The Lady and The Goddess

Chapter Seven: More of Me

Thena played a few more songs for the Lady since she seemed to like listening. Some of them were even her favorites she'd played with her band when she was human. Fond memories of the days when she wasn't ridden with her sickness, when she was well enough to be herself, before transforming. "My Lady?" Thena's soft voice broke Alcina out of her dream state.
She could hear her voice a bit clearer despite the piano still being played she seemed to have some accent. It soothed Alcina's to listen to her speak.
"Yes?" Alcina questioned with a genuine smile.
"May I speak freely?" She stopped playing, then turned to face Alcina cranking her neck up slightly.
"You may." She was rather curious about what she had to say.
"Your daughters..." Thena stopped debating internally what she wanted to say.
"What about them?" Alcina quirked her right brow.
'Why is she bringing up the girls?'
"I wanted to say that they are wonderful, bright, and beautiful children even if not all like me too much. And the person who raised them as such is a lovely, sharp, and staggering woman." She spoke with such warmth that it shocked Alcina.
That she, this woman who hasn't even been here more than but a month can say such words with so much emotion other than fear.
It made her heart flutter and what she thought was a graveyard of butterflies come alive. She cleared her throat of emotion and began. "Thank you Thena; I try my best with them to be a worthy parent of such lovely girls but there are always better." Alcina finished and smiled sadly thinking of better people she knew besides herself.
"My Lady yes there may be better people but in their eyes, you're already exceptional even if you can't see it. σε αγαπούν γιατί είσαι εσύ. Εκεί μάνα δεν πειράζει αν υπάρχουν καλύτερα, γι' αυτούς είσαι ο κόσμος." She whispered the last part gently.
"Why are you telling me this?" 'She sounds Greek... I'll have to look that up later.' The Lady made a mental note and proceeded to retain her focus on this peculiar conversation.
"That's a good question." Thena thought for a moment, asking herself why she needed to state Alcina's parenting skills.
The answer came to mind. "I want to encourage good parenting when I see it." She shrugged her shoulders.
"You are human, should you not be infuriated that we eat your kind? That I let my daughters not only indulge but cause pain, suffering, and fear?" Alcina spoke through gritted teeth.
She hated said subject on this matter. It reminded her of what she hated most about her transformation, but she needed the woman to understand that she was by no means "good". "Είμαι μακριά από άνθρωπο." She sighs.
"My lady you did and do what you can for your daughter. You do more than most parents I have seen." A chuckle escaped from behind her mask.
The Lady froze hearing what she decided was one of her favorite sounds along with Thena's voice.
"It's not your fault that your diet ended up this way and it's not theirs." She said softly as she took Lady's left hand in her right for a few moments before letting go.
"And the torturing..... Sadly I have seen worse." Her voice trembled slightly not enough for a human ear to notice but then again Alcina wasn't human... she hadn't been in a very long time.
"What do you mean by worse?" Alcina cocked her left brow.
"At least you love your children." That's all she said.
Alcina knew there was more to this story than Thena was letting on and she really wanted to get an answer. But something in the Lady's brain told her she shouldn't. That's she wouldn't like the answer. As if Thena could sense the Lady's questions that flurried in her mind she answered. "What I was indenting to say My Lady is that you're not as monstrous as you might think." Her voice was genuine and had more sincerity than that of any of her staff.
Alcina was a bit taken aback by her tone of voice but she quickly recovered beginning her overthinking.
"Well.... It seems that my break is over, thus ending my lovely time with you My Lady." Thena placed her hands on her thighs while punching herself in an upwards position.
"Yes it seems so. Please be a dear and clean my room and bathroom first before anything else." Alcina's tone wasn't demanding nor was it cold and cruel.
She even said please. She never says please!
"Anything for you My lady." She gave a slight bow, taking her gloves and walking out of the room as she put them back on.
'PLEASE? Did I just say PLEASE?' Alcina mentally scolded herself putting her fingers to the bridge of her nose.
A few minutes had passed and she was deep in thought looking at where her tall new maiden had been earlier. She was remembering the feeling of her warm hand on her own cold one, the sound of her lovely thick Greek accent as she spoke, and the way she played the piano, her beautiful olive-toned hands moving along the keys in a marvelous dance. It seemed second nature to her. It made her heart flutter. "This feeling... I haven't felt it in so long." She said holding a hand above the left side of her chest.

•••

Thena stood in the center of the Lady's room feeling accomplished that she finished cleaning it in under two hours. However, she knew that she could finish it faster if she really let loose but getting caught was not in her itinerary. ' Hummm... I think to make the Lady extra happy and restock the wine in her room.' She nodded to herself in agreement and set to the task before she went about cleaning the younger Lady's rooms. 

She set out and realized that halfway to her destination she was being followed. Not turning around she kept walking finally reaching the door to the wine cellar she turned around to be faced with one of the kitchen maids. 'I believe her name is Maria Miu.' She thought as she looked the dark brunette woman up and down. She had sharp copper eyes, and freckles to accompany her sharp features and she was quite tall. Thena pulled out her writing pas and pencil, proceeding to write something down. Before she even gets the chance to finish a sharp she feels a sharp pain in her lower chest that then turns into a hot ripping sensation. Looking up the girl is now inches away and staring deeply at her mask where she assumes her eyes to be. She was looking at her with malice. Then looking down only after seeing her face did she realize that the girl had put almost all of a bread knife right under her left breast. She gasped out in pain only causing her to cough up blood in her mask. 'She hit my lung.' Thena thought as she continued to cough.

"I heard your little conversation with Dimitrescu earlier." Gritting her teeth she confessed with a thick Romanian accent. 

"Wha--t of i----t?" Her coughing got worse as she started to speak.

"Well, I thought I should show you the kindness you'll be getting for taking their side." Anger radiated from her causing her to shove the knife deeper.

Thena gasped again feeling more blood drip down her abdomen. Maria just smiled as she looked at the state she was in thinking about the pain that she had been put through in this place only for a maid like herself to say that the Dimitrescu's were good. The thoughts ran lucidly in her mind until she caught a glimpse of something shiny. Her eyes made eye contact with the knife that was still placed into Thena's abdomen, liquid gold coated the metal and the opening of her clothes. "What the actual hell!?" She says letting go of the knife and backing up.

"What are you?" She looked at Thena with even more disgust than she had before.

"I-." She was cut off when red splattered all over her black clothing and mask.

"Well, Auntie how are you??" A man in full Greek armor was standing on top of the exploded parts of what once was Maria, grinning and leaning on his long sword.

A/N: this took so long to write and I'm so sorry it did. I didn't know how to add more information on Thena while still keeping her identity a secret. Anyway, let me know what you think. 

-Dani