The Pandora Curse (Greek Myth Series Book 4) (17 page)

“Get up!” he said, swatting at the covers. He lit a candle and then hurried over to pull back the coverlet.

“What? How? When? Who?” Baruch rubbed his eyes and sat up. “Oh, Niko, it’s you. I wondered where you went. I was going to follow, but I was so tired I just wanted to lay down for a few moments.”

Nikolai was thankful Baruch hadn’t followed. He didn’t want the little minion to know what just happened between him and Vara. Baruch would leak that information to Hera, and the goddess wouldn’t be happy.

“I’ve got lust,” Nikolai said excitedly.

Baruch’s eyes opened wide and he scooted off the other end of the bed. “Well, don’t look at me. I don’t want nothing to do with you and lust. Stay away.”

“No, you simpkin, not that way. I have lust.” He held up the vial to make his point.

“Oh, that lust! You did it, Niko, you did it.” Baruch once again jumped up and down and clapped his hands in excitement, turning in circles performing that silly little dance. “So tell me, how and why did she give it up? I thought that would have been the last one you’d want to collect.”

“It was an accident, really,” he said, not wanting to tell him the details. “All that matters is that Vara gave up lust and I collected it in my vial.”

“That’s great,” said Baruch twirling his tail around in his fingers. “You managed to get it, and she doesn’t even know it. You really are good.”

“Well, mayhap not that good.” Nikolai replaced the vial in his pouch. “She saw me in the mirror and questioned what it was.”

“Oh, no!” Baruch gripped his tail tightly. “That’s not good. Not good at all. Vara has the curiosity of Pandora. She won’t give up until she’s satisfied with your answer.”

“Do not worry, she is already satisfied. I told her it was a polish for my ugly gargoyle.”

“You did what?” Baruch dropped his tail and crossed his scrawny little arms over his chest.

“She believed me. That’s all that matters.”

“I don’t like being called ugly. Or a gargoyle for that matter. I am a minion!”

“Well, actually, I don’t think I called you ugly in front of her. I was just repeating her words. Or, as I remember, she called you hideous, not ugly.”

“Oh.” Baruch made a face. “Well, you need to be more careful, Niko. Always latch your door so she can’t walk in and surprise us again. She almost caught me before. I didn’t even have time to shapeshift.”

“Don’t worry, Baruch. She will not learn anything I don’t want her to learn.” He removed his pouch and clothing, and settled down under the bedcovers. “Shouldn’t you be heading off to give your report to Hera?”

“I was rather enjoying my nap.”

“Well, find a different place to sleep. This is my bed. And I don’t like snoring, stinking minions using it, so don’t do it again.”

“Snoring? Stinking?” Baruch repeated in a huff. “Is that any way to talk to the minion who not only helped you, but saved you from failing more than once?”

“I’m sorry, Baruch. I didn’t mean it.” Nikolai closed his eyes and in a matter of minutes was fast asleep.

*  *  *

Vara sneaked through the dimly lit corridor, looking around for any servant that may still be up and about at this late hour. To her satisfaction, she was alone. She made her way to Nikolai’s room, not able to sleep because of her curiosity of what was in that vial. She knew it had nothing to do with being polish for a gargoyle. Stone gargoyles didn’t need polish. Nikolai was lying to her, and she had to find out why.

She tiptoed up to his door, looked around once again, and put her ear to the wood to listen if he was still awake. She heard nothing, and didn’t see any light coming out from beneath the door. Slowly, she put her hand on the door latch and turned it, but it would not open.

“Damn,” she spouted. She couldn’t believe that he would actually bolt his door. There was something he was hiding. Something he didn’t want her to see. If there wasn’t, he would have left the door unbarred. She left the corridor, thinking of another way to get inside.

*  *  *

Nikolai was in the middle of an erotic dream with Vara when suddenly he had a vision that interrupted his sleep. He saw Vara, climbing up toward his window, using the vines as a natural ladder. He had never had a vision without using his gazing crystal before, although he’d been told by Demeter that he had the ability to do so. He wasn’t even sure this was really a glimpse of the future, and not just a dream.

He sat up in bed and took the crystal from around his neck and held it up to the bedtime candle. Sure enough, he saw it again. But this time Vara was much closer to his window.

