Heart's Desire

Chapter 5

The time of the party came and people started entering the palace. My father was greeting them and I was there beside him, greeting them as well. I noticed a few of them were sons of people that attended upheld the laws. I noticed a few of their fathers were getting to know my father, talking him up. I think their sons were here to do the same. At least my father got the message of me not wanting to look towards older men. The sons were nice, greeting me with respect of who I was and not the position I am in. For now. They'll play the sweet and kind card, pretending to actually care about me until they have a chance at being the next Caesar.

As people were filing in, I found Odessa among the crowd. Upon seeing her, my father's words came back into my head.

"She's not the person you think she is."

What did he mean by that? Not the person I think she is. From everyone I have met that knows my position in power, or lack thereof, she treats me with the most genuine respect. Like she doesn't care that I am the Caesar's daughter. A smile crawled onto my face as she walked towards the guards, handing them the invite. The guards took it from her, examined it before nodding their heads towards the gates of the palace.

She walked through and her mouth fell open, taking in everything that this place was. As she stepped closer to my father, she bowed, shaking his hand.

"Good evening, Caesar," she said.

"Good evening, Odessa. I half expected you to be wearing your gladiator armor."

She chuckled nervously. Even I don't know if that was a compliment or not.

"With all due respect, Caesar, my father had a position in the senate committee. He had a toga for the occasions such as this."

"I'm sure he did. Is this it?"

"Yes. He made sure to keep it in pristine condition."

As she moved towards me, I was finally able to see what she was wearing. The toga looked like a normal one, except this looked like a cream color and not the pure white. Her hair was mostly in braids, but the back was down, flowing like the water. There was a brooch that clipped the toga together, an insignia on it. There was an 'S' on it with a helmet and battle axe. Around her head was a golden leaf crown that popped against her black hair. There was a bracelet on her left wrist and a couple rings on her right hand. She could be mistaken for royalty herself with how well dressed she was tonight.

"You look..." I had to take in her beauty. Everything that was her. "Amazing," I said breathlessly.

She smiled, some blush crawling onto her cheeks, "Thank you, Y/N."

"I still have to greet people. I'll catch you by the courtyard."

"W-Which direction is that in?"

"Take a left and keep going straight. Once you see a bunch of people serving wine, you reached the courtyard."

"Thanks," she said and walked off.

"Oh, Odessa," I grabbed her hand, pulling her back.

"What's wrong?"

"Uhh," I immediately forgot what I was about to tell her, but it came back to me. Eventually. "T-Try not to drink too much. The wine is strong."

"I don't drink anyway," she said. "So it's not a problem."

"O-Ok," I said, letting her hand slip through my grasp.

The pads of our fingers brushed along one another's. It left a warm, lingering sensation as she disappeared into the crowd. I watched her for as long as I could before my father tugged at my arm, pulling me back to greeting the people who were still coming in. I put on a fake smile, shook hands with many people before the last one finally came.

"Now, please be careful tonight. No one is allowed in the rooms."

"Understood, father."

"And also try to mingle with the sons who came at the beginning. I think you'll like them."

"I will try my best, father."

"Off we go."

He walked into the palace and the people who were lingering there started to talk to him. Others were fighting to get a chance to talk to him. I made my way through the crowd and headed towards the courtyard. When I reached it, Odessa was wandering around with her arms behind her back. She looked stunning with the moonlight seeping in from the open roof. My heart started to quicken and my hands all of a sudden felt sweaty. I tried to rub it off on my toga before making my way towards her. Right when I was about to reach her, one of the sons from earlier stepped in front of me.

"Good evening," he smiled, taking my hand and kissing my knuckles.

"Pleasure. Please, remind me of your name again."

"Aetius."

"Charmed," I put on a fake smile, removing my hand from his.

"It's a lovely evening, isn't it."

"It is," I tried to step away from him.

"What's the rush?" he asked.

"I actually came here to see a friend," I looked over in Odessa's direction.

He turned and Odessa finally turned around. Aetius scoffed.

"This behemoth?" he took a step back. "Shouldn't you be sleeping with the other brutes like you?"

Odessa just stood there, stone faced. Like her last name.

"Shouldn't you be in some library reading about the law?"

"I should. In case someone like you breaks it."

"I have yet to do so in my life and I don't plan on it."

"You never know. One wrong move and you might snap someone's neck."

"These hands have done more than snap necks. And the necks I do snap are animals."

"Doesn't mean you won't kill someone given the chance and opportunity."

Odessa rolled her eyes, "I think you might be my first target. A dead man tells no tales."

"But there are witnesses."

"They're already too drunk off their asses to recognize what's going on here."

He scoffed once more, "I will be telling my father and Caesar that you of all people are threatening someone like me."

"Good. Maybe it will bring him to the gladiator fights once in a while. I know how bloodthirsty he can get."

Aetius was about to say something, but Odessa smirked at him. His father was known to have a temperament issue. Instead, he turned to face me.

"And you're friends with this brute?"

Odessa walked off at that point.

"Now you've done it," I turned to go after her, but he grabbed my hand.

"You're really going to go after someone like her? When you're better off in my company?"

"Get the hell away from me," I removed my hand from his, running after Odessa.