Chapter 25 HYPATIA CALLS YOU
Chapter twenty-five
HYPATIA CALLS YOU
Amira
Rian conquered Mionlach.
There were many possible reasons the Autumn Prince may have suddenly made such aggressive moves against his own people. But it was far more likely that he found out about the allies we had started exploring there before the altercation in the Spring Quadrant.
And I imagined the discovery would have completely undermined my letter to Ornella.
Riordan and Orion were now in a private meeting with the king’s closest advisors to discuss the situation and our response to it.
Riordan had suggested I should join them, but I’d opted to occupy myself with something that felt a little more within my control.
An endeavour that never failed to make me feel like I was making the difference that I so desperately wanted to be making.
It also provided a good distraction to keep my errant mind from obsessively replaying those blissful moments with Riordan and Orion in the archives the day before.
I had always been skeptical about the idea of having more than one man, but knowing Orion had opened my heart in such unexpected ways.
But even before I began warming to the idea of loving two men, I only ever dared to fantasize of having them both…
together. Perhaps that was just prejudice from my old life, but it never occurred to me that two men could also want something like that.
And yet it had all felt like the most natural thing in the world when we were in the archives.
“Thank you!” said the Ktínos woman with a toddler on her hip who was whining and making grabby hands at the bread I had just given them. “We missed you, my lady.”
“I also missed seeing all of you,” I admitted honestly, returning her smile as she made way for the next person in line. There were only a few people left, and the sky was beginning to darken.
“So… do I really need to ask or are you going to ever tell me what the fuck happened with Orion?” asked Ares once the last person was served.
“I think that was you asking,” I noted evasively.
“Alright, fine, so what the fuck was that?” he insisted, unabashedly nosey as usual.
Thankfully, Sofia gave him a smack on the shoulder.
“It is hardly your business,” she chastised him despite the fact I knew she was every bit as curious as he was.
“So?” he challenged her, tail swishing in aggravation that he had been repressing all day.
“You have to ask Orion,” I informed him and began to help prepare the dishes to be washed. Knowing that Ares would never even entertain such a ludicrous idea.
“Thárrosi!” he shouted in a mock injury as his hand slapped against his chest. “Why do you threaten me?”
“So dramatic,” I muttered, fighting a smile as I shook my head at his persistence.
“Stop flirting and get back to work somewhere else!” Helena’s voice cut sharply through the air, making Ares straighten to attention.
“I was not… I would never dream of… Yes, mitéra,” he muttered finally, bowing his flushing face before he jumped into the air with a rush of air under his wings.
“That was mean,” I chuckled as Helena joined me and Sofia to begin preparations to leave.
“They found his sister. My tolerance for his nonsense is now back at zero,” Helena shrugged.
I had been so relieved to hear Althaea was found just that morning, although she did not remember what had happened to her.
One second she was following Nikos through the busy streets of árgos, and the next she was waking up in a gutter at the outskirts of town.
With all of her injuries, it had taken her some time to heal before she was able to fly home.
“We should move quickly. It is getting dark and this city can be unsavoury when all the unsound come out,” Helena urged me.
I hesitated when her words jarred a memory of Castor suggesting I should look into another group of people. People he had dubbed mentally unsound who evidently lived in warehouses by the docks.
“Do you mean people who are mentally ill?” I asked as I continued my efforts to clean up.
“Them and the criminals,” Helena shrugged as if she did not see a difference.
Riordan was so sure that Castor was to blame in some part for whatever schemes were being concocted against the both of us.
But then why would he send me to help the most marginalized people in all of the Rookery?
It could be a trap, of course, luring me in with something he knew was so important to me.
But it suddenly occurred to me that if I could confirm it was not a trap, that Castor did genuinely wish to help, it could prove his trustworthiness.
Then I could know for sure whether he was an enemy or a potential ally.
“I would like to visit the docks,” I announced and both Helena and Sofia turned wide eyes on me.
“You want to—” Helena bit off her retort with a sigh. “Thárrosi, it is not safe there.”
“We have plenty of guards with us,” I objected with a glance at my handmaiden who looked a little pale.
