"I choose you as my queen," Leonidas declared, his eyes fixed to Gorgo's. She had been uneasy during his explanation, and at his final words she appeared very upset. The tears she had kept within her eyes surged forward down her cheeks. Leonidas had never seen her cry before, he'd never seen her so upset and it unnerved him. He had admitted his desire for her as a woman, and he still cared for her as his friend.
Leonidas tightened his grip over her hands reassuringly. "Gorgo? I want you as my queen, what say you?" He asked.
Gorgo abruptly pulled her hands from his, swiping at the tears streaking down her cheeks. He watched as she took several deep breaths in trying to calm the trembling of her voice. "Leonidas," she pleaded quietly. "Leonidas, I would be honored to rule by your side...but I cannot..."
Anger flared within his chest, and Leonidas could not stop himself from bracing his hands over her narrow shoulders. "Why? Is there another?"
Jealousy was foreign to him. He thought of the cavalry officer from the past year, he remembered seeing them kiss in this very garden through a red haze of anger. Who was he, to touch what belonged to the king? Had Gorgo promised herself to him?
Gorgo didn't struggle away from him, she did not show the slightest of fear when enemies had trembled before his anger. Gorgo knew Leonidas well- it was not in his nature to hurt a woman, whether enemy or friend. "Yes, Leonidas. There are others."
He shook his head, "Others? What is this madness- there can only be one man. Who is he?"
She reached a hand forward and laid it upon his broad chest, just over his steady heart. Her eyes held his. "During these past ten days, your father has received visitors, Leonidas. Messangers from the Ephors. At the end of this moon cycle, when I am twenty, they will take me away. My father promised me to them, years ago. I am to become an Oracle."
The hands that had braced her shoulder flew from her flesh, Leonidas's eyes were wide with shock and fury. "An Oracle, you? Never! I won't allow it! You will be my queen."
"I want nothing more in the world than to be your wife," Gorgo confessed to him. "You have been my friend since our family's return, you comforted me when my brothers were taken for the agoge trials and indulged me endlessly. In you I see the greatest of men, but this cannot be. Soon I will be taken away, and you must choose another to be your queen."
Leonidas reared up, pacing once again. Gorgo had resigned herself to becoming the next Oracle, but women had never been permitted to the Ephor temple. He was sure that Gorgo had no idea what being the Oracle truly entailed. His stomach clenched at the thought of her being laid out to those twisted old creatures; her mind would be stripped of all reason by their incense, her body forced to writhe in ancient dances, forced to endure their gnarled hands and violent possesions. No!
"I want no other. Only you. I will speak to my father. The messangers will take another, but not you." Leonidas said with all the will he could muster.
Gorgo remained seated on the small stone bench, her hands folded in her lap. When she spoke, her voice was quiet. "You are a great man, Leonidas of Sparta, but I am unworthy of your concern. If you oppose the Ephors, terrible things can happen. Sparta must not suffer for your choice of queen. Choose another, Leonidas."
Leonidas wanted to brace his hands over her shoulders once more and either shake her to see reason or lift her to her feet and kiss her. He had never kissed a woman before, but as Leonidas had already chosen Gorgo in his heart to be queen, it felt right to do so. He moved to her, slowly so not to upset her further.
Carefully, he put his hands over her shoulders, gently this time. He stroked her arms, up and down, as he might do when breaking a wild mare. Gorgo's eyes closed at his touch. Leonidas moved his hands up to cup her face, lifting her mouth to his. He closed his eyes as his lips brushed against hers. She was soft and hot; Leonidas groaned slightly as she allowed him to deepen the kiss.
Gorgo reached forward at first to push him away- she was promised to the Ephors, she couldn't be seen with the king so close to her departure from Sparta- but Leonidas only pulled her closer, crushing her against him. Gorgo's hands moved from pushing him away to resting over his shoulders, her nails clutching at his flesh.
Truly, she had grown to love Leonidas some time ago. Where once he had been merely her friend, he was now a man that she both desired and respected. Gorgo had not known of her father's promise until she learned that he had refused to petition the king for her. When she had asked him why, thinking that perhaps her father thought her to be too ugly or unworthy to someday be a queen, Cadmus had explained. During their first year back in Sparta, her younger brother Apollo had fallen ill.
In return for the knowledge to cure him, the Ephors had demanded her as their next Oracle.
