Chapter 3 #2
Thanatos chuckled alongside me. “Why do you find that surprising?” he asked rhetorically. “Most gods are not so different from men in their speech. In fact, I am more surprised to hear that word out of you. I might ask how a proper priestess has learned to swear.”
“My sisters and I picked it up as adolescents,” I told him. “We’re not allowed to say such things, of course, which makes it all the more enticing to do so in private. Just another small rebellion we share.”
“You share it with me now, as well,” he pointed out. “It cannot be so guarded an act.”
“Oh, are you going to tell my keeper?” I sassed. “Perhaps I’ve already weighed my options. I’m prepared to bear my punishment, so long as I can witness his reaction to the sight of you.”
Thanatos grinned. “An entertaining proposal, though one I will refrain from enacting in the interest of your safety. This man—is he the one you rebel against?”
“Only partly. Keeper is harsh and mean, but our rebellions are more about finding what power we can within the rules that confine us. We oracles are sacred objects, after all. We’re held within the bounds of a certain image.”
“Ah, yes. The grander gods do love their decorum.” He folded his hands together. “And how does this restrict you, exactly?”
I frowned, twisting a corner of my blanket into a tight spiral.
“Well, we aren’t permitted to leave the temple grounds, so I haven’t seen much of the city.
Even inside the gates we cannot do anything significant without Keeper’s approval.
We’re dressed up and paraded about for important visitors to admire.
And we have to keep completely pure: clean, immaculate, and uninjured.
We can’t marry or…have men. Even if we wanted to.
” Why had I felt the need to add that? Stupid!
I laughed nervously, trying to distract from my awkwardness.
“It’s not all bad, though!” I added. “Sometimes I even think of this life as a blessing. We’re taken care of, and we’re not in danger.
I’m even a pretty good priestess, I think.
I know all the rituals, motions, and words.
I do good work and am revered by the people.
But sometimes it does feel overly constricting. ”
I realized how I’d been ranting, and a surge of embarrassment washed over me. I let out another vulgar word. “I’m sorry. I don’t know why I’m telling you this.”
Thanatos chuckled dryly. “I asked,” he reminded me. “I would not have done so had I not wanted to know.”
“That’s true. But I’m sure you’ve heard similar stories from many of the departed. My predicament isn’t special.”
“No. But I would like to hear more about you, all the same. Somehow, you are special. Tell me about your life, so that I may ponder how our conversation is possible at all.” He leaned toward me, sending a short flutter of movement down the feathers of his nearest wing. My heart skipped a beat.
“Fair enough,” I agreed, gathering myself. “Whatever you want to know. But I want to ask more about you, too! It could help us puzzle this out,” I added, pushing my luck.
“Ha. Why don’t you begin with your prophetic ability, and I will consider it?”
“Very well, Thanatos.” I watched his brow furrow momentarily, but I decided not to press.
When he awaited me wordlessly, I found my voice again.
“My sight...it came to me rather dramatically, I’m told, although I can’t remember much of what happened.
I just remember this overwhelming sensation—like I was going to burn up on the spot.
I was seven at the time.” I bit my lip shyly, and he nodded for me to continue.
“Actually, my sisters were gifted before I was,” I said, backtracking.
“The funny thing about us is that oracles usually come in ones and threes. I haven’t heard of any grand cities without one or three.
I guess we used to have a pretty old one here, and after she died it was just a few weeks before Apollo chose again.
“My sisters were just little girls who lived far apart—not one of them knew the others—but one morning they spoke together, from different parts of the city. The witnesses said their voices were loud and otherworldly, and in hindsight, they must have been in unison. In so many words, my sisters warned not to let the sheep out that day. A message was sent to the farmland and the sheep were herded back in; and by sunset, the elders learned that the animals’ pasture had been decimated by a landslide that would surely have killed at least some of them.
The girls were taken to the temple immediately, and have been there since.
“At that point, everyone thought it was over. We’d been blessed with three new oracles, and that number was lucky enough already.
But just a few months later I was in the market with my mother, and I’m told I just seized up and stared at the sky and started speaking in that loud, otherworldly voice. ”
“What did you say?”
