Foretold

Chapter 3

Vasiliki sat on her bed, irritably fiddling with a spotless, polished arrow.

Her brother, Daedalos, walked in with her breakfast.

She glanced over at him. “Daedalos?”

“Yes, my Lady?” He kept his gaze on the ground, studiously avoiding her gaze.

She sighed. “Daedalos, no one else is around. Everyone has gone to examine the prisoner. We can speak freely.”

“Your Ladyship might get into trouble if we are caught.”

Vasiliki dismissed the notion with a wave. “Daedalos, I don’t care. It isn’t right that my own brother is kept in subjugation to me. You ought to be treated just like me. You’ve my mother’s blood in your veins too. Instead, you are a slave forced to grovel every time a woman walks past you, high-ranking or otherwise. You are forced to grovel before even the lowest of us. I don’t like it.” Vasiliki crossed her arms, glaring at him.

He smiled. “Vasiliki, my sister, I still marvel that you think this way after living your whole life in a society of women who hate us men and boys.”

“Daedalos, my brother… No one could believe that you were a pack animal as our mother wishes us to believe. Not if they knew you as I do. I might believe it if I saw only the beaten down men who serve the normal villagers. But not when I’ve come to know you.” Vasiliki grinned at him. “One can hardly believe you a servant. Not when you speak as you do!”

“I am the picture of respect, Princess.” Daedalos mimicked his servile tone, which he used whenever addressing anyone else.

Vasiliki laughed.

I love hearing her laugh. I wish she would do it more often. I remember how she laughed the first time I ever met her. She was just ten and I was six. I was so afraid that she would be angry with me for approaching her and speaking to her. I was afraid she might tell our mother. I should’ve known she would never do that just by looking into her eyes. He smiled slightly.

Vasiliki smirked. “Daedalos, all anyone has to do is look into your eyes and they’ll know that is an act.” In fact, they wouldn’t even have to look that far. His posture alone shows it. But perhaps that is only because I know him well and the others do not. Vasiliki mused.

He took on a more serious tone. “That is why I never look any further than my own feet.”

“You know it is the law that you are not allowed to look at any woman or meet their eyes. It is…improper…” Vasiliki made a face. That’s another thing I can’t stand. I should write a book of the things in the world that annoy me. It would be an interesting project and more than likely an interesting read.

“True, but I understand the wisdom of it, as well. If they but knew that I could read and write as well as any woman here and that I still fought, I would be killed instantly.” Daedalos poured her wine.