I didn't get a chance to whisper a query or to figure that last interaction out in my head. We were assailed by another equally judgemental couple. This time Theo didn't repeat I was Gi royalty, he just blatantly said I was worth every moment of discomfort, as my performance was unparalleled.
Oh sweet agony. It was an act. It had to be. But with another and then another disparaging comment, I felt the weight of all Aktor's millennia on my shoulders and in my heart. I'd known that I would need to be strong to endure this evening, I just hadn't realised that I wasn't strong enough. I'd tried. I'd held my head up high, I'd made that pointed comment to Damon, but as the evening progressed, and one after another, after another, after another of Theo's equals brought out more and more snide remarks, fuelling Theo's heart shattering responses, I was drowned.
I took my last breath in and felt only crushing water in my lungs.
My eyes blurred with the need to shed a tear, or turn green, I'm not sure. To not be able to fight back, when countless Pyrkagia tried to push my buttons with their Stoicheio, was sheer hell. I wasn't sure if I could forgive Theo for putting me through this. Was it really necessary to bring me so low? Is this what he meant by breaking me, moulding me into compliance? I was agreeable, shattered but standing beside him without any fire in my belly at all.
This was a cruel world. And I did not like it.
"Theo," someone called and I didn't bother to lift my head from its angle, staring blindly at the floor. "Theo!" the woman shouted out again. A breath of air escaped through my noise forcefully. Even when numb I was capable of differentiating a female's voice from a male's.
"Isadora? When did you get back?" Theo sounded happy. I lifted my head.
My eyes rose in time to see a woman lean in and kiss Theo on the lips. His arm left mine and he gripped her shoulders, returning the kiss briefly.
"Why didn't you tell me your were home?" Theo asked.
She laughed in answer, obviously pleased to see him. When she pulled back her eyes ran over his face, chest, then she leaned back further and let her gaze take all of him in. Gold flashed across her hazel eyes.
The numbness receded.
"I've only just landed. Came straight here to see everyone. Tell me, what's been happening while I've been gone?"
Theo glanced at me. What was that look on his face? Regret?
"First you," he said, returning his attention to the woman, who on closer inspection, was utterly gorgeous. Of course she was.
"I'll be giving my update to the council tomorrow. I gather you'll be attending?" she said, her eyes having never left him yet. I wasn't sure if she knew I was even there.
"Ah," Theo said. "I'm taking a break from politics right now."
She frowned delicately. "Why? You're the Rigas' right hand man. You need to be there for this brief. Things are progressing much faster than we predicted."
"Tell me," he said, sounding entirely too caught up in the conversation now.
"Not here," she replied, "and besides, I can't divulge anything until the Rigas is made aware. Even to you, my love."
And if I had any belief I'd survive this evening, it just shattered beyond repair.
"Well," Theo said with a smile that I knew was false bravado at its best. It seemed I'd gotten to know Theo in a short amount of time too. I searched to see if the woman could pick up what I had seen in that smile. She hadn't, her eyes were now on me.
She interrupted Theo by asking, "Who is your plaything?" Ouch.
"Isadora, this is Cassandra," Theo said, a little awkwardly I thought.
"You didn't tell me you were entertaining a human while I was gone." Isadora didn't sound awkward, she sounded hurt. She also hadn't heard the rumours.
My eyes flicked to Theo's, his were on Isadora’s face. He looked a little sad.
"Dora," he said, voice soft and barely audible. His nickname for her so intimate. I didn't need any Stoicheio to make my face heat. Her gaze shifted back. A smile as false as the one Theo had worn graced her lovely lips.
"It's all right, darling. I understand. I was gone for such a long term, this time. When you have had your fill, you know where to find me."
I blinked in shock. No way in hell could I be so forgiving of someone, who was obviously very close to me, cheating. Not that Theo was cheating on her with me. Well, he kind of was, but not entirely, not all the way. We'd only kissed. And I was living in his house. And he had been ostracised by his father, the King, for four weeks in order to have me. Nothing really.
