Circe drew in a sharp breath and then stepped back, simultaneously freeing her wrists from his hands at the same moment as she turned away from him quickly.
“Very well!” She said after an audible breath, and while spinning back around to pin him in place with a smile. “But!” She said with a raised forefinger. “You will allow me to show you as much of Pallikári as I wish.”
Pallikári was the name of the town built around the palatial Leos Estate. In English, the name translated best to ‘Stalwart’, which seemed like an apt name for a place inhabited by diehard Laconians with Spartan ideology baked into their DNA.
“Of course, my lady.” Arthur said while trying to put the image of her parted lips firmly out of his mind, and focus only on what was to come.
“Good. Come along, then.” Circe said without preamble. “We’ll collect your Kidemónes and be off.”
“You don’t think Perseus and Endymion will be a little… obvious?” He asked while watching her.
She seemed supremely unaffected by what had happened, and though Arthur knew that was probably a very good thing—especially since he really shouldn’t have taken ahold of her—in general, he couldn’t help but feel quietly disappointed. It was an idiotic and stupid thought, but it persisted.
She was the Heir of House Leos.
He was to be their Hetairoi.
Even the hint of something more was absolutely untenable, he knew.
It would have helped, though, if she hadn’t been so easy to spend time with.
It’s the psions and resonance. He reasoned while he followed her from his quarters. And you know how to deal with that, so stop being an idiot and focus.
The reminder helped him to some extent, though the way she walked threatened to upend his mental chastisement.
Circe naturally combined a noblewoman’s sashaying glide with a straight-backed martial stride, and the way it came together was… distractingly nice to watch.
So instead, he stepped toward to stride alongside her to remove the temptation, and returned her smile politely while they made their way through the corridors of the estate.
Perseus and Endymion, who had been until then in counsel with Atreus, joined them as they reached the end of the expansive hallway that marked the entrance to the Hetairoi wing Arthur’s apartments were in.
“Apologies for not being with you, Arthur.” Perseus said while they walked.
“No problem.” Arthur said with an easy smile. “Did everything go well with Atreus?”
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
“Our brother simply wished to explain the long-term arrangements going forward.” Perseus said in a tone that Arthur recognized as ‘professionally vague’, and so he did not press for more details. An itch of suspicion made itself known between his shoulder blades, but he didn’t pay it active mind.
His memories as Arthur Zacaris screamed something was wrong.
Arthur Zacaris, however, had grown up in a nest of vipers, and his new self was stronger than his past self’s lingering traumas.
“Will the two of you be staying with us, Kidemónas Andino?” Circe asked politely.
“We will be, my lady.” Perseus confirmed with a smile Arthur heard through the tall Graecian’s helmet speakers. “Though Lord Atreus will be accompanying your father on his trip to Attica this evening, so it will just be us for a short while.”
“My father is going to Attica?” Circe asked a little sharply.
Perseus and Endymion glanced at one another, and then Perseus spoke again.
“My apologies for speaking out of turn, my lady. I assumed you knew.”
“No, I… it’s quite alright, Kidemónas Andino.” Circe said with what Arthur recognized as a more forced smile. “The fault is mine. He was just likely too busy to inform me. It is not uncommon.”
The Kidemónes glanced at one another again with a faint whir of their armor servos, but neither spoke in reply. Arthur took a careful look over at Circe, and decided to mimic their choice.
Sometimes silence was for the better.
It was in that same silence that the four of them made their way through the Leos palace, passing Lion Guard and various staff members that bowed or curtsied to the quartet. Circe, Arthur noticed, greeted every single person where she could. Even if it was just a simple nod, a wave, or the rare smile; she made the effort to acknowledge as many of them as possible.
She didn’t stop to speak with them, of course, but he also understood the pragmatism of that choice. If she had stopped even for a few seconds, it would have added the better part of an hour to their walk to the estate’s outer bailey.
The sheer scale of the Leos estate was staggering. It was big enough to house thousands of people comfortably, and judging by the staff he saw, that might not have been a far off assessment.
When they eventually did reach the walled front gardens of the palace, and the two hundred meter driveway leading to the distant high-walled gates, Arthur raised an eyebrow at what awaited them.
A long black air car set on six wheels—two at the front and four at the rear—with the Leos Lion emblazoned on the doors, and what looked like the shielded dome cover for an autocannon on the roof.
It looked like a sleeker version of a presidential limousine from the 21st century.
“I take it your father doesn’t mess around with security.”
“I’ve had assassins after me since my birth, Arthur.” Circe said with a laugh. “This was his compromise for letting me go out with a minimal guard.”
“I don’t see any of the Lion Guard, though.” Arthur said with a glance around.
“The driver and footman will be, but we’re also with two of the Vasilikós Kidemónes.” Circe said with a smile for Perseus and Endymion while the four of them descended the steps. “Their presence will actively dissuade attack, because attacking them is attacking the Kings, and that would end very, very badly for anyone even suspected of such.”
“But if they can’t be incrim—Ah. Myrmidónes.”
“Myrmidónes.” Circe confirmed with a grin.