What did she want? And why would she go to such extremes as sneaking up to his room in the middle of the night? He knew it couldn’t be lust at work. She had given up that vice freely. So it must be something else.

The vial! Of course. Her curiosity made her do this and he’d have to teach her a lesson.

“Baruch,” he called softly, looking around the room. “Baruch, are you here?” He saw the green mist floating in the window and smiled.

*  *  *

Vara scaled the trellis made of vines, holding on for dear life, beginning to wonder if this was such a good idea after all. True, she was much lighter than she used to be, but she still didn’t know how long the vines would hold her before they broke.

She looked down to the ground below, noticing the lit torches of the courtyard had become very small. If she fell now, she would probably kill herself. She pushed that thought from her head. She had to continue. She had an insatiable curiosity and could not go to sleep until she knew if what Nikolai told her about the vial was true. The sky was clearer now, as moments ago a green fog had been lingering around the window. At least now, she could see where she was going.

She reached his window and put a foot through the opening, then pushed aside the hanging tapestry that kept out the wind. She lowered her other foot inside and turned around, trying to accustom her eyes to the dark. The nighttime candle was extinguished but she could decipher Nikolai’s form beneath the covers.

She spotted his pouch on a chair next to the bed and tiptoed over to get it. She picked it up, her eyes still fastened on the bed for any movement should Nikolai awake. She backed up toward the window, intending to open the pouch and look inside in the light of the full moon.

She reached for the window ledge, but instead touched something round and bumpy. She turned to see what it was, and screamed aloud as the two large eyes of a hideous creature stared into hers from the ledge.

“Looking for something?” asked Nikolai lighting the candle next to the bed and setting the room aglow.

She realized her foolishness. The hideous beast was only Nikolai’s gargoyle. Why hadn’t she noticed it there when she climbed in through the window? 

“Nikolai. How nice to see you.” He was standing there, fully awake, dressed in his hose. He was not lying in the bed. She could see now the bump beneath the covers was made by the pillows.

“You knew I was coming.” She clutched the pouch in her hands.

“How many times have I told you - you can’t surprise a soothsayer who has the ability to see the future? Now tell me what you’re doing here.”

“Being a soothsayer, I’d think you’d know that, too. But since you don’t, I’ll tell you. I . . . I just felt as if you left my chamber earlier with a sour disposition.”

“My disposition was no more sour than yours.”

“I thought I should come and wish you a good night’s rest.”

“So you chose to come in through the window?”

He strolled over to the window and collected his gargoyle from the ledge and placed it carefully on the ground. He stood there in just his hose, his bare chest totally exposed. While she liked what she saw and the site tempted her to run her fingers over him, she no longer heard the Furies tempting her in her head to use the power of lust.

“The door was barred,” she replied, “and I really wanted to see you.”

He casually glanced out the window. “The climb is treacherous and very high. You must have wanted to see me badly to risk your neck.”

“Oh, all right, I admit I wasn’t coming here just to say goodnight. I wanted to take another look at your vial.” She reached into the bag, but it was empty. “You knew that, too, didn’t you?”

“You can do nothing to surprise me, Vara. You would be wise to remember that.”

“Where’s the vial?” she asked. “You are hiding it from me.”

“I’m doing no such thing.” He held up his hand and showed her an empty vial. “I used the polish on my gargoyle before I went to bed. Then I placed the statue on the window ledge to dry. There’s nothing in the vial, Vara.”

“You polished a stone gargoyle?” The thought was absurd, but for some reason she believed him. Didn’t the vision of her mother tell her to trust Nikolai even when she didn’t want to?

“Check for yourself and see. Doesn’t it look shiny?”

She walked over to the gargoyle and examined it closely. It did look shiny. She walked around it, reaching out to touch it when she stubbed her bare toes and fell forward. Nikolai tossed the vial to the bed and reached out his hands to catch her.

“Careful,” he told her, helping her to steady herself. “And don’t try to touch it, because it is still tacky.” He rubbed his fingers of one hand together to show his point. It felt good to be in his arms again, but after what had happened between them, she wanted to keep her distance.

