Ch 7


I woke up to the sound of pounding on the door, I shot up startled and hurriedly got dressed not caring much for the clothes shoved into the bag on the floor as I sprinted out of the room and to the front door. Opening the door I was faced with a man whose dark grey eyes were like two black coals staring into my soul. He was tall, at least a foot taller than me and was a darkened olive tone with a wolfish smile.

"Meela is it?" He said roughly, his voice was gravelly and dark. I simply nodded at him and tried to avoid his dark gaze, the look he gave me made me tremble before I realised I had to at least look strong. "I heard about what happened to your father, I worked with him once before. My name is Aesop." He, Aesop said before he hummed a short sigh.

"Huh..." I said, "He never spoke about you before." Aesop grinned and put forth his hand I took it warily and was stunned when he quickly took my hand up and kissed it gently, it felt wrong so very wrong. Not wanting to show how much this disturbed me I slowly drew back my hand after he let it go and looked up at him silently cursing his out of line action.

"Why are you here? Everyone else has already said their pity and their 'I'm sorry'." By everyone, I meant just Ismene's mother but that didn't matter, she was really the only other person he was close with.

He looked down to the ground, a look of slight guilt on his face as he spoke softly, "I know that but I was gone and just heard about it late last night and it felt wrong to disturb a beautiful lady while she would be resting. So I waited for the morning and now here I am. I'm sorry if it bothers that I'm here so early, I didn't mean to wake you."

Though he first seemed off this was a kind gesture, at least he did wait for the morning, not that I was asleep much last night. I took a moment to completely gather my thoughts and invited him in, I shouldn't be rude even if my father just died. He smiled kindly and walked in before taking a seat in the sitting room. I followed after but went into the kitchen quickly to grab some fruit to snack on for both of us. I place the bowl of fruit in the middle of the table that separated us as I sat down. For a moment it was quiet but Aesop soon spoke up.

"What are you going to do now? I mean this with no disrespect but it would be quite impossible for you to stay here any longer alone. It is quite hard for a lady to keep a house to herself without a male family member or a husband." This made me jerk my head towards him and stare at him with shock. Was he insinuating that I get married to him? No, I didn't even-

"Not that I'm suggesting we get married!" His voice was rushed and sudden, he must have caught on to what I was thinking.

"This isn't me proposing to you, I promise." Those words made something click in me, I said that to Atreo when we first met.

I must have spaced out for a while because when I finally snapped back to the conversation Aesop was watching me with a worried expression on his face. My face flushed red as I look down and quickly spoke, "I'm sorry, I must have spaced out for a second." My voice came out quieter than I wanted it to and I thought for a moment that he didn't hear me but was proven wrong when he gently said, "It's alright I did kinda suggest you getting married and it must have shocked you. I didn't mean for that to happen, sorry."

He continued to mumble apologies until I interrupted him with a simple, "It's alright." He looked at me and smiled sweetly, something completely different from his smile earlier, this one seemed genuine and caring. His eyes, that were once dark and intimidating, had softened and were more welcoming and kind.

We sat there and talked for an hour or two, honestly, I lost count because we were both so invested in the conversation only stopping every once in a while to get a few more fruits to share. It was when he had stopped me and kindly said, "Sorry to stop you but by the looks of it, it's time for prayers, would you like to go with me to the temple of Demeter to pray for a good harvest?"

I stopped and looked outside seeing the sun in high midday rise. I paused for a moment to think. Pray? To the same Gods who took everything from me? Why should I do such a thing, the Gods already hate me so what's the use in praying to them? But Aesop was so kind and caring, funny even and I don't want to seem like I hate the Gods, even if I do. I looked back at him and smiled softly before speaking in my soft voice.

"Yes, I wouldn't mind going to pray with you."

He smiled goofily making me giggle for a moment before asking him to wait outside while I changed into proper clothing. He walked out the door and I rushed into my room and paused seeing the bag full of clothes lying on the floor. I was going to leave today and try to make it up to Rome and find Ismene and Adrian. I sigh sadly and look through the bag pushing all those thoughts away and focusing on finding something proper to wear to the temple. Finally finding what I was looking for I smiled slightly before changing into the beautiful pearl white toga dress and put a silver himation around it. I put on a simple silver bracelet that I was given by my father as a gift. Once I felt proper enough to go I shoved the clothes back into the bag and was able to put everything else I didn't pack last night also in the bag. It took me a while but I finally left the house and was greeted by Aesop just outside the door.