Right.
"What is your name, child?" Isadora, Dora, said, a brave countenance on her face. She'd obviously not heard Theo's introduction, I decided to stick with his name for me, he seemed to want everyone to call me that.
"Cassandra," I said, surprised to note compassion in my voice for the woman.
She blinked slowly. "You know some of our world, if Theodoros has brought you here this evening."
I nodded.
"Isadora," Theo tried to interrupt, but she held a delicate hand up to stall him. I noticed it shook slightly.
"Enjoy him while he enjoys you," she advised, "but do not think he can give you more than his body."
Oh, now this was awkward.
"Dora!" Theo persisted, this time in a tone that made her head jerk up. "Cassandra is Gi."
Holy freak out. Gold glowed fiercely from her eyes, I was so sure she'd blind me. She turned her shocked face towards me, and I felt the heat of her Fire, before I saw it. Theo suddenly stepped between us and took the blast of her righteous anger instead of me. He staggered slightly, but didn't retaliate. I could see smoke wafting off the shoulders of his suit jacket. His fists were clenched at his sides, but I couldn't see his face, or hers. He was too tall and broad in the shoulders for me to see past. And I admit, I was making myself as small as possible right then. All eyes had turned to us. No one spoke a murmured sound throughout the room.
"What have you done?" Isadora whispered harshly. "What the hell have you done, Theo?"
I expected him to come back with some cutting remark about how good I was in bed, or how much he enjoyed the idea of bringing a Gi to their knees, or any of the number of other responses he'd had on his lips tonight. But he didn't. He said nothing. As though speaking an untruth would harm this woman more. She meant something to him. And I felt myself retreat a little further inside myself at that knowledge.
This was good. This is was I needed to hear and see. Theo was never to be mine anyway, and pretending he was, being hurt when I had no right to be hurt, were luxuries not available to me.
For some reason I felt stronger in the face of this insurmountable truth. It gave me the courage I had been lacking in order to face the rest of the next four weeks. I needed Theo for answers. No matter what, I could not need him, want him, for any more.
This was good.
"Isadora, let me explain," Theo finally said, his voice infinitely soft and caring.
"No. I see now why you will not be attending the meeting tomorrow. We should not be conversing at all. I will not have you bring me down too, Theo. I have worked too hard for the position I hold."
"Have we not been friends for millennia?" he said quietly. I pushed the evidence of his vast age aside for now. One calamity at time was enough to handle. "Have I not been a good friend in all of those long years?"
"You have been a true friend," Isadora admitted, I think she had leaned forward and placed a hand on his chest. "So, this is why I speak freely. Get rid of her, before it's too late. For all of our sakes."
"It already is," he whispered back. He had leaned forward, his hands clasping her shoulders again, and whispered those words in her ear. He jerked, when he said them. I was thinking because she did. A full body spasm against his chest.
Her pain-filled response felt like a blow to my heart, because I knew it would hurt Theo.
"Good-bye," she choked out, and then she extricated herself from his stiff arms and walked away, head held high, gold washing out before her
.
Theo stood still for so long, I thought he might have forgotten me. When he finally turned back to look down at me, he wore a mask. No emotion, whatsoever, graced his fine features. His eyes flicked over my shoulder and he nodded to someone I couldn't see. Then he turned on his heels and walked away. In the same direction that Isadora had.
I wasn't sure if I should follow. Part of me wanted to comfort him so badly, the other part, the intelligent part, did not want to see him beg her to take him back. I stood immobile, breathing too quickly, in the centre of that horrid, horrid room. With so many accusing eyes on my body. So much prickly heat threatening to do me harm.
I was about to turn around and run from the building when Nico appeared at my side.
"Time for bed, Cinderella," he murmured beside me. A little subdued from his earlier self. He offered me his arm, like Theo does, and said, "Your carriage awaits."
So, he was to be my escort out of here and I was going home to Theo's house alone.
