurring became obvious, but no one would divulge what it was. Council meetings were called on days they didn't usually meet and then, last Tuesday, they started to send out scouts. First a couple, then by Thursday the numbers escalated to their entire regiment."
"How many in a regiment?" a man on the council asked, sitting forward in his seat.
"Twenty-five," Isadora replied and several murmured words were shared amongst the councillors in response. I couldn't make out what they were saying, Greek not being a language I spoke.
Thankfully they returned to English for the next question.
"What are they looking for?" a man on the end of the table asked.
"It took some effort, but I finally managed to obtain the information from an informant of mine. Unfortunately I had to... dispose of him afterwards. I fear I may have given myself away, had I not."
"Understandable," a woman said, sitting next to the King, who so far had not spoken a single word. Isadora seemed relieved to get that dispensation. It clearly wiped her conscience clean.
I wasn't sure what to make of all of this. But the fact Isadora had killed a Gi to find out the next bit of information, did not sit well. I pressed a hand into my stomach to stop the nausea that was threatening to grow. I couldn't explain my reaction, but a death of anyone, Gi or otherwise, should not be dismissed with just a single word.
"They have discovered a lost treasure, at least, the knowledge that the treasure survives. They search for it, in the hopes of bringing the treasure home."
Isadora's words rang out in the stillness of the room Nico and I sat in. I felt his shoulders slump. He knew what she'd say next. I think I did to, but I hoped I was wrong.
"And do we know what the treasure is?" the King finally asked, entering the conversation, or inquisition, at last. His voice was steady, deep and resonant, but entirely devoid of emotion. He'd perfected the impassivity that Theo used. In that spilt second I saw the son in the father and it left me feeling scared.
"I believe it is a lost daughter, Rigas," Isadora announced. "They search for a princess of Gi."
I made a sound, but thankfully it was muffled and couldn't be heard over the exclamations of alarm in the council room. So many voices rose in disharmony, that nothing could possibly be gleaned from what was being said or shouted or cried.
Nico held me tightly, rubbing a hand up and down my naked arm. Goosebumps had appeared when Isadora had spoken, and he was trying to soothe them away; calm me, settle me. I didn't deserve his comfort and I stubbornly wanted someone else's than his.
"Quiet!' the King shouted and all voices ceased on his command. His eyes bore into Isadora's and to her credit she held steady under that penetrating stare. "Tell me, do you have any idea where that princess is now? Do they?"
The wait for her to answer was interminable. It was one of those moments, that you know the outcome already, but you hold out hope, desperately and uselessly, for it to end in another way. I didn't want her to confirm something that couldn't possibly be true. It was a lie, but if she said it, they would think it a truth. How could I fight this? How could Theo? I was determined not to be bullied out of my city, but reality was a harsh leveller, it seemed.
"I do, Rigas," she replied and Nico actually rested his forehead against my back. As though it was him they were talking about, as though it was his life about to be destroyed. As though he felt my dread and pain and fear along with me.
"I believe she is here," Isadora announced, her voice gaining in strength as she spoke each false word. "I believe her to be the Gi that Theodoros Petropoulos has taken under his protection. I believe he has been duped. She is not an asylum seeker, she is an escaped princess and will be sought by the Gi at all cost."
"Unacceptable!" a councillor cried.
"We must return her at once," another added.
"To fool our own Rigas' son," one woman exclaimed, shocked, as though I'd committed a most heinous crime.
"They will attack us, if they think we harboured her knowingly. This will lead to war!"
And on that last loud, portentous statement all voices fell, realisation of impending assault by the Gi, because of me, hitting hard.
The Rigas stood. Silence reigned for several moments and then he declared in a dark voice, "Bring in my son."
Chapter 19
It Was The End Of The World As I Knew It
My heart couldn't take any more. I was sure at any minute it would simply falter and stop. How fast can a heart beat without failing? Mine was thundering, pounding, racing. So many different emotions ran through my body, making me tremor on Nico's lap. I rested my head against the wall, my breaths sending little puffs of dust to rain down on my beautiful dress. None of it mattered; Theo was about to be interrogated because of me.
The Rigas had appeared so angry when he summoned Theo to the council room. His eyes had blazed gold and even from our vantage point, elevated and behind a thick wall, I could feel his Fire. His rage manifested in heat. Theo would burn when he stood before them, before him. He couldn't stand where Isadora had stood and not be affected by the King's fury.
Was he angry with me and just taking it out on Theo? Or was he angry his son had placed him in this embarrassing - and potentially damaging to Pyrkagia - position? I didn't know, but I was sure I would soon find out. Theo had just walked in the room.