"Took you long enough." He said with a laugh as he smiled at me.

"You do look beautiful though." I looked down and blushed lightly and smiled before quickly saying "Let's get going, we don't want to keep the Gods waiting now do we?" He smiled brightly before leading me up the path to Demeter's temple.

Reaching the gleaming marble white steps of the temple I took a moment to look at the beautifully crafted temple. It shone in the sunlight and there was a small fountain in the centre of a garden by the temple. The garden was full of wonderful and bright coloured flowers. The air was full of a sweet scent that was carried off the garden in the light breeze that cooled the midday's heat. I smiled as I saw all of this and snapped out of my trance quickly walking up the smooth marble steps and into the welcoming temple. Aesop followed behind slowly taking in my amazed face, I must have looked like a child seeing the sea in a beautiful sunset for the first time. Soon Aesop and I found a spot among the others and went to pray. Although I harboured a great hatred towards the Gods, it was towards them not the people of Athens so even with my anger I prayed for a good harvest. I couldn't put Athens in famine because of my own selfish hatred, no, that would be worse than have hatred towards the Gods.

After our prayers, Aesop spent the rest of the day walking around Athens with me, for someone that was so intimidating when we first met he was actually a great company. With everything that had occurred only a day before I was surprisingly happy. He made me laugh and smile more than I had in the past 24 hours. The only other time I could think about that was like this was my meetings with Atreo but with his absence from our meeting last night I doubt I would be meeting with him anytime soon. Thinking back to last night I remembered being chased by the hellhound and so I looked to Aesop. Perhaps I should let him know, he's been so kind to me and I don't want to keep this to myself it feels too important to keep hidden. Besides, if I do end up liking him maybe even marry him, it seems like something he should know in case it happens again. I pause for a moment rethinking what I just thought, marry him? Wow, how did that even slip into my thoughts? I just met him this morning and it seems like I already have some kind of affection for him, though I'm not sure if it's just attraction or actually love but I can't get ahead of myself. Finally deciding to tell him I stop walking and turn towards him, he stopped walking once he saw I had and looked to me worried, "What's wrong Meela?"

I sigh loudly and look up at him and pulled him out of the way of everyone else in the streetway. Looking down I began to talk in a hushed tone hoping to not caught the listening ear of a passerby.

"Aesop I want to let you know about something that happened last night. I don't know why or how but I was um, well out in a meadow last night when I heard something behind me." I paused for a second to look up at him finding him looking at me with a frown on his face.

"What is it, what happened?" He said quickly before waiting for me to respond. I looked back down almost embarrassed.

"I turned around but I could see anything, it was then when I realised it was a, um, a hellhound." I looked back up at him and continued as I saw the look of surprise and worry on his face.

"I ran from it and somehow I was able to get away, but I'm worried it might come after me again."

That was partially a lie, something told me I wouldn't be hunted down by a hellhound again but I didn't want to tell him that it would seem really odd for someone to feel safe after narrowly getting killed by a hellhound granted no one has lived being chased by one, but still. Aesop took my hand gently and looked into my eyes, "I won't let anything happen to you Meela, I promise I'll protect you." He didn't even seem to question why I was chased, though it's not like I knew why myself but it didn't matter now.

After that, we spent the rest of the day together peacefully. When the sun fell from the sky waiting to rise on the next,  Aesop walked me back to my house and left a simple kiss on my hand before he bid me goodnight. I slipped into my house with red cheeks and a bright smile on my face. He was quite charming and not too bad looking. I sighed lightly before heading into my room and grabbed the bag of all of my clothes. I dumped the bag onto my bed and began sorting everything back into my closet. After the nice day I had, I think I'll stick around for a bit longer to see how things play out. I have my father's funeral tomorrow anyway, I can't just leave without properly saying goodbye to his soul. Once I finished putting everything back I got changed into my nightgown and slipped into my bed drifting off into a peaceful rest for once.

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