XIII
Asylum
‘Sanctuary’
They left Athenae behind them, like a tarnished gem they could not bear to look at any longer. It was a place that held nothing for them now, except for faded memories that brought only pain in their recollection.
As the wagon rolled north over the Eleusinian plain, Adara was quiet, contemplating the cruel illusion that her childhood now felt like. She began to feel cold, the damp from the sea to their left creeping in slowly with Winter’s approach. While Lucius drove the mule on at a quick pace between crowds of pilgrims on their way to Eleusis from the city, in the back of the wagon, Adara gathered her children, grown as they were, into her arms. I will protect them no matter the cost, she thought. And she meant it. She meant it with every fibre of her being.