Chapter Twelve
And The Butler Hadn't Batted An Eyelash
When I was a little girl I dreamed about being a princess. Who doesn't? My prince would be tall and handsome. He would be rich and carry himself well. He would fight for the weaker and for justice. And he would love me like no one had ever been loved before. It was a sweet childhood daydream.
And it's not as though I thought I had found my prince in Theo. A prince, certainly, but not mine. But nowhere in that child's dream did I consider the prince would love someone else.
The depth of my confusion astounded me.
I barely heard a word Nico said on the drive back to Mountain Road. When the tyres crunched on the gravel driveway I woke as though from a hazy nightmare. And I knew I would never consider being a princess ever again. Hell, if I made it out of this mess alive, I was going to be ahead of the game.
"Thank you," I murmured as I opened my door and climbed from the car. I didn't walk toward the steps of the house where Aktor was waiting. I rounded the bonnet of the car and headed towards the trees.
I heard Nico's door close behind him and his footsteps cross the gravel in my wake. I stopped on the edge of the grass that led to my forest.
When had I started calling it mine?
"Do you want to know about them?" he asked from over my shoulder.
I shook my head to say, no.
"It might help," Nico offered.
I turned slowly to face him, searching for the truth in his face. I sighed. He looked embarrassed for me. I was embarrassed enough on my own without knowing he felt it on my behalf too.
I resumed walking toward the forest. It took the whispering of the trees to inform me that Nico had followed. He was either a very brave man to enter my domain, or utterly ignorant of what I could do here.
I stopped in the small cave that I had spent time resting in that day. Where Theo had hung from the vines and incinerated them earlier. Where he had laid on the ground when I was so desperately needing to feed. Holding me. I thought I could get away from him here, obviously I was fooling myself.
"Why are you here, Nico?" I asked, reaching out and stroking a leaf on a nearby tree.
"Actually, I'm curious to see your Stoicheio at work. There's something about you that has Theo enchanted. I'm trying to understand."
"I'm not a science experiment."
"No, but you cannot deny you intrigue us. A Gi on Pyrkagia land. Why are you really here, Casey Eden?"
I turned to look at him. Was this the real reason for following me into my trees? He didn't believe that I'd been human once. He believed, like the rest of Pyrkagia believed, that I was here as a Gi spy and he wanted to test my strength, my command of my Stoicheio.
I wasn't sure if I was disappointed in this revelation or tired of beating my head against a brick wall. Why had I even admitted the truth to him earlier? It was clearly a waste of everyone's time.
"I might point out," I said in a deceptively soft voice, "in the fairness of disclosure, that Theo was unable to escape my vines with his Fire. You should know, that even the mighty Theo Peters couldn't better my Stoicheio."
"Ah," Nico said, starting to walk the circumference of the space under the canopy of leaves we were in. "You mistake restraint for weakness. Has it not occurred to you that he wished to keep you happy, to not alienate you by burning to the ground the one thing that feeds you on his property?"
Good point. My eyes lowered to the leaf strewn floor.
"I might point out," Nico continued, a little cockily, "in the fairness of disclosure of course, that Theodoros Petropoulos is one of our most powerful Pyrkagia. There would only be a handful stronger. He is slated for our next Rigas."
My eyelids closed slowly. No wonder everyone thought he'd lost his mind.
"So, what's the point of all of this?" I asked, waving a hand between Nico and myself.
"I have known Theo for over three millennia." I didn't blink at the unfathomable period of time. I was past shock and awe now. This was real. This was life. I can't say I had accepted it, but I had stopped being surprised by it. "We grew up together. Did all the things young lads should do. Got into trouble. Pissed off our parents. Competed for the most delicious morsels at the table." I was betting that wasn't the same type of table I grew up eating at. "Through all of that he and Isadora have remained friends."
I sat down on the ground and leaned against a tree trunk. If I had to hear this I'd do it with a little support at my back. I stretched my legs out, letting the skirt of my dress fan out across the ground. Nico's lips twitched at my comfortable appearance and lack of concern for what was, no doubt, a thousand dollar dress. He shrugged his shoulders and sat down opposite me, back against another trunk. His long legs stretched out before him, almost touching the tip of my high heeled shoes.