I couldn't see his face, but he held his head high and strode across the floor like the prince he obviously was. I watched as some of the council members frowned, a few averted their eyes and only two offered small consoling smiles. The Rigas glowered.
I held my breath, my fingers pressed into my mouth to prevent me from making a sound. They would hear it, because silence met Theo's arrival. A heavy, ominous silence
that threatened to drown.
Finally, the King spoke. I watched as he swallowed several times, clenched and unclenched his fists, until he was able to eventually speak to the man who was his son.
"You will tell us everything you know about the Gi?" he ordered, then sat abruptly back in his chair.
"There is not much to tell," Theo replied steadily.
A movement off to the side of the council table caught my eye and I shifted to get a better view. Isadora had remained in the room and was watching the entire proceedings. The fact that she had stayed left an uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach. Theo had not been present for her statement, but she was obviously considered valuable enough to remain for his. Why?
A councillor speaking brought my attention back to the table. For now, they were the dangerous creatures in the room.
"Theodoros, we must hear all there is to know about the girl. Please indulge us." She spoke kindly, but I sensed her unease. She was giving him due respect, but I gathered it would not last. Her finger tapped repetitively on the top of the table; a beat to match her increasingly angered mood.
I flicked my glance across the entire length of the room. All the councillors were agitated, upset, on edge. There were gold flecks in the eyes of more than one. I ached for Theo to be anywhere but there, facing off against their wrath. But, selfishly, a part of me was consumed in worry for when I would have to face that level of ire. I was not trained in this sort of confrontation as Theo obviously was. I was not as experienced in political discussions as he no doubt is. I wasn't even a fraction of their individual ages. Scared didn't even cover what I was feeling right now. Petrified would be more accurate.
"I have known her for a year," Theo replied slowly. "I became aware of her Stoicheio on Thursday. Before then she had appeared human to me."
It was all truth. No falsehood, no lie. But I felt like he was betraying me.
"She had hidden herself from you? A prince of Pyrkagia?" a councillor asked, an obvious tone of doubt in his voice.
"She did not know what she was," Theo replied immediately.
"Ridiculous!" another councillor exclaimed. "She duped you." He was not impressed. The look he threw Theo was one of contempt and scorn. I wondered if he had ever been given such a look before. Theo didn't retaliate. He remained silent, stance relaxed, but not casual. Eyes staring straight forward. I couldn't be sure, from the angle I watched the scene at, but I think he wasn't even looking at the councillors. I think he was looking at a spot on the wall at their backs.
"Theodoros," the same woman from earlier, the table tapper, leaned forward to say. Her tone was still politely reverent, but her mask was slipping; her patience wearing thin. "How exactly did she fool you?"
"She didn't fool me," Theo answered and I breathed out a relieved breath of air.
"Son," the woman said condescendingly. I wondered if the term 'son' was literal and this was his mother, or just a random endearment she'd give someone much younger than herself. "She is a woman and you are a man. Of course she fooled you." A few of the councillors sniggered their agreement. The Rigas ground his teeth.
"Casey isn't like that," Theo replied and I detected a note of desperation in his voice. I mentally willed Theo to hold it together. He was better than this. He could hide behind that mask. If ever there was a time I wanted that mask to be on his beautiful face, now was definitely that time.
"Tell me then," the woman persisted, taking on the role of chief interrogator for the council, "why you believe she isn't Gi royalty."
Theo stiffened. Just a little. They may not have noticed, but I did. I knew that body so well, even after only one night against it. He now knew what Isadora's report had entailed. I watched his head turn slightly to bring his ex-girlfriend into his line of sight. I could see her reaction to whatever look he was giving her. It was a plea. A plea to cut himself free of me.
In that moment I knew Isadora would do whatever she could to get rid of me. Maybe, part of it was because she wanted him for herself. But, unfortunately, part of it was definitely because she saw me as a danger to Theo. She was protecting him, because she loved him. That kind of love makes you do almost anything. It was dangerous and could be deadly.
I knew, because I felt it too.
"She has no memories of a time with the Gi," Theo said, returning his attention to the council table. "She only knows a life here in Auckland since she was a child."
"It could all be a lie," a councillor explained from the far end of the table. "An intricate ruse to cover who she is."
"She is practically unskilled in wielding her Stoicheio," Theo persisted, ignoring the councillor’s argument. "She is completely unaware of the basic parameters of our world. She is naive." I blinked several times at the word 'naive'. I knew, in this context, he was referring to my knowledge of Ekmetalleftis, but I had been called naive before. And I didn't like it.
