Phobia ☤ Alexios

nine: a cult and a spy

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ALEXIOS SEES TO a number of Perikles friends to garner the leader's trust and favor but finds himself returning to Irene after his tasks are complete instead of the Adrestia. Once he finds her in the market, buying tiganites from a street vendor for a group of children –Phoibe is among them. Another time she is buying a ream of blue-green linen from a weaver. The next time he sees Phoibe running through the streets, she is wearing a new tunic of the same color. Other times he finds her in the villa –tending to herbs or flowers.

He returns as the sun is setting, having delivered two Spartan seals to Demosthenes as proof his task had been completed. Irene is not to be found on the lower level of the villa, but there is a long shadow on the roof. The Eagle Bearer climbs the white column closest to the pergola, opting for a shorter route than stairs.

The princess jumps –hand going to her racing heart as he pops up over the railing. "Alexios!" She scolds. "Stop doing that!" He's made a habit of surprising her, whether he climbs to the roof or drops down from it. One time it just might make her heart stop. The misthios chuckles as he sheds his weapons and armor. He reclines beneath the pergola. After a long day, it is good to have somewhere to rest his head.

Irene pushes a platter of fruit, soft cheese, and bread between them. "Herodotus mentioned your sister," she says, watching his expression. She and the historian had spoken briefly over a light meal earlier in the day.

Alexios' jaw clenches. "Kassandra. The Cult of Kosmos must have taken her," he explains. Somehow his sister survived the fall too. The Pythia and ephors had condemned Kassandra to death when she was still a suckling babe in the name of Sparta. It was only meant to be Kassandra who died that night on Mount Taygetos, but he had died too –and came back a blade with no name.

Whispers circulate about a Cult –Irene has never taken the rumors seriously, but she has come to see the errors of her ways, especially after the dire news Herodotus had shared. She looks down into her cup of watered wine and lets out a slow breath. "It seems every corner of the world has cultists crawling about," she remarks offhandedly -thinking about the Order.

"What do you mean?" He asks.

Irene pulls a shawl around her shoulders –the thought of the Order of Ancients chills her to the core. They were the reason she had to leave Ephesus. The reason Hydarnes was dead. The reason she'd never known her mother or father. "In Persia the Order of the Ancients controls everything." Achaemenid kings were nothing more than puppets to promote chaos.

Theramenes had come to see her that morning. A member of the Order had been caught in Boeotia by the Athenians –the letter he brought was filled with dire news. The Order had taken her childhood and now sought to take her life.

"They search for the Tainted Ones," she explains. She wasn't sure what it meant exactly and neither her brother nor the old general ever explained what it meant to be one. "Hydarnes thought I was one of them. The Order must have as well because they want to kill me." An expression most akin to defeat crosses over her fair features. "They've been hunting me since I was born." And one day they'll likely find me.

Alexios wants to say something –to stop despair and resignation from taking over her, but he cannot find the words. Instead, he reaches over gripping onto her hand. A silent gesture that means more to the princess than words ever could.

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IN A RARE occasion, Alkibiades is both clothed and sober when he arrives at Irene's villa. He has come bearing gifts of wine and cheese –for there is much he wishes to discuss with the wayward princess. Athenian gossip had been rather dull as of late, even if most of it was about him.