"She loves him, of course," he said, picking up his story easily. I kept a neutral look on my face, but held his gaze. I did need to hear this. "From time to time they would become more than friends. The length of our lives is so great, we are all reluctant to commit. Several thousand years with one partner is daunting, no?" Nico said, offering up a crooked smile. "Theo would grow restless, and Isadora would let him go. This is a cycle that has repeated throughout time for them both. She holds him for as long as he lets her, then relinquishes that hold when he starts to pull away."
I let a slow incredulous breath out.
"So, he uses her to get his jollies, then walks off to find something shiny and new when he's grown bored."
"Basically that sums it up," Nico said merrily, quite at odds to the mood on the air just then.
"Great, thanks for letting me know how it is. As I only have four weeks here, he'll be free to pursue another cycle with your girl. It did appear they hadn't seen each other for a while. Maybe it's time for a re-run."
Nico stared at me for several seconds, I wasn't sure what emotion was on his face.
"It is the way of an Athanatos, Casey," he finally said. "You are new to this life, you don't understand." Holy heck, he did believe I was human once. "Theo will never commit to anyone. Not you, but also not Dora. She has no more hold over him than you do. I thought that would ease your suffering somehow. I thought it would help you understand how we live. How we survive. Marriage is sacred to our kind. When we split the branches of the Ekmetalleftis, many marriages were torn apart brutally. Since then, marriage has been revered. We no longer have a God to pray to, but we certainly have something to place our faith within. Not many Ekmetalleftis divorce. They would undoubtedly be shunned."
"Why would you think I would harbour a wish to marry him?"
"Humans have such a limited range of thought," he said, rather judgementally. "To you, love means marriage. The full trimmings. You are still human in your thoughts, Casey. I can see it. Theo can see it. If you're not careful, so will every other Athanatos you meet. You love him, so your heart can't stop leading you to the next step. Love - marriage - babies. Isn't that how it goes?"
"You know, I
don't think I like you very much," I pointed out.
Nico laughed, a full body rumble. "Sometimes the truth hurts."
"Now, you see, I would have said, 'sometimes we have to be cruel to be kind'. But I guess, I'm just a nicer person."
"I see the Fire," he murmured. "You don't show it much. You hold it inside. But, by God, when you let a little of it out, it scorches. No wonder he is intrigued."
I shook my head. Nico was not going to be any assistance in working out what the hell had become of my life. He had a sharp edge to him, I was guessing it was what Theo had been careful of that first night. He must still trust his cousin, because he wouldn't let his 'possession' go home with just anyone and he hadn't baulked when I divulged my human history in the car. But I didn't think that trust was infinite. And it certainly wasn't enough to make me trust the man either.
"Well thanks for the education," I said, settling my hands into the loose soil at my sides. "But I think I've heard enough."
He cocked his head at me, that crooked smile on his face again. It was laced with amusement, and a little incredulity, and a whole lot of cocky self-assurance. He didn't like being dismissed. I knew I shouldn't do it. The more people I alienated, the more danger I was in. But I'd had a rough night. So many hurtful things had been said. I felt stronger now. Truth did cause pain, but it was a necessity. But I also didn't need Nico Peters pushing that lesson home. I was thinking he enjoyed my discomfort. I was sick of not being able to push back.
"Now would be a good time to leave, Nico," I suggested, as the trees began to sway slowly, and the leaves tinkled delicately around us. The Earth beneath my fingers sighed; drawing from me, giving back. A low rumble sounded out, like the growl of a volcano waking up. My warning to Nico.
"Will I make it out unscathed?" he asked casually, seemingly without any fear at all. He stood gracefully to his feet, but had to keep his stance wide to maintain his balance.
"I haven't decided yet," I replied, toying with him a little.
Elemental Awakening Book Bundle Page 13