Chapter Forty-Seven
I had hoped that my encounter with Cleon would be my only one with any of the young men that day. Perhaps that would have been the case had I not been out after dusk.
Once again, I had gone to see Phile and bring her a tonic for her cough, though her servant informed me she had already retired for the night. Leaving the brew with them, I headed back to the village.
Clouds obscured the moon and stars, casting shadows over shadows, while the fires that burned inside every home thickened the air with smoke. I was lost in my thoughts when a man slipped out from between two of the buildings and stood on the path, blocking my way.
By instinct, my hand reached down to my waist where I kept a knife sheathed, for even in the darkness, I knew who had accosted me.
“Kakos?” I tried to keep my tone neutral. “If it is Phile you are after, I’m afraid your request will have to wait until morning. She has retired already.”
Kakos’s smile tightened, his eyes narrowing. “No, it is not Phile I wished to speak to but you.”
Unlike Cleon, whose posture had been open, almost reticent, Kakos stood with his arms folded across his chest. Such a posture was perfect for concealing a weapon, so I slipped my hand around the hilt of my knife.
“If this is about the Dionysia, I have spoken to Cleon already. The festival will go ahead as always.”
“No, it is not about the Dionysia.”
“Then can it wait until morning?” I asked. The night was bitter, and though they were gloved, my fingers throbbed from the cold. This was not a conversation I wished to have at any time but even less so there, alone in the frigid air.
“It is not a long question,” Kakos said, ignoring my request. “I merely wish to know what will happen when I take a wife.”
“You have proposed marriage?” A sudden rush of heat replaced the cold. “I had not heard.”
He stepped forward, a sneer rising on his lips.
“What I asked is what will happen when I do? I assume I would not be kept separate from my wife, my children? I would be able to return here and live as a husband should be able to?”
The meaning of his words became clear. This was not an announcement. He wished to test me. And threaten me, I suspected.
I crossed my arms, mirroring his pose as I stepped toward him, close enough that he could see the unblinking truth in my eyes.
“There are hundreds, thousands of villages and towns throughout these lands and beyond where you and your wife can make your home. I am sure you will be very happy there. If you find someone to accept your proposal.”
His lips twitched.
“So we would not be welcome? That is what you are saying? You would not allow me to live in the very place where I grew up? The place I had a claim to long before you dragged your scrawny-arsed, drunkard husband here?”
He uncrossed his arms to reveal only clenched fists, though he did not move any closer.
“You came for an answer, Kakos, and you have it. Now go,” I said. Any flutter of fear had faded once I knew he was unarmed, though his anger intensified.
“You silly bitch. You cannot do this. You have no rights. We will go to the polis, tell them what you have done. Tell them how you murdered all the men here. We will see you imprisoned.”
That was as much as I could take from this young fool. My arm snapped up and raised my knife. In a heartbeat, I pressed the blade to his chest. The fool could have easily twisted away from me, but his fear was enough to root him to the spot.
“You are threatening me?” My voice slithered into his ear. “You have come here on your own, in the dark of night, to threaten me? A woman who has killed men twice your size?”
His voice quivered, but he refused to yield. “You will not get away with this. You should pay for your actions.”
“Pay for my actions?” I lowered my arm and stepped back.
My narrow glare was enough to keep him held in place.
“I paid for them every night, as did every woman here. You think mine are the only hands covered in blood? Ask your mother what she did. What the women who raised you did. If you want to imprison me, you will need to imprison us all. Believe me, Kakos, you are here by invitation only. Invitation that can be easily revoked, in whatever manner I choose.”
Kakos scowled so deeply his wrinkles were that of an old man. For a moment, I thought he might come at me again and I would be forced to test the knife against his chest, but instead, he snarled.
“I will not forget this,” he hissed before twisting on his heel and striding away.