“Well, thank you for telling me that. I think I’ll go back to my chamber now.”

“Let me walk you to the door.”

When she got to the door, she looked back at the gargoyle. For some reason she didn’t remember its leg sticking out like that. If she didn’t know it was just a rock statue, she would have sworn it tried to trip her.

“I am very tired. I think I’ll sleep late tomorrow. Do not wake me for breakfast,” she instructed.

“All right, I will go to the great hall without you.”

“That is not what I mean. If I don’t eat, then neither do you. Don’t you remember our deal?”

“Of course, I remember,” he said sounding not too happy about it. “I remember it very clearly, my dear. Now get some good sleep, and don’t be climbing any more walls tonight. I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“Really?” She smiled. “It almost sounds as if you care.” She left him standing there and headed down the corridor.

Nikolai thought about what she’d said. He did care. Immensely.

He watched her go to her chamber, then stop and look back at him before she entered. Vara was changing. So was he. Maybe they could change together.

Fourteen

Nikolai sat atop his bed, looking at the vials that contained the two vices. One was orange, the other red. Both had specs of black swirling around inside. The vials felt hot, and when he touched them they vibrated. It was almost as if they were contained, but trying to break out.

“Hera was happy about the two vices you collected,” said Baruch, lying at the foot of the bed and swinging his tail around in one hand. “But she’s still insisting it is taking you much too long to complete the chore.”

“Collecting vices is nothing that can be done in a hurry,” he explained. “And it’s even harder when I cannot tell Vara what I’m doing. I do not like lying to her. Or keeping secrets.”

“You don’t have a choice,” said Baruch nonchalantly. “If she finds out what you’re doing, the game is over and you lose your ability to see the future.”

A knock sounded at the door, and Nikolai hurriedly hid the vials. He unbarred the door and opened it to find little Agatha standing there without her nursemaid.

“Agatha?” he asked. “What are you doing here? And where is your nursemaid?”

“I wanted to see you.” She entered, and he closed the door behind her. “And I wanted to see the funny green man.” Her face lit up in a smile when she saw Baruch on the bed. She ran over and jumped up next to him.

“My name is Baruch,” grumbled the minion. “And what’s so funny about me?”

“Your eyes,” she said pointing to his eyes. “And your ears.” Her finger followed. “And even your tail.”

“There is nothing funny about my tail.”

“You talk funny too.”

“Niko,” Baruch stood on the bed and grabbed on to a bedpost, “Does she really need to be here?”

“Calm down, Baruch. She probably just wants to play.”

“Well, I don’t play.” He crossed his arms over his chest.

“Play with me, play with me,” Agatha begged, getting to her knees.

“I am a minion, not a nursemaid. Find someone else to play with.”

Agatha stuck out her lip in disappointment, and Nikolai almost laughed at the expression on Baruch’s face. It was a cross between pity and disgust.

“It would do you good to learn to play, Baruch. After all, you are much too serious.”

“Not so.”

Another knock came at the door, and this time when Nikolai opened it, Calanthra stood there with a platter of food and a goblet of wine.

“Good morning, Nikolai,” she said with a smile and then glanced to the ground. “I brought you breakfast since you did not make it to the great hall in time to eat.”

Nikolai looked down at the steaming platter of eel eggs and pork bellies. The aroma of that combined with the smell of the loaf of freshly baked bread made his mouth water. A large shiny apple sat in the middle of the platter, and a full goblet of wine was next to it.

He wanted more than anything to eat the food. He could do it. With Calanthra bringing it to his room in secret, Vara would never know. He scanned the hall with a quick glance then spoke in a low tone.

“I am starved,” he admitted. “Please, bring it in.”

She strode past him, and he quickly looked up and down the hall once more to make sure no one saw them before he closed the door. When he turned around, both Baruch and Agatha were gone.

“I will just put it on this platter on the bed,” she said, transferring the food to a platter that Nikolai didn’t even know was there. “That way, I can take mine back to the kitchen and no one will be the wiser.”

“What platter?” Nikolai joined her and looked to the bed to see a moldy-looking silver platter awaiting the food. Baruch’s disguises truly were amazing.

“Thank you,” he said, looking into her eyes. She was a very kind and pretty girl. He could see why Vara was so jealous of her.