“Be that as it—” Helena began.
“I need to know something. Castor told me—”
“Castor is the one who told you to go to the docks?” Sofia verified, her face now flushing with temper.
“All the more reason not to go there,” Helena stated and reached for me. I had to pull my arm away when she tried to draw me away from the supplies I was packing. As if she were so worried by my request that she wanted to take me home before the cleanup was done.
“I need to know if I can trust him!” I tried to explain. “Riordan thinks he is an enemy—”
“He is an evil man,” Sofia growled, her eyes flashing with a viciousness that I had never seen in her before.
“You know something about him,” I said, recalling the way she had reacted to him when he came to warn me at Ergastiri before the battle. “You must tell me if there—”
“Do not trust him, Amira! What else must I tell you?” Sofia demanded of me in exasperation.
“Alright, fine, but there is still plenty of aid that I can provide to anyone living in the warehouses,” I insisted.
“He told you about this because he knew that it would make you want to go there!” Sofia berated as she lost all pretense of decorum and began to wring her hands.
I hesitated as the realization crashed over me that she was not just taking issue with Castor but the warehouses themselves as well.
“You know someone there,” I blurted thoughtlessly.
Sofia’s eyes flared, looking like an animal caught in a snare as her fists balled at her sides.
“Perhaps you should return to the Mountain City while we go to the—” Helena began, trying to pull Sofia back. But my handmaid shoved Helena’s arm away.
“No! I will go with you! Just know that he has done this intentionally!” she hissed at me.
I hesitated in uncertainty of whether I wanted to risk upsetting her so badly. But if she really did have family down there, then I did want to help! If her reaction was merely due to the taboo that surrounded mental health, then I wanted my friend to know I would not judge her.
“I can help,” I insisted, but her glare did not soften.
“Your curiosity will never be sated until you have gone now so let us get this over with!” she growled. Then she jumped into the air to fly toward the docks before I could decide whether it was best to back off.
“Perhaps we should leave the others behind and just go ourselves to spare her any embarrassment,” I suggested.
Helena sighed. “I trust you can defend yourself should the need arise,” she muttered.
I left it to Helena to deal with Ares whose objections could be heard from where I finished up with my part of the cleanup.
Once it was finished, Helena scooped me up as usual, but we flew to the north of the city instead of east toward Ergastiri across the lake.
We landed on the cobblestones next to Sofia who stood waiting with arms crossed and her brow furrowed.
“I apologize,” she gritted out reluctantly once I was on my own feet in front of her again.
“Do not apologize! I am the one who is sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you, and if this really is too much for you, then just tell me right now and we will go.”
She heaved a sigh and turned her face toward the dark buildings behind us that overlooked the filthy docks.
“I hope you have a strong stomach,” she muttered and then looped her arm through mine to lead us to the door.
The smell hit me first, the overwhelming but terribly familiar scent of unwashed bodies and waste, but it did not rattle my resolve.
Even when Helena coughed from behind us and tugged her tunic out of her armour to pull it over her lower face.
Sofia merely grimaced and continued moving deeper into the dilapidated building.
After a few moments of wandering through the dusty rooms that were filled with shattered furniture, we came upon people.
I’d had my fair share of experiences in Scarborough with the mentally ill and homeless.
While some of them could actually be dangerous, the vast majority were just deeply misunderstood.
And many people feared what they did not understand, which was why Helena now walked with her hand on the hilt of her sword.
“What is the plan here, Amira?” she hissed at me.
I had been considering the same thing as I eyed each of the dirty people curled up on ratty blankets. Some of them swatted at flies, aware enough of their surroundings, while others were carrying on whole conversations with only themselves.
“They need food, clothing, blankets, and medical care just like everyone in the Rookery. Only it will have to be brought to them. And it will have to be a small and quiet operation so as not to overwhelm them,” I added.
“Meaning you intend to come back here with just the three of us,” Helena sighed knowingly.
“Look at these people,” I insisted over my shoulder. “Are you saying you do not wish to help them?”
She did not reply, and I had no idea how she felt.