Cursed By The Gods Book 1 and 2

Chapter 55

There was chattering among the servants, mostly the female servants. They seemed to be excited about something and Cleopoda couldn’t fathom why. They didn’t even seem to mind her walking the corridors of the palace, they seemed too distracted to care. She couldn’t ask any of them what mane them all so excited so she went in search of Strukus, he had newly been given a duty in the kitchen so she went there in search of him. On her way she passed by maids who hurdled close together, chuckling and giggling as they talked behind their hands, they wasn’t anything special going on in the palace as far as she knew and it has been months since Uncle Angus arrived and while everyone was still happy the excitement was already dead and in her knowledge no one of importance was visiting.

The kitchen was almost empty, there were a few servants who were cleaning the platters that had been used for breakfast that morning and there was Strukus cleaning the stove. To avoid getting him into trouble with the head servant and with Garius she waited until the servants were done with their duties before approaching him. He was bent over in the stove with the iron grate out so he could clean it, his clothes were covered in soot so were his hands, legs and face.

She laughed. He looked up from his place on the floor and saw her.

“Cleopoda!” He stood up quickly and tripped over the iron grate in his haste to meet her. She held her hand out to break his fall and also to keep him from smearing soot on her tunic.

“Be careful you dufus, you’ll get we both killed.”

He smiled in gratitude and righted himself. As he cleaned his hand on a rag to get rid of the soot he realized he hadn’t seen her in a long time since Garius started with his sessions with her and since her Uncle came. The head servant never gave him much time for himself, he was always given the most dirty work in the kitchen and was forced to work from the c***k of dawn till late at night when Remin came to drag him to bed so he didn’t have much time to sneak around in search of her. But as he looked at her in the bright light streaming from the window he noticed she wasn’t looking as sad as she always did and he knew why; her Uncle Angus took her on rides on his horse every day and he brought treats for her too whenever he went out to practice in the fields. He saw all these from a far but could never go close to her for fear that the head servant would report him to Garius who would make go his promise to kill him.

“What are you looking at?” Cleopoda asked.

He blinked. “What?”

“Nothing, you must have been lost inside your own head. Do you know why everyone is whispering among themselves? The female servants are hurrying somewhere, do you know where?”

“You don’t know?” She shook her head. “There is a play at the square today and Zenas would be there, in fact he is playing the lead role?”

Cleopoda frowned. “Zenas? Who is Zenas and why is everyone so excited about him?”

Strukus sighed and playfully regarded her with pity. “You don’t know anything, do you?” He pushed at her head with his forefinger, she pushed his hand away and folded her hands across her chest. “Come on Cleopoda! Zenas is legendary! He’s a hero.”

“Of what?” she challenged with a shrug. “I have read about heroes and I know nothing of this Zenas.”

“Book, book, book is all you have up here.” He took her head between his hands and shook it. “Zenas is not a war hero, he is a play hero. They say he is a demi god because of his legendary beauty and,” he moved close to whisper in her ear, “I have heard the maids say he knows how to pleasure a woman.”

“Pleasure a woman,” she frowned. “How do you know about this legendary actor?”

“I snuck out last year while mother was busy with you and went to the square, he was there at the theatre. I didn’t have enough coin to see the play but I snuck in through the back. I have enough to buy a seat today and maybe some figs even Demiris is hastening to go and he has given me the day off so I can go too.”

Cleopoda watched him push the grate back into the stove. When he was done with that he picked up his rag from the floor and took it to the sick so he wash it and himself. His light tunic hung heavily on his body, revealing his ribs. Until Uncle Angus came she ate with Mama Remin and Strukus and the servants didn’t really treat them well, Mama Remin scrapped what little she could get from the kitchen from the kitchen. Uncle Angus always brought trays of food with meat and milk for her every evening, she felt guilty that Strukus and Mama Remin still didn’t have enough to eat while she had meat every night.

“Do you want to come with me?” Strukus asked suddenly. His face was clean and the soot on his gone. “You should come.” He was already beside her holding her hand and pulling her towards the door, into the passage.

“Strukus wait!”

He was rushing towards Mama Remin’s room so fast she could barely keep up. Once in the room he took a clean tunic from his small trunk by the wall and hurried into washroom to change. Cleopoda sat on the bed to wait for him, he was so excited he had forgotten that she was not supposed to be seen outside the palace.

When he came back out he was holding his charcoal covered tunic while a clean brown one covered his body.

“I can’t go, Strukus.”

He stopped in his tracks. “Why?”

She rolled her eyes at him “My father has asked that I should never be seen outside the palace, even Garius would have my head if he knows I left the palace. What about the people? If they see me on the streets they’ll kill me.”

Strukus thought over it. Quickly he went back to his trunk and pulled out two oversized cloaks, he threw one around Cleopoda’s shoulder and the other around his own.

“There, they will think we are beggars. We should be able to leave the palace without being noticed.”

He took her hand again and snuck with her out of the palace. Cleopoda was worried but she went with him because her curiosity about the great Zenas won over her fear. The streets were very busy, so crowded that true to Strukus’s words no one noticed them because there were several people in cloaks too and many of them had their heads covered too. She relaxed and let Strukus lead her in the very unfamiliar streets, she only ever saw the village from her room but was never allowed to be seen in them so she stuck close to Strukus side and soon they came to the square to the part where the huge theatre sat with many peddlers of all kinds of things at the front of the steps. Strukus led her up the servants acting as ushers at the Poor gate since they were dressed as beggars. Cleopoda wished to open the hood of her cloak to see but she knew she couldn’t so she quietly followed Strukus in after he paid their feed and collected the figs he gave to her. They went to the right wing to sit, no one too notice of them since different people had cloaks on anyway. Strukus explained the play to her which was about a fallen war hero who had come home to find out that his wife was married to his brother and was pregnant for him because she had thought he was dead so he had taken his own life because he had loved his wife every much.

“He is very handsome,” Cleopoda said. Her eyes were rooted to the actor called Zenas. Even with his makeup covering most of his face she could see his defined cheek bones and the darkness of his eyes and he was very talented too. She could just see why the maids were all so chittery and giggly in the halls.

“I have never seen anyone as beautiful as he,” she said under her breath. So lost was she in her admiration of him that she left her figs half eaten.

“I have,” Strukus said quietly.

“You have? Where? No one equals Zenas. Look, all the maidens are in love with him! Do you think he knows me?”

Strukus scoffed. “You’re just 5 Cleo and he won’t even like…” he stopped as he realized he was about to say one obvious thing that made her hated in the kingdom.

But Cleopoda wasn’t even listening, she was so invested in the play and in Zenas that she couldn’t care less if he called her a fool. She was upset when the play ended and wanted to join the hordes of women who went to the back of the theatre to greet the main actor, Zenas but Strukus pulled her back with reminder that she had to be back at the palace before anyone noticed they were gone. Only then did she leave.