The Pandora Curse (Greek Myth Series Book 4) (20 page)

“Ah, I see your point. It’s not easy to fall in love with someone who starves you, throws furniture at you, curses you out, says she hates you, accuses you of lying and cheating on her, and never believes a word you say.”

“Gee. You make her sound so horrible,” commented Nikolai.

“Those are her good traits,” he said nonchalantly. “I haven’t even mentioned the fact she steals, treats people unfairly, is jealous of every woman in the castle and wants to eat every animal she sees.”

“All right, enough already. Don’t you need to go to Hera and report our latest success?”

“It can wait.”

“No, it can’t. I want to be alone to think. Now get out of here before I throw you out the window the same way Vara did.”

“All right, I’m going.” In a twirl he turned to green mist and disappeared out the window.

Nikolai caressed the crystal orb around his neck. He thought of all that had happened today. He had wanted to tell Vara he loved her, but he had done enough lying.

He knew she would have coupled with him then and there if he’d only given her the words she wanted to hear. But he couldn’t do it. As much as he wanted to make love to her, he knew she was right in pulling away.

He had at one time told her he didn’t want to couple unless he was in love. So where had he lost his morals along the way? Sometimes he wondered if by collecting these vices in the vials, they were leaking out and little by little latching on to him.

He had to find the box of Pandora and put the vices inside right away. He would add the others later. It was too risky to be carrying them around. They could break open, or worse yet, Vara could discover them and try to touch them. He had no doubt with her curiosity, she would not think twice to open the vials and sniff the contents or even taste them.

He thought of the Furies. They had to be steaming mad to be driven out of Vara’s head more than once now. It was only a matter of time before they went to Zeus and complained. He had to move faster. He had to secure the rest of the vices and put them safely into the box of Pandora at once.

Thinking back, he wondered about Vara’s odd question. She had asked if he could see the past. He vaguely remembered her coveting something in her hands. He had been so distracted by his hunger, he couldn’t concentrate. Now he wished he had paid her more attention. Perhaps he could see the past, like she had asked.

He picked his crystal orb up in his hand and thought about his past. He wondered where his father had gone after he left him in grief. The crystal clouded over, and to his surprise, he saw a vision with him as a child. He sat upright and looked deeper into the orb. He was twelve. It was the day Hera killed his father’s wife. Tears formed in his eyes when he saw the pain and anguish on his father’s face.

He watched as the man brought him to Demeter and then headed for the mountains. Nikolai had never tried to find his father, but lately he’d been thinking it was wrong of him not to do so. His father was in pain, mourning the loss of his beloved. Of course he would not want to be near Nikolai. Nikolai only reminded him of the woman he hated.

He watched the vision of his father climbing up the mountain. He knew this mountain. It was the home of the gods, Mt. Olympus. Then, to his surprise, he saw Tiomoid, his father, entering the gates of Mt. Olympus and confronting Hera about the way she had abandoned their child.

Shock overcame him as he saw what happened next. Hera, in all her anger turned his father into a snake, throwing him into the sea. Nikolai dropped the crystal and it swung from the end of the cord around his neck.

Fury grew within him. He wanted to kill Hera for what she’d done. All these years he’d thought his father abandoned him when it wasn’t true. If there was ever a woman meaner than the day was long - it was not Vara - it was his mother, Hera.

Seventeen

Vara made her way through the courtyard, headed for the great hall. Zetes called her name and she turned around.

“My queen, we have found this child sneaking food to the prisoners.” He pulled Agatha along with him as he walked to meet her.

“Agatha?” She stepped forward with her arms raised to greet the child, but Agatha backed away as if she thought she was about to be hit.

“What did you want us to do?” asked Zetes. “This is not the first time we’ve caught her sneaking down to the dungeon. Shall the child be punished?”

Agatha’s eyes opened wide and burned into Vara. The fear within them reminded her of that awful day in Nikolai’s chamber and just how horrid the little girl must think she is.

“No,” she said quickly. “You are not to hurt this child in any way.” She hunkered down to Agatha’s height and spoke in a soft tone. “Why do you keep going down to the dungeon, Agatha? Is it to see your father?”

Agatha didn’t answer. She just kept staring at Vara, and Vara felt like some hideous monster.

“You don’t need to be afraid of me, Agatha. Don’t you remember, we were once friends? I’d like to still be friends with you. Will you be my friend?”

Zetes cleared his throat and she stood. “My queen,” he said, “I do not think it wise to become friends with the daughter of your enemy.”

Vara’s heart sank. There was no way she was going to get Agatha to forgive her for the way she’d acted. She would have to show her by means of her actions instead.

“How is the king and his men faring?” she asked. “Are they getting enough food and care?”

“Queen Vara, they are prisoners.”

