Chapter Eleven #2
“Come in, it’s not like I can say no to one of Alexander’s reserve Agiorgitikos.” She held the door open wider for him to come in. He slipped in quickly and immediately Mykonos trotted over to him and nuzzled against his leg.
Thalia’s eyes flared. “What a traitor.”
“You are the one who let him inside the room,” Mykonos purred back.
“You are doing that thing again,” Dimitris started, “where the two of you talk to each other.”
“Does it bother you?” she asked, though his answer wouldn’t stop her from speaking with her psychí, even in his presence.
“It is minorly disconcerting, but only because I am completely fascinated by what you two would discuss and have a sneaking suspicion it is about me.” He slid down onto the couch, placing each glass on the table before pulling a corkscrew out of his pocket.
The cork popping was like music to Thalia’s ears.
A chance to let the flavors of the world slide past her tongue.
A way to travel without ever leaving the confines of her bedchambers.
Spices from all over Odessia mixed with fruit that was only found in very specific regions or isles.
This bottle in particular was her favorite, not because of its rarity, but because the grapes used were grown along the shores of a small isle just off the coast of where she was born.
A memory she craved with every drop that passed her lips.
Dimitris poured a small bit of the wine in one of the glasses, extending it toward Thalia. “Would you like to try it? Make sure it hasn’t gone bad?”
She took the glass, swirling the stem around with her fingers so that the deep crimson liquid slid up the side, leaving trace amounts of the color as it settled back at the bottom.
Raising the glass to her nose, she inhaled deeply, allowing the rich flavors to prickle the inside of her nostrils, imagining the warm breeze that used to circle around her as a child.
Letting the scent fill the missing parts of her soul that had been picked away over the years.
“It’s perfect,” she said, placing the glass back down next to the bottle so Dimitris could pour a full glass.
“Perfect? You didn’t even taste it.” He laughed, but poured two glasses anyway.
“I don’t need to taste it. You can tell everything about a wine simply from its scent,” she replied.
Dimitris slid closer to her, filling her glass with a hefty pour before he did the same to his own. “Yet another thing that is fascinating about you.”
He clinked his glass against the side of hers before he brought the rim to his lips, taking a sip that had his Adam’s apple bobbing up and down and the Fates be damned if Thalia didn’t watch as his eyes closed while he enveloped the taste.
“Do you like it?” Thalia asked, taking a small sip of her own wine. She preferred to savor this particular blend, letting it sit on her tongue a moment before she let it slide down her throat.
“I do, although I will admit I like most wine…I never had an affinity for it like my brother, but I can appreciate a blend like this over your typical bottle.” Dimitris cocked his head to the side, his eyes lighting once more.
“Is there a reason you seem to enjoy this particular one—other than it came from my brother’s special collection?
You seemed shamelessly giddy when I showed up at the door holding it. ”
“Yes…” Thalia shifted about in her seat, while Mykonos curled right by her hip. “It reminds me of home…or at least the home I would have, if my sister and I hadn’t been sent to Delphine at such a young age.”
“Do you remember much of it? Home?” Dimitris asked, his voice lower and softer than just moments before. His deep black brows narrowed in and his hand seemed to twitch toward Thalia before he simply pulled it back.
Slapping her tail against the couch, Mykonos let out a brief meow. “Be careful, human, he might begin to think you like him if you share so much.”
Thalia swatted lightly at her psychí’s head, ruffling her fur. “Bits and pieces, yes, although over time it has faded.”
Even so, sometimes when she closed her eyes Thalia swore she could still feel the rocky coastline beneath her feet.
Feel the way the smooth stones would massage her soles as she walked along the shore with her mother, the scent of buttered pastries and brine of the sea wafting through the summer’s breeze.
“I am sorry for that, truly. Have you never returned?” He leaned in again, ever so slightly, and her heart fluttered at the motion.
“The laws are very different in Anatole than in the isles. The people on the eastern continent do not believe in the same power that we do—they do not worship the god that gifts seers their ability. To them it is only a curse.” To her as well—this power would only ever be a curse.
“Maybe one day that will change, gatáki. Maybe one day you will return.”
Sighing, Thalia leaned back in her seat even more, letting her head rest atop the couch back. “You would know all about changing traditions wouldn’t you?”
“What exactly do you mean?” he asked, cocking his head to the side like a young pup.
“Perhaps this is not the time to bring up the prince’s shortcomings,” Mykonos hissed.
“I heard about your trysts in Nexos, how they led to one of your kind being shunned from her pack, shut off from the bond you wolves seem to treasure so much all because, what? You did not think you would learn to love her? There is more to a partnership than the infatuation people call love.” It had pained Thalia more than she cared to admit when Alexander told her the story of her brother and his betrothed.
To be exiled from one’s pack must feel the same as when a seer was cut off from their psychí.
Gods, the wine must be going to her head if she dared bring this up, but the mention of returning home had sunk in her heart faster than a stone in the sea and perhaps she wanted someone to wallow in the tides with her.
“I feel terrible about what happened with Marianna, that I led her on with no intention of going through with our arrangement, but how would you feel knowing your entire life was planned out for you? That you had no say in what you did? Couldn’t even choose who you love?
What type of life is that?” Dimitris pinched the bridge of his nose, squeezing his eyes shut, before letting out a pained breath.
“When I refused the engagement I did not realize it meant she would be exiled from the pack. It was the first time in our history that had happened. If it is any consolation I really am sorry that she was caught in the crossfire of my decision, but I refuse to be sorry about doing the one singular thing I actually had control over.”
Thalia swallowed a large sip of wine, hoping it would dislodge the lump in her throat, but even the smooth burn of alcohol could not take away the feeling that ate at her insides.
For over twenty years, her life had been decided for her.
There was no free will when you were given to the temples of Delphine and she certainly had not gained any back when she was taken by the Lernaen Legion.
It wasn’t until Alexander gave her the opportunity to be free, to decide what she wanted to do, who she wanted to be, that she had a voice for herself.
Was Dimitris’s choice any different than her own?
Could she hate him for wanting the same things in life that she did—the ability to be free?
“You really didn’t know…what would happen to her?” Thalia said, barely in a whisper.
“I didn’t. Marianna understood why I did it and, although it took time to process, she forgave me.
It is only my siblings who never did.” Dimitris’s hands clenched into tight fists and Thalia could have sworn his eyes went glassy.
“It is easy for Alexander. He loves the woman he’s been bound to since he was a child.
He never had to fight for the ability to love, never felt the emptiness of knowing the one you were meant to be with was still out there.
The longing to be with a person who is continuously out of your reach. ”
“Do you think you’ll ever find them? The person that fills that hole in your heart?” She wasn’t even sure why she wanted to know, only that the way the words he spoke were everything she felt on the inside and never had the courage to say out loud.
Dimitris rose from his seat. “I—it is getting late. I should go.” He leaned down and took her hand in his, bringing it to his lips, grazing her with the lightest of kisses. “Thank you, Thalia, for the drink.”
This time she wanted to ask him to stay, to tell her more. But instead he slipped out of her door without another word and Thalia was only left with the buzzing phantom of his lips along her skin.