"Again, an act," the councillor replied evenly, leaning back in his chair as though it was a foregone conclusion; I was not who I portrayed myself to be.
"She is dark blonde, not brunette," Theo said, his voice softer, as though he hadn't wanted to walk this path, say these words.
"Hair dye," a woman councillor threw in. It was no use, Theo should stop now, because their minds were already made up. No amount of evidence or argument would change it. I just prayed Theo didn't say too much.
"Then it is an extremely thorough dying of her hair," Theo bit out.
Silence met his statement, but only for a moment.
"Did you enjoy her?" the Rigas said with a bitter twisted smile on his face. I closed my eyes briefly and hung my head. "Was it worth it? Sleeping with an enemy, getting your fill from a woman like her?" My head rose on those words. What did he mean, a woman like her? Just what did Theo's father see me as, some sort of Jezebel?
"Casey is not like that," Theo repeated his earlier words, but I heard the defeat in his tone. He knew. There was no stopping this now.
"I'm intrigued," his father continued, ignoring his son's pain. Instead I was pretty certain he was enjoying it. "Did you have to use your Stoicheio? Or was she so free with her affections she willingly fell into your arms?"
Oh dear God. This was a nightmare. And to top it off, Nico had tensed. If anyone knew how Theo would respond, it was his cousin and closest friend.
I started panting, little breaths of air that weren’t quite enough.
Theo didn't answer his father, so the Rigas just kept on pushing.
"You have your pick of Pyrkagia, but you choose a Gi. Why is that son? Do you rebel against your elders or do you wish to taint this throne?" Theo was rigid; a statue about to shatter into a million pieces.
I'd always known his loyalty was to his people. Nico had said it before, Theo would never willingly harm Pyrkagia. His father was insinuating that's exactly what he was doing by sleeping with me.
"She is one woman, Theodoros," the Rigas said, his intense gaze on his son. "And you would send our brethren to war over her?"
I expected him to deny that I was royalty. He couldn't deny that I was Gi, but I thought he'd come to understand that I wasn't a Gi princess at least. But then, he had never said as much. All he'd admitted was he didn't know what I was, but that he still wanted me anyway. I closed my eyes, my shoulders slumping in defeat. To expect Theo to stand up for me, was too much. I was asking too much of a man who had spent centuries protecting his kind.
You do not change your allegiance that easily, not after three thousand odd years of putting Pyrkagia first.
I was indeed very naive.
The Rigas hadn't finished tormenting his son though, and I couldn't help feeling that the man wanted to break him. Which reminded me of Theo's earlier words to me. "All things can be moulded to compliance. Some just take more force to break than others." The King was moulding his son, breaking him with force in order to seek his compliance.
A muted sob escaped my lips. Nico hugged my waist tighter, a friendly reminder that I was not
alone, even though I knew in my heart that I had never been more alone than right now.
"You will hand her over," the Rigas announced, imperiously. "We will detain her until Isadora can inform the Gi of her location. Preferably outside our territory. We'll deport her to that location in time for the Gi scouts to find her. They will never know we had a hand in this at all."
Nods and various murmured sounds of agreement came from the row of councillors either side of the King.
"She will tell them," Theo said, his voice a little rough on the end of the last word.
"She will do no such thing if she wishes you to remain unharmed," the King replied, a hard look in his eyes as he surveyed the man before him; his own son. "It has been some time since you visited the Bull, maybe we will show her your punishment prior to her release."
I was crying in earnest now, soft sobs I muffled in my hands. Tears streaming down my cheeks and landing in the dust at both Nico's and my feet. This was torture, and it wasn't even an ancient Greek device such as the Brazen Bull. It was just an ancient Greek tyrant.
Theo shuddered, I was sure it was at the image of what awaited him. I'd seen that depth of remembered agony cross his face when he'd spoken of the Bull before. I couldn't imagine what thoughts were going through his mind right now. The need to avoid that torment would have been extreme. I could only guess he would do anything to escape that fate.
"Father," Theo pleaded, and all eyes in the room turned to the King. He stared back impassively.
"There is nothing you can say to change my mind, Theodoros. You have only brought this on yourself."
"Time to leave," Nico whispered in my ear, but I refused to budge. I had to see this through.
"She is not a threat," Theo insisted, imploring the man to believe.
"She is not yours!" the Rigas shouted, standing to his feet and blazing gold from his angry eyes.
Theo let out a choked sound and in a voice that barely reached my ears, he said, "She is my Thisavros."
The Tempting Touch Of Fire (Elemental Awakening, Book 1) Page 19
