Dying Ichor

THIRTEEN

   Elias was handed a small piece of parchment paper with a seal in the front of it.

The boy had been soaking in hot water for nearly an hour and had his muscles massaged by Hesiod' servants after his bath before the man took it upon himself to massage Elias. He even brought plates of food personally to him and was debating on feeding him when Elias hurriedly shook his head.

Elias popped a grape in his mouth and tossed the paper away in front of Hesiod. The host momentarily stopped massaging the boy's shoulders to pick the paper up.

"You haven't read it."

"I skimmed over it. I don't do parties."

"It's an invitation to the palace in Corinth," Hesiod immediately exclaimed. "Lord Sisyphus wanted me to give this to you before he left! Take it as a form of apology for not accompanying you longer."

Elias gave the letter a look. "Sisyphus and I aren't close if I'm being honest. He got me to the temple as he promised, I'm fine with not going... and how did he casually get his hands on an invitation to the palace? I knew Sisyphus was some sort of noble, but I didn't think he was this important."

Hesiod put the letter away and lightly laughed, "Well... he's a special person! Very charismatic amongst the nobles! His social circle is rather influential."

Elias scoffed in return. Sisyphus briefly commented on having important friends when they were journeying together. He didn't really care about that and didn't want to comment on it any further... but he thought back to what Chloris said in her prophecies.

A king laughing, huh? Elias thought.

"You and Sisyphus are close, right?"

"Of course!"

"You've also been to the palace with him then, is that also right?"

"Oh, erm... of course I have."

Elias turned around and faced him with a small grin. "Then you've seen the king, haven't you?"

"His Majesty? Ah, sometimes," Hesiod replied quietly. "The king rarely ever hosts parties, but they're really fun to go to!"

"Really?"

"Yes! To me, it's a good place to interact with lots of different people! Different people, different friends!" Hesiod heartily explained. "I like meeting new people, so I always go! You should definitely come since I'm always going to be there."

The dark haired male glanced at the invitation briefly. Truth be told, he honestly didn't give two shits about the prophecies since they didn't have a clue on how to get home. He definitely didn't care about any kings or reigning monarchs, but Chloris gave her concerns about the visions she received.

Since there was nothing else to do, going back to the capital of Corinth was better than rotting away in Mykonos. Plus, Elias would be able to let Lapetus have some fun.

"I don't really like parties, but if you're going then I don't see why not."

Hesiod beamed and grabbed Elias' hand in excitement. "That's good! That's great actually! The party will be held sometime next week, so there's not a lot of time to import new clothes and accessories for you. I actually had a lot more things to give you, but they're all old and I'm sure there's plenty of other things that would suit you much better! Tomorrow, I'll have someone come and take your measurements and we can go out and buy whatever you like-"

"I'm actually heading back to my home tomorrow."

Hesiod's smile faltered at that. He blinked his eyes, a little confused.