“A confusing poem,” I told him. “To this day, we still don’t know what it means. It goes: A son is cursed by father’s crime to forge his path on blighted time. Shall hero’s valor battle fate when challenge knocks upon your gate?”
“Why must so many prophecies take the form of these unbearable riddles?” Thanatos complained. “I cannot say I have any idea what specifics it could be conveying. Nothing has happened yet?”
“Nope,” I said with a short laugh. “Don’t think we’ve had any cursed children or challenges at gates.
It’s kind of becoming a local legend, though.
I hear lots of young men hope to be the hero of the prophecy, or at least they joke about it.
But even though nothing has come of it yet, that moment still altered the rest of my life.
Half the market saw me go into trance, so I was taken to the temple at once.
It left no doubt that we now had four oracles.
The elders consider us blessed for it: our city was gifted both a ‘three’ and a ‘one’ this cycle. It must mean Apollo favors us.”
“They took you away right after you spoke the prophecy? And did the same with your sisters? What about your mother, then? Your families?”
I shrugged. “Our families were compensated for their losses. The girls all know who their parents are, but it’s painful for them to speak about it.
As for me, I never saw my mother again. Like I said, we aren’t permitted to go outside the temple grounds, and she’s never come to pray.
The only exceptions are the sacrificial processions.
During those, I look ahead. I try to ignore the faces in the crowd. ”
His expression softened. “You wish to avoid the memories?”
I nodded slowly. “The past is gone. It is better to pretend that I was born an oracle and have only ever known this life. Besides, my sisters are my family now. We grew up together. I love them very much.”
“Your sisters,” Thanatos repeated. His eyes narrowed. “Four of you in a tower, yet only one peers through my veil. What is it that you divine, Cyrie? What else does the gift of Apollo reveal to you?”
I nibbled my lip. A small, shameful groan escaped me before I could restrain it.
“Me?” I replied with reluctance. “Not much, I’m afraid.
I’m…truly awful at it. I can read the signs given to us from nature, and from the entrails of sacrifices, but I haven’t been into trance since that day at the market.
My sisters are much more useful than I am. ”
“And yet, here we are,” Thanatos pointed out.
“Yes. Here we are. I suppose my sight isn’t so worthless after all.
That’s a comforting thought.” I let my gaze linger on him, this winged beauty so enrapturing that I could almost forget the danger he embodied.
I watched the way the light played over his furrowed brows, watched the little frown that tugged the corners of his lips as he puzzled over the nature of our connection.
“Hmm,” he muttered, and I forced myself back to attention. “Strange, though, is it not? That you alone share my realm?”
“Maybe. But my sisters’ gifts all have a unique character as well,” I explained.
“Sophie is very good with weather, for instance. She can usually warn before harsh storms approach. Zoe has an exquisite mathematical mind, and she’s rightly predicted the yield of our crops for the last ten years.
And Alexandra…can do anything, really. Supplicants often come to her directly with their questions, and most of the time an answer is revealed to her. I’ve always been jealous of that.”
I gave it a thought, though, and brightened even more. “But I suppose that’s all worth it, since I can see you. If this is what my sight has given me, it is better than all of their gifts. I’m very grateful for it.”
“I have stood before many seers,” Thanatos said slowly, “and have never been seen. Your ability…it vexes me. Nevertheless, I think I am grateful as well.”
“Yeah?” I asked, grinning.
“Yes.” He relaxed into a smile that mirrored my own. “It is somewhat refreshing to speak with a living person. I had never really tried it before, but I have decided that I enjoy your company.”
“Yay,” I breathed, then quickly cleared my throat, hoping he hadn’t heard my awkwardness. “I mean, I like you too. I like to talk to you. Please come back.”
He restrained a laugh, but I saw it reach his eyes. “I have not even left yet.”
“Well…still,” I said, flustered. “Hey, this is new for me, too.” How was I supposed to think straight, looking at someone like that? It really wasn’t fair.
He rearranged his wings as if to further flaunt his divinity. “Will you tell me more? About you. What is your life like, day to day?”
“Oh. Okay,” I said nervously, wondering why the details of temple life would interest him.
Somehow, I found conversing about myself to be more intimidating than witnessing the souls of the dead.
Then again, perhaps that was why he was compelled to stay.
I snuggled deeper into my blanket and debated what to say.