The House of Atreus | ONC 2023 Shortlist

XII

"Elektra." A voice follows me outside. Though it sounds hesitant, it breaks through the patter of the rain that has begun to fall harder now.

I lean against the courtyard wall, the rough stone is cool even through the thin layer of my clothing. Sweat has broken out on my skin and hair is sticking to the back of my neck. The air is hot and heavy, the humidity is pressing down on me as much as the knowledge of my little brother's death. I look up and spot the angry dark-haired boy coming my way. I heave a sigh.

"Please," I manage, raising a weak hand to stop him from coming any closer, "just leave me. You can give the urn to my husband. I don't wish to talk to you any longer."

"I just—" He comes to a halt a few feet away from me and just stands, lingering as if unsure what to do next. He fidgets and hangs his head as if my rejection stung him and there's something indescribably childlike in that gesture. "I'm sorry if I upset you before. If there's anything I can do for you—"

"Yes, you can leave my house." I cut him off, impatient now, tired of trying to play the hostess to strangers. "You haven't even told me your name."

"Orestes," he says suddenly, "my name is Orestes."

I stare at him, unable to form words or even force them out of my mouth. My impatience turns to anger as I narrow my eyes at him. "Don't speak this name ever again," I spit. "Don't say my brother's name. You just told me, he was dead." My knees buckle and my voice breaks, turning to a cracked whisper when tears begin to burn in the corners of my eyes.

"Sister." The boy rushes towards me, grabbing my arm to steady me. I'm too weak to brush him off, too tired. So I surrender and lean against him as he puts an arm around me.

"Don't do this to me," I beg, tears now spilling from my eyes. I look up at him and I'm surprised at how much taller he's than me now that he's so close. There's a firmness to his chest and a strongness in the arm that holds me that I didn't expect. He's a man after all.

He looks back at me with those deep eyes of his that seemed so impenetrable before but now I see a shadow of the pain I've felt reflected back at me. He raises his hand and drags it through his hair, brushing his curls back out of his face. And that's when I see the scar on the side of his forehead. It runs in a straight line from his hairline and across his eyebrow, stopping just above his eye. It's faint now, pale against his tanned skin but I remember how he got it. He'd been barely eight years old, trying to catch a deer when he tripped and hit his head on a big rock.

I gasp and more tears fall as I lift my hand to trace the cut lightly with my fingers. Orestes closes his eyes and presses my hand against his face with his.

"Forgive me for the ruse, sister," he says. "I never meant to cause you such grief and Pylades was against it, but I had to make sure you'd be on my side."

I'm still crying when he lets me go, but his gaze remains on me, as if he's afraid I might disappear. I wipe my eyes and take a shuddering breath to steady myself. I don't trust my voice to speak yet.

"On your side?" I finally ask. My heart still won't calm down. Conflicting feelings battle in my chest. Relieve, on the one hand, that my brother is still alive and well. A new wave of restrained anger on the other at his deception. Why did he have to scare me so just to test my loyalty? Did he forget that I was the one who raised him? Who saved him from our mother's wrath? He has always been the one person I have loved the most.

"We should get back inside, sister and discuss in private." He turns his head both sides to look over his shoulder, as if afraid someone might overhear us. "Do you trust your husband?"

My eyes widen and I hesitate, unsure of what to say. Do I trust Leandros? And trust him with what exactly? My mind is reeling with everything that has happened today. From the melancholy I felt this morning at Father's grave to the shock that followed when I came home. Slowly, I shake my head. After all, isn't the man I happen to be married to nothing but a stranger that I share a house with? While he has never treated me badly, I have also never felt any affection for him. Neither has he, I think.

Orestes' mouth stretches into a thin line and he nods. It's peculiar to think his name and look at this young man before me, who is both so familiar and strange to me at the same time. My fingers twitch, itching to touch his face again, to try and reconcile this new face with the one of the child he's in my mind. I want to commit every line of his features into my memory, want to learn every way his muscles move when he speaks or thinks or laughs.

He takes my arm gently and guides me back into the room I fled from earlier. His friend is still there and I startle when he turns towards us. I almost forgot about him. He and my brother exchange a look and he nods. Something like relief floods his face and his green eyes settle on me.

"Please forgive me for earlier, Elektra," he says, sincerity makes his voice gentle. He presses his hand to his chest and bows lightly in my direction. "I'm Pylades. You might be familiar with my father, Strophius."

So he's the prince my brother grew up with. No wonder their coats look so well-made and their horses so stately. I nod vaguely, still too wound up to say much. I look toward Orestes, trying to catch his eye. There's something they're not telling me, some kind of secret I haven't been let in on yet. I can feel it in the way they both tap their fingers against their knuckles. I can feel the unsaid words hanging in the air between us.

I straighten my back and fix my gaze on them, narrowing my eyes. I feel more steady now that the shock has worn off. "So what brings you two to my humble home?" I repeat the words I said earlier, hoping this time to get their real answer. And the reason why they thought they'd have to lie to me. I will no longer accept any excuses. Either they tell me the truth or they'll leave my house.

My brother clears his throat. "The oracle of Delphi has sent me back home. I came to Mycenae to avenge our father's death."