“I am sorry I interrupted you in the bath yesterday,” she said with a flush to her face.

“It is all right,” he said, feeling uncomfortable with the situation. “Vara is a very jealous woman. I apologize for the way she acted.”

To his surprise, Calanthra boldly reached up and kissed him on the mouth. Taken aback, Nikolai stood there not knowing what to do.

“I want to bathe with you too, Nikolai. I want to make love with you, just like Vara has.”

“Calanthra, please. You don’t know what you’re saying.”

She set the empty platter on the bed and started undressing, pulling off the shawl-like veil from around her shoulders.

“I saw you naked, Nikolai.” Her breathing deepened, making her chest heave in and out. “And since I did, I can think of nothing but laying with you.” She threw the veil to the ground and pulled the sash from around her waist.

“Calanthra, stop this.” Horrified, Nikolai scanned the room for Agatha. He didn’t want her to see any of this. “I am not going to lay with you. I can’t.”

“Yes, you can. You like me. I see the way you look at me.” She pulled her gown down off her shoulders and Nikolai reached out and pulled it back up. Even if Agatha hadn’t been in the room, he still didn’t want Calanthra undressing and throwing herself at him. She was acting no better than Vara while under her curse.

“You had better leave now.”

He quickly picked up her veil and sash and pushed them into her hands. Then he grabbed the empty platter and guided her to the door. He opened it, and gently pushed her out into the corridor.

“Thank you for the food, but now you need to go.” He placed the platter in her hands.

She turned back and kissed him again before he could stop her.

“Mayhap I can sing like a siren and lure you to my bed as Vara did.” She started to sing loudly, very much out of tune. Nikolai noticed a few pages in the hallway looking in their direction.

“Please, Calanthra. Stop that noise. You’re attracting attention.”

“Noise? I was singing.” She started to cry. Things were going from bad to worse. She ran down the hall, and he quickly closed the door.

He turned around to see Baruch, back in his own form, lounging on the bed with an empty goblet, only a crust of bread, and an apple core upon his belly. He let out a loud belch, and stunk up the room. Agatha laughed and darted out from behind a trunk.

“I told you, you were funny,” she exclaimed. Then she laughed again. “Let’s play hide and seek. I’m gonna hide.” She scurried to somewhere in the room, but Nikolai wasn’t watching. Instead his eyes were fastened to Baruch.

“Baruch!” Nikolai hurried over to the bed, his stomach growling in pain, his heart aching from missing the meal he so looked forward to consuming. “You ate my food. How could you?”

Baruch let out a satisfied sigh and licked his lips. “I was hungry. And I didn’t want you to break your promise to Vara.”

“Break my promise? She tricked me into agreeing. She wouldn’t know the difference if I had a little food while she wasn’t looking. I am famished. I cannot live on the morsels of food she eats. I am a man. I need more. If I don’t get food soon, I am going to die of starvation.”

“Tsk, tsk, you almost sound as if you’ve got
The Pandora Curse
of gluttony now. You should be happy I did you a favor.”

The door slammed open from behind him, and Nikolai spun around to find Vara standing in the entranceway with her hands on her hips. She looked so vile when she was angry. Her eyes were darker than the pits of Tartarus, and her mouth was turned down in a frown. He’d have to work on that vice soon.

“You low-down, sneaky, no-good, two-timing slug.”

“Vara.” He tried to smile. “So nice to see you.” He sneaked a glance back at Baruch, who luckily had enough time to change back into a platter again.

“Don’t give me that, so-nice-to-see-you, line. You know I’m angry and you know why.”

“Angry? At me? What for?”

She stormed into the room, leaving the door open. “One of my pages just told me he saw Calanthra leaving your room half-undressed.”

“Now Vara, that’s not exactly true. Don’t get upset. We didn’t do a thing.” He noticed the blackness in her eyes speckled with patches of green.

“Don’t get upset?” She kicked at the chair in the corner and knocked it over. “He saw you kissing her. Don’t tell me you are going to deny that too?”

“She kissed me. That is different.”