“I understand that, Zetes. But the king is also this little girl’s father. Make certain to give the prisoners plenty of food and even wine and ale. Give them a change of clothes and tend to any wounds or illnesses.”

“What has happened to you lately?” Zetes ground out. “You are a conqueror, yet you want to be friends with the enemy and treat them like guests. You are skilled in the art of archery and swordsmanship, yet you lose easy competitions against a man from the land which you conquered. There is a kingdom to control, peasants to keep in line, and soldiers to train, yet you find the time to lay on rocks and look at clouds.”

“How do you know that?”

He spied on you, Vara.

You should whip him for it.

Don’t let him tell you that you’re weak.

He’s calling you a bad queen.

The Furies were back and so was her temper. She couldn’t control the outburst that came forth.

“Do not tell me what to do,” she shouted. “And if I find you have been spying on your queen I’ll cut you in small pieces and feed you to the rats. Do you understand? Do not question my ways. Now carry out my orders.”

Agatha’s legs started shaking and the fear in her eyes grew. Vara once again managed to make things worse.

“Agatha, I . . . ” It was too late. The little girl ran off and lost herself in the crowd.

“Shall I go after her, my queen?”

Vara watched her little blond head disappear between a man carrying a barrel of wine and the flower vender’s cart. Going after her would only make her more resistant.

“No. Let her go. And don’t touch her again. If you find her in the dungeon or anywhere near it, you come to me right away and report. Do you hear me?”

“Aye, my lady.”

Vara stormed off toward the great hall, feeling a dark cloud hanging over her. She needed to talk to Nikolai. Mayhap he would know what she could do to make Agatha like her. He was supposed to be advising her how to take care of the child, yet since they’d returned to Corinth, he had not advised her at all.

She waited for Nikolai at the dais table, but he did not come. She was anxious to see him after yesterday, but uncertain at the same time. Her life was changing so fast. She had looked at her figure in the mirror this morning. She was thinner than she’d ever been. Just as thin as Calanthra. She even had to have her seamstress sew her all new gowns. She’d been eating less, and practicing her weaponry and riding more. It made her feel healthy.

Now, if only Nikolai would love her. Did he perhaps already love someone else?

Her eyes roamed from one lady to the next, and all the while the Furies chattered in her head.

The servant girl is who Nikolai loves.

No, it’s Calanthra. He takes her to his room in secret.

He likes girls with small waists. Even smaller than yours.

He likes gentle females that are ladies.

There’s the one he loves. No, it is that one. Mayhap both.

He’s in his room right now making love to two women at once.

She couldn’t stand it any longer. She had to get away from the voices in her head. She ran from the great hall and headed toward the stable. She wanted to ride her horse fast through the hills, and let Zepherus the wind blow the Furies right out of her mind.

When she got to the stable, she found Nikolai mounting his horse. “Where are you going?” she asked. “And why weren’t you at breakfast?”

“I need to leave for awhile, Vara.”

“You’re sneaking off to meet a secret lover in the shadows, aren’t you?”

He looked at her as if he were very disappointed by her response. Then he just shook his head and rode away fast.

She didn’t want him leaving without her. She didn’t want him sneaking out to have a tryst with any woman besides herself.

She ran back to her room and found the servants hauling out the treasures to give to the poor as she’d instructed. One servant walked by her with the chest with the smashed lock.

“Leave that one,” she said, taking it from him. They finished collecting up the rest and left the room.

She lay the chest on her bed, curious to know what was inside. The Furies started to persuade her to open it, but instead she shoved it under the pallet of her bed. She didn’t have time to think about this now. She had to get her sword and follow Nikolai.

She picked it up, then put it down. Did she really need it? She decided to take it since she was still convinced Harold was out to destroy her. Not to mention, she just may use it on Nikolai’s lover. She put it in the scabbard and headed back to the stable to get her horse.

It didn’t take her long to find Nikolai. She was a fast rider and also skilled at tracking. He stood on the rocks, staring into the sea. He was talking to someone she couldn’t see.

She got off her horse and sneaked up to find out just who he had up here. She wanted to catch him with his lover. She pulled her sword out and stepped out from behind a rock.

“Whoever your lover is, I’m going to kill her.” She held her sword outright, and Nikolai looked at her, surprised.

“What are you doing here, Vara?”

“I followed you. Now where are you hiding the woman you love?”

“I don’t love anyone. I think your jealousy is getting quite out of control.”

“Then you’re saying you don’t have a woman hidden away up here?” She looked around, trying to find a clue. Perhaps a scrap of clothing, or mayhap a ribbon from the woman’s hair. She could see nothing.

“No. I am here alone.”

“Then who were you talking to?”

He looked down and her gaze followed. She saw a snake at his feet. He picked it up and put it in the large bag he had brought with him. She shuddered and backed away.

