Chapter 9

Her happiness was short-lived. As soon as the race was over she leaned back in her seat to laugh over the sour defeat of the dragons but caught the sight of a familiar figure from the side of her eyes. It was the figure of Adna, the goddess of excess and as was natural to her, she held a jar of mead in one hand while the other dangled over the shoulder of a very beautiful male Aloni. Adna was a beautiful dark head goddess, willowy and tall but her elegance was destroyed by her love for the mead. She was laughing and staggering drunkenly. She caught sight of Helena and went over to meet her. The Aloni stood behind her as a show of submission as he bowed his head in Helena’s direction.

“Your highness,” she spoke in a slur as she dipped to a drunken bow. “I never thought I would see you here Queen Helena.” She flicked something off the Aloni’s shoulder. “I am just coming from Robos’ temple where he…,”

The Aloni must have pinched her as a warning because she jumped slightly and frowned at him. Then her eyes widened as she realized why he pinched her, her mouth formed a small circle and she slapped her palm on it.

“That was not what I meant…” she laughed.

Helena’s heart sank. Of course, it was what she meant but she pasted a smile on her face and pretended not to know what Adna was talking about. “What do you mean, Adna?”

“N-nothing your highness, I should go now.” She slung her arms around the Aloni’s waist. “Take me away from here.”

As they retreated Helena could hear the Aloni reprimand Adna while Adna defended herself and blamed the mead for her loose tongue. Tears threatened to pour from her eyes but Helena sniffed them back. She was a strong goddess, queen of gods she would not shed a tear in front of her subjects. Why should she shed tears for Robos’ actions? If he wanted to waste his time on his many whores it wasn’t in her place or anyone else’s to feel sorry for his actions.

Holding her head high she lifted the hem of her gown and descended the steps that would lead her out of the arena. The joy she came to seek here had gone cold.

Once back in her chamber she forced herself to sleep.

It took a week of lying to herself for Helena to finally admit that she was bothered by Robos’ happiness with his mistresses and also to admit that Eyrotia was a place she would rather be than home in Kpamos. It was time to pay another visit to that land.

In one week, after mulling over Robos’ actions and his latest mistress, that stupid bitch goddess Adna, she concluded that she deserved her  own happiness. Not just any happiness, she wanted the one she felt at Eyrotia, in the fishermen's village.

On a verge of desperation, she teleported herself back to Eyrotia, to the seaside with the salt and salty air. But the shore was empty. It wasn’t as she had expected. There were no fishermen with gleaming sweaty skin nor the chatter of said fishermen. Her disappointment was so profound that she swore she could feel her belly drop. It was just as well. Maybe this was a sign that she should stay away from Eyrotia and Ramus before trouble came knocking.

She walked the length of the shore enjoying the feel of the hot sand beneath her feet and the cool breeze that blew from the surface of the sea. Foaming water ran over the sand in small waves. She pushed her toes into the gritty mud and wondered what her life would be like if she hadn’t married Robos. From afar she could hear the sounds of sea birds flying low over the water to hunt for fish. The peace she felt here was so good, so new and foreign to her that she got lost in her thoughts and did not hear the sound of feet approaching until a shadow fell on her.

Helena jumped back and turned around sharply and her breath died in her throat.

Standing right there as though her thoughts conjured him was Demeus and if it was possible, he looked taller and his eyes glowed like never before. Helena forced herself to swallow to keep from sighing like a silly girl at the sight of him.

“Ramus!” she said exclaimed, her voice a little too sharp in her ears.

“ Helena, what a surprise!”

Demeus could have laughed at his fake surprise but the look on Helena’s face showed that she believed it was indeed a surprise. At first, he wasn’t sure she was the one standing at the shore with her toes buried in the sand, he had thought it was a fragment of his imagination because for days since he met her, the willful, stubborn redheaded woman who made his blood hot, he swore he could see her everywhere he went. She was like a plague he couldn’t get rid of and one that he didn’t even want to be rid of. For days, against his common sense, he came to the sea over again to see if, perchance, she would magically appear and speak to him again. He didn’t he missed though bright eyes that held the color of the sea in them. Even now as he looked at them he felt a stirring and he feared his feelings would show.

“What are you doing here?” Helena asked.

He searched his brain for a good excuse. “I… I wanted to uh… have a moment to myself.” He could just kick himself for not thinking of something smarter. She was a smart woman and if she put two and two together she would guess he had come here looking for her. “What are you doing here?” he asked in a bid to draw attention away from himself.

Helena felt a strange discomfort. How was she to explain she came all the way from Mount Kpamos to see a complete stranger.

“Uh… I…” she started. “I never quite left Jamark yet and I thought I should come back to see this beautiful ocean.” And the sinfully handsome man in front of me, but he didn’t need to know that. “Anyways,” she clapped her hands in from of her chest. “I should go now.”

“Are you leaving because of me?”

“No,” she replied quickly. Too quickly. “No not because of you.”

“Then walk with me.” He didn’t know why he offered, the best thing would be to let her go but for some reason, maybe madness, he wanted her to stay. He wanted to spend as much time with her and it seemed like the only natural thing to do. So he held his hand out to her. “Come with me.”

It sounded like a temptation to sin. After holding his breath for what felt like an eternity, Helena dropped her soft hands in his and the contact of her skin on his made him want to howl with joy.