Disclaimer: I do not own Troy or any of the characters from the movie.
Running Into Love
Chapter 2
Desperate Measures
Kalonice moved about the house in a melancholy state of mind. Her beloved father, Darius, has been dead less than one month and already her eldest brother, Anthony, was pressing her to hurry up and get married. Her mother was still too lost in her own grief to help her youngest child and Anthony wanted Kalonice out of his home. It was well known in the family that Anthony's wife, Desdemona, hated Kalonice and Kalonice in turn hated Desdemona. See Kalonice was very beautiful and this made Desdemona jealous because she was not. Kalonice looked like she could be Artemis herself with her long wavy ebony hair, deeply tanned skin, and toned muscles. Desdemona was as plain as you could get with her thick black mop of hair, olive toned skin, and no noticeable muscles.
Desdemona had hated Kalonice since the moment she saw her. She hated everything about Kalonice. The way she walked, the way she talked, the way she could catch the eye of any man without even trying. Desdemona had to work hard to catch the attention of Anthony. The only reason she even caught his eye was because her father had provided her with a hefty dowry. She didn't even love Anthony. She just wanted to get closer to Kalonice so she could somehow make the beautiful girl's life a living hell.
Kalonice tried to get along with Desdemona but the woman was determined to hate her. It was because of Desdemona that Anthony was pushing Kalonice so hard to marry. What was worse was that the men that were presented to her as suitors were all vile and loathsome. Not a single descent man was ever presented to her although she knew many who were more than willing to marry her. It made her furious that Desdemona was put in charge of selecting suitors for her and as she turned down each and every man her hatred for Desdemona grew. Her mother refused to listen to her as did Anthony who called her ridiculous. The only people who listened to her and believed her were her sister, Nani, who was a priestess to Apollo and her younger brother, Sirius. They knew of Desdemona's hatred for Kalonice as did Kalonice's mother. The only person who seemed oblivious to this hatred within the family was Anthony. He loved Desdemona despite her plainness and her coldness and would never believe any ill words spoken against her. For this Kalonice hated Anthony and she hated Desdemona all the more. She had to sit by day to day and watch Desdemona use her brother to harm his own siblings and she could barely stand it.
One evening the entire family was seated for the evening meal and Anthony brought up the fact that Kalonice was still not married. Desdemona reminded him that Kalonice simply refused every man that was even interested in her. At this point Sirius snapped that if some descent men were actually presented for Kalonice to choose from that she may actually accept one of them. This comment erupted into a fight between Anthony and Sirius which was ended only by their mother, Philomena, shouting at them from her place at the table.
"STOP!!!!" yelled Philomena.
"Mother stay out of this. He has insulted my wife and I will not stand for it," Anthony said tensely.
"Your wife deserved what she got and she deserves more still," Sirius growled.
"Both of you stop this nonsense now!!" Philomena barked at her sons who both looked about ready to kill each other.
"Look at how ungrateful he is, Anthony. We allow him to stay in our home and he spits in our faces," Desdemona said. "You should toss him out on his own. He is a grown man after all he should have his own family by now…" she continued but was cut off by an angry glare from Philomena.
"You be silent as well woman. You have filled my sons head with enough of your poisonous words. You would have him give his sister in marriage to street scum and toss his own brother out like trash. You have no right to speak and do such horrible things to my family. I knew from the moment you came into our family that you would cause trouble for us. You are the ungrateful one. We took you into our family and now you wish to tear us all apart." Philomena cried.
"Mother you should not say such things about my wife. She would never try to harm my family. She only wants the best for all of us." Anthony responded.
"How can you say such things Anthony? How can you believe the words you have just spoken? Can you not see the malice in her eyes? The hatred that she has for every member of this family. I may not have witnessed all of her horrible deeds but I have heard of them. She has poisoned your mind and you do not wish to be cured. No son of mine would ever believe that a woman like that is trying to help his family. No son of mine would act as you have. You are not my son. You are not my Anthony. Kalonice, Sirius go pack your things we will leave this house. I have family we can go live with since we obviously have none here. We will take the grey mare and the wagon and Sirius' horse you can have the other stock and tools." Philomena said and added coldly, "See what your virtuous wife has done to your family now boy."
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