Page 35 of Flamesworn
“I already don’t, but thank you, Ares. Was there something you needed?”
Kataida didn’t know what to say. Her father’s demeanor was every inch the Strategos of Arktos, not her father, and sheknew why. Complaining about orders to the Strategos was a disciplinable offense, and that’s why she was glad to catch him at home. Kataida knew her hospitality laws to the letter.
“I’m not here as a captain under your command. I’m here as your daughter.”
Evander’s eyebrows raised. “Is that so? Well,daughter,my orders are the same.”
Kataida felt her anger surge again, and she felt sohelpless. “Why? Markos was my friend. This is my country, I’m Arkoudai, why would you–”
Before Kataida could stop him, Evander took her in his arms and hugged her. He said nothing, merely held her close, and Kataida could feel him shaking, could feel how fast his heart pounded in his chest.
She was stiff in his arms, uncomfortable as she always was with such an obvious surfeit of emotion, but eventually she relented a bit and hugged him back.
“If it’s my daughter speaking to me, I am going to hug her,” Evander said, into the top of her head.
Kataida closed her eyes. “It’s both,” she admitted, and Evander gave a weak chuckle before gently moving back.
“Let me explain to you why I chose this,” Evander said, “because I know what you will think. You think that I don’t think you are a good enough soldier, you or your brother, that I want to keep you safe because I am your father. Any father wants to keep their children safe, but I understand you are a soldier, as is your brother. It isn’t lack of trust in your martial abilities, Kataida, or Theron’s, for that matter. I need to control the flow of battle, and that is easier to do without you and Theron there.”
She remembered what Menelaus had said, about the cult and how frantic her father had been when she’d been missing. A flicker of unease went through her that maybe her father waspretending it was about logistics, not emotions. “Because you would worry too much about us.”
“Because you’re Aktis, and the enemy wants us dead,” Evander said, bluntly, hands on her shoulders. “We aren’t talking about foreign forces from Mislia or Starians from across the mountains. These are people who know you, know your rank. They’ll be looking for you, a captain and an Akti, and they know how to find you. The same is true of your brother. If I am the only Akti there, I control the focus of the fighting. With you and Theron, our forces are divided. That’s what they want. I won’t give it to them.”
It wasn’t inherently a bad explanation, but it didn’t quite ring true to her. She thought of what Menelaus had said, about her father wanting to keep them safe and how that concern eclipsed all else, about how he’d looked when he’d found her in Atreus’ tomb, about that hug a moment ago, the way he shook when he held her.
Then put me in another uniform. Put me in the back. Use me as bait to funnel them where you want them. There are other plans, better ones that don’t boil down to me and Theron hiding in the capital while you fight our own people.
He wasn’t going to listen to her.
She knew her father, could recognize the stubborn set of his chin, and if he’d told himself that his strategy was sound, if Menelaus agreed, then there was no point in trying to change his mind. She would just have to do what needed to be done, just as she had with the cultists.
“I still need orders,” she said, and she could see the surprise in his eyes that she wasn’t going to argue anymore.
“Go and check with Atlas, he’s in charge of organizing supply lines,” Evander said. His gaze went to Ares. “Where do you go, when we ride to war?”
Ares smiled. “Where do you think?”
If they’re with you, I will be too.Kataida took Ares’ hand, too eager to get them out of the house to notice her father’s shocked expression at her willingly touching someone. “Try not to make people argue about the best jerky to put in a pack, Ares.”
“I don’t know what that is,” Ares said, as she pulled them out of the house.
“That’s it, then? Your father embraces you, and you…oh.” They smiled at the look Kataida gave them. “You’re going to disobey.”
“Shh!” Kataida pulled them around the side of a building, shoved them against the wall and tried not to feel a rush of warmth when Ares moaned from being manhandled. “Stay with me and don’t say that. Everyone needs to think I’m too good a soldier to do anything other than what I’ve been ordered to do. But it doesn’t feel right, and I can’t–Iwon’tjust sit here and do nothing while my country burns.”
“Yeah, I had a feeling,” a voice said, and Kataida jumped as she realized that someone was there with them, leaning against the wall. She caught the scent of clove cigarettes as her brother Theron exhaled, smirking, looking like one of the sulky Katoikos submissives they drew in the salacious comics he snuck into Arktos and proudly displayed on their shared bookshelf.
“And you’re going to, what, tell on me again?” she demanded.
Theron exhaled smoke again, slowly, one booted foot propped against the wall. He didn’t look surprised at all that she was pinning Ares, or that Ares was subtly trying to make her grip their throat a little tighter. “Markos was my buddy,” he said, after a moment. “And something about this smells rancid. I’m not a perfect soldier, but even I know that.”
“So?” Kataida did let Ares go, who gave a small, sad sigh about it. “What does that mean?”
"It means you’re not going alone.” Theron tossed his cigarette to the ground and stomped on it with his boot. “I’m coming with you.”
Chapter
Nine