It was an impossible demand, but Cadmus could not allow his son to die if the price was that his daughter only serve the Ephors for five years. He was not an ignorant man- any Spartan that had ever laid eyes on the Oracle could discern the truth of the Ephors' motivations. He had been at war with himself over the decision, but as Apollo began to fade faster and faster, the choice was made for him. Gorgo was promised to them once she reached the age of twenty.
Gorgo only knew that she would be taken from her home and given to ancient mystics. What would happen to her from there, she had no idea. Leonidas held her close to him, planting small kisses to her face and neck, whispering to her a promise that he would slay Hades himself to have her rule at his side.
She allowed him to hold her, but her heart sank low that he tempted the fates with such arrogance.
"Father, I must speak with you."
King Androcles glanced up from the maps he'd been studying. Some showed the harvest crops and livestock, other showed neighboring Greek territories and still others showed potential strategies for friends that might all too easily become enemies. He watched as his son, now a grown man strode toward him. He didn't like to admit that he would hesitate before facing Leonidas in battle- time ruled them all, and Androcles was not the mighty warrior he once was. His joints ached and the mane that had once shared the jet black coloring with his son had gone to a steely gray.
He was old, it was true, but Androcles was still yet king.
"Good day, my son. Something troubles you?"
Leonidas moved to face his father, and Androcles wondered why it was that his face appeared so flushed. "Gorgo is to be an Oracle."
Androcles nodded. "Yes, Cadmus promised her a few years back, when young Apollo was ill, don't you remember?"
Leonidas nodded, recalling with ease the dread felt throughout the palace over the boy's fate. "Yes, I remember, but I had no idea that Cadmus had promised her away to the Ephors."
The older man shrugged. "Well, do not think that Cadmus arrived at his choice so easily, my son. How can you ask a father to choose between allowing his son to die or signing away his daughter's future. He agonized for days, seeking the council of the other advisors, the gods, why, he even begged me for guidance!"
Leonidas glared, "And it was you that told him to sell her?"
Adrocles glared back to his son, "Watch your words, Leonidas. You are not king yet. No. I did not tell him to sell his only daughter as one would sell a brace of sheep or a bushel of wheat. Apollo was dying, Leonidas, and Cadmus refused to allow it to happen. The agreement was made, with much difficulty, but it was made. Apollo lived and soon Gorgo will be taken to the Ephors. Why are you so concerned?"
Leonidas threw up his hands in anger, "I am concerned because Gorgo will be drunk on their incense and forced to be the whore to those corrupt demons for years! She has no idea what the Oracle truly is- just a puppet, a plaything to those men. They...they will steal her virginity, using her until there is nothing left, ruining her for any other man and destroying her spirit! It will not happen."
Androcles studied his son as closely as he'd studied the maps. "I hate the Ephors as do you, Leonidas. Perhaps more so. It was them that declared your mother to wander limbo, I nearly emptied the palace treasury to buy her passage into the afterlife. She has thanked me every year since with bountiful harvests, and the Ephors claim glory for it."
Leonidas nodded, growling, "Corrupt bastards. They will not take Gorgo."
The older man frowned slightly. "All of Greece runs with certain faults, my son, but even a king cannot unmake generations of tradition. The Ephors will live in their temple, filled with greed and power, and among them there will always be an Oracle- I hate the practice as well, but you must learn to see this as a necessary evil."
"Never! Gorgo will be my queen, not a whore to devils!" Leonidas bellowed his fury.
Androcles took a step back in surprise. "Gorgo? You've chosen Gorgo as your queen?"
"Yes. I chose her just today and it was she who told me of the messanger sent to take her to the temple. Father, I will slay ten hydras to save her from that fate. How can I stop them from taking her?" Leonidas asked.
Androcles frowned. "My son, I confess that this has never happened before- no living Greek has ever challenged the Ephor's choice of an Oracle. We will speak with the messanger, when the time comes. There may be a custom, or perhaps we will need to speak with the Ephors themselves."
"I don't want to see the damn Ephors. I may lose control and kill them all at first sight."
"I may join you in doing so, Leonidas. Do not think that you are alone in your hatred for the miserable wretches. As satisfying as it would be, we would become cursed men if their blood should ever stain our swords. We will present our case, and abide by their decision. I warn you, Leonidas, the Ephors are dangerous and may bring you into danger."
"I don't care, father. Gorgo will be my queen, and I will bring the Ephor temple