“What are you doing?” she asked guardedly. The one animal that did frighten her, the only one, was a snake.

“I am trying to find my father.” He reached into a bush and pulled out another snake. “Father, is that you?”

Vara replaced her sword on her back, wondering if Nikolai had gone mad. When he asked a second time and the snake didn’t answer, he threw that one in the bag along with the first.

“Nikolai, you told me your father disappeared into the mountains and abandoned you.”

“He did.” He poked around the bushes and walked down the jagged rocks looking for more snakes.

“You never told me your father was a . . . a snake.”

“I just recently found out myself.” He found a third snake and repeated the process.

She didn’t understand any of this, and was wondering if mayhap Nikolai was being tortured by the Furies. She knew they could drive anyone mad. She walked up alongside him, and touched him on the shoulder.

“Nikolai, I don’t understand. Please tell me why you think your father is a snake.”

She pulled him away from his task and sat with him near the shore. The waves crashed in and out below them. If Nikolai hadn’t looked so forlorn, she would have almost thought the setting romantic.

“Remember when you asked me if I could see the past?”

“Yes,” she said slowly. “You said you couldn’t.”

“I didn’t think I could. But that was only because I had never tried. Last night I looked into my past and saw what really happened to my father.”

“You did?” she asked, surprised. “What did you see?”

He picked up a rock and threw it out into the ocean. “My father didn’t abandon me, Vara. He went to Olympus to confront Hera, and she turned him into a snake and threw him into the ocean.”

“By the gods, that’s horrible,” she said, feeling his sadness. “So you are trying to find the snake that is him?”

“I don’t even know if he’s still alive. I don’t know where to look for him.”

She glanced down at the bag containing the three snakes.

“Nikolai, you don’t plan on collecting every snake you find and bringing them back to the castle, do you?”

“I don’t really have a choice, do I?” He picked up another rock and threw it even harder.

Vara shivered with the thought of Nikolai’s room crawling with snakes. She didn’t like them, ever since the day of her childhood when one almost bit her. Snakes only reminded her of the way she’d lost her father. She would not have them in her castle. She would need to change his mind in order to get him to leave them behind. The only way to do that would be to come up with a better idea.

“I know,” she said, snapping her fingers. “You need to find out just what kind of snake your father is. That would at least narrow down your search.”

He looked up to her and nodded slowly. “So you’re saying I ask Hera?”

“No,” said Vara, surprised that he hadn’t thought of this sooner. “Hera would only lie. You need to look into your crystal again. Go into the past. Look closely at the snake he turned into, and tell me if you see any kind of identifying marks.”

“I don’t even know if I can do it again,” he told her. “And I’m not sure I want to see that vision another time. It was hard enough to watch the first time.”

“You have no choice, Nikolai. It’s either that, or spend the rest of your life talking to snakes.”

“You are right,” he finally agreed. “I will try.”

He picked up his crystal and gazed into it. After several minutes, he put it back down and smiled.

“Did it work?” she asked. “Did you find the answer?”

He leaned over and kissed her, and once again she felt the tingle from her head to her toes.

“It not only worked, but I also know the area in which she dropped him.” He let the snakes loose in the bush and threw the bag over his shoulder. He got to his feet and pulled her along excitedly back to the horses. “We are in the wrong area. We need to go further down the beach. The snake we’re looking for has the mark of Hera upon it.”

“What do you mean?” she said, running to keep up with him. 

“It is the eye of the peacock. I should have thought of that before. She always marks her work that way. Just look for a snake with the eye of the peacock on its belly.”

“What!” she stopped quickly and crossed her arms over her chest. “You sound as if you think I’m going to help you hunt for snakes.”

“I thought you cared about me, Vara.”

“I do.”

“I thought you said you were falling in love with me.”

“I am.”

“Don’t you care if I ever find my father or not?”

“Of course.”

“Then prove it.” He mounted his horse and threw down the challenge. “Show me, instead of telling me with words. The woman who loves me would help me find my father.”

“But . . . but . . . ” How could she tell him she was afraid of snakes? If word got out that Vara the Conqueror was afraid of anything, her image would be sullied forever.

“Are you going to help me or not?”

She looked up to the sky and finally saw an animal in the clouds. Unfortunately, this one looked like a snake. The image sent a shiver up her spine.

“I’ll be right behind you,” she said, hoping they would find the right snake on the very first try.

*  *  *

The day had passed slowly, and when nightfall set in, Nikolai rode his horse into the stables with a complaining, very angry Vara right behind him. He never should have coerced her to go along with him, but at the time he had no idea she was afraid of snakes. Of course, she would never admit it, but she didn’t need to. The way she jumped when one came near, and the way she refused to touch them, told him everything he needed to know.