Chapter 2
As the months wore on, the battle dragged on as well. Letters would occasionally come to the family from Alexander, and Calanthe received letters solely to her from Leonidas. She knew he thought about her nearly all the time.
Eventually, the letters stopped coming – but in Alexander's last letter, he had explained that it would be the last one for a while.
"Give my love to everyone back at home," the letter had read, "and let Leonidas' family know that he's well, too. Calanthe, he's still thinking about you a lot!"
One morning, a couple weeks after this final letter came, Ines was assisting with Calanthe's bath when Calanthe declared out of the blue, "You're lucky, Ines."
Ines paused, still holding her jar of water. "How do you mean, my lady?" she finally asked.
"You're in love with another one of our slaves, Ines, and you get to see him all the time. Me, I'm in love with one of the men in our army, and I haven't seen him for months."
Ines went pink to the roots of her hair. "Your family was…certainly wise – to hire Iosif as your brother's slave, my lady," she stammered.
Calanthe laughed merrily. "You yourself told me you were in love with him and he with you, Ines!" she answered. "And if you two were ever to marry, you'd at least have my blessing, even if no-one else's!"
Ines froze. That was exactly what she'd needed to hear – as she then whispered to Calanthe.
"Do you mean it, Ines?" Calanthe asked incredulously. "And my parents have given their blessing?"
The slave girl nodded.
"Quickly, then – help me finish my bath and then go tell Iosif your news!" Calanthe answered. "Be happy together!"
More months wore on, until it had been about a year since Alexander and Leonidas had left. Ines and Iosif were now happily married, and news finally came that the war was nearly over.
About a week later, Alexander returned home, looking worn and tired, and was welcomed by his family. The war was over, and Greece had won, but she'd paid a pretty heavy price.
At the family's meal together, Alexander told the family some of the better stories from the different battles they'd fought. However, Calanthe noticed that he said very little about Leonidas.
"And what about Leonidas, Alexander?" Calanthe asked a couple minutes after he'd finished relaying the stories he had to tell. "Is he now home with his family, too?"
Alexander looked away, clearly upset. He paused for a long minute, and when he faced Calanthe again, he croaked out, "He's…not…coming – back, Calanthe."
Calanthe went white as a sheet. No…
"What happened?" she finally answered, slowly.
"A couple months ago, he was wounded pretty badly – worse than ever before," Alexander replied. "He fought pretty hard to stay alive for you, but…he was so badly injured that he died three days later. He only ever talked about you when he was fighting for his life." He paused. "You were…you were even in his last words."
"What did Leonidas say about me?" Calanthe asked quietly.
"He asked the gods for forgiveness for breaking a vow he made to you…and he said he loved you. And that was it."
That was it for Calanthe, too. She shakily rose from her spot, still pale. "I'm not very hungry anymore," she whispered before walking back to her room in a daze. No-one tried to follow her or persuade her to stay at the table.
Yeah…I included the thing with the slaves' marriage because I wanted to have at least ONE love story with a happy ending!