“Ah, hah! So you did kiss. You have the nerve to tell me she means nothing to you and then I find you’ve been having a tryst behind my back.” She picked up an ornamental fixture off the mantle and threw it at him. He ducked and just missed being hit.

“Your jealousy is out of control,” he told her. “You really need to regain your composure.”

“So are you trying to tell me that Calanthra was the one to seduce you? Because if she did, I swear I will have her hanged and quartered. I will not have my lady-in-waiting stealing my man.”

Nikolai thought hard before answering. First of all, he wanted to correct her and tell her that he wasn’t really her man, but then he decided against it. This definitely wasn’t the right time.

He had yet to collect Vara’s greed, anger or jealousy vices. All three of those combined could be very dangerous for Calanthra. He had no doubt Vara would do just as she said. Until he managed to collect the last of the vices, there was no reasoning with her. He took a deep breath and gave his answer.

“No, Vara, Calanthra did not seduce me. Actually, it was I who seduced her, and she pushed me away.”

“You do like her. I hate you!”

She picked up item after item in the room and threw them at Nikolai. Down came one of the tapestries, and out came her dagger as she took out her aggression by slashing at it. He had to stop her before she ruined everything in the room, or hurt herself in the process.

He lunged at her from behind, struggling with her until he gained control of her dagger. He slid it across the floor and dragged her over to the soft bed. He flung her down upon it, his own anger fused now.

“Stop acting like a spoiled child, Vara. You are going to hurt someone. There is no reason to be carrying on this way.”

Vara spotted the platter with the apple core, empty goblet, and crust of bread upon it.

“What is this?” she asked, pushing herself up on the bed. “Are you sneaking food behind my back?”

“No,” he answered directly.

“Well, then where did this come from? Did Calanthra bring it to you?” Her eyes narrowed and blazed a combination of yellow, green and black. He knew a severe punishment was in store for Calanthra unless he took the blame.

“All right. I was famished so I sneaked down to the kitchens and fixed myself a platter of food.”

“You deceived me. You told me you would only eat what I ate. If I eat nothing, then you eat nothing.” She picked up the goblet and slammed it to the floor. Then she picked up the platter and banged it against the bedpost hard.

“Vara, stop that.” He reached for the platter - Baruch - but it was too late. She ran to the window, pulled back the tapestry and threw it out. Then she screamed in surprise, and Nikolai saw why. There stood Agatha, teetering on the edge of the sill, her legs quaking and her entire body trembling.

“Agatha?” Fear washed over Vara’s face and she stood still, as if frozen.

“No!” Nikolai ran over and grabbed the little girl just before her legs gave way beneath her. Then he glanced out the window. There on the ground lay Baruch in dented platter form. All he knew was that it had to hurt.

“Look what your anger and jealousy has done, Vara. An innocent life was almost lost because of you. Agatha almost fell out the window.”

Vara’s eyes opened wide, and now they were silver.

“I am so sorry. I didn’t know she was there.” She reached out for Agatha, but the little girl only held tighter to Nikolai.

“You’ve frightened her. Her little body shakes like a leaf in the wind.”

Vara’s lip trembled. There was no mistaking the amount of hurt Vara was feeling at the rejection from the little girl, or what she had almost done.

“Queen Vara,” came Zetes’s voice from the open door. “The mercenaries you hired are here with treasures they’ve pilfered from the kingdom of Troy. They await your inspection.”

Nikolai’s eyes remained locked with hers, and Agatha buried her face in his chest. He almost thought Vara was going to say something, or do something to try to make amends with Agatha. She should have. But at the mention of treasures from Troy, the silver faded from her eyes and they turned a bright ochre. Greed consumed her so much that her previous actions and their effects were simply pushed aside.

“I want my treasure,” she said, straightening her hair, and turning toward Zetes. “Instruct the pages to bring every last good to my chamber.”

“That is preposterous,” shouted Nikolai. “Listen to yourself, Vara. You are greedy and mean. Do not give in to your vices. Don’t do it.”

“And why shouldn’t I?” she challenged him. “After all, I see you gave in to lust and gluttony as soon as I turned my back. You do nothing to set a good example.”

“How can you say that?” He rubbed Agatha on the back, trying to calm her. “You know I am trying to help you.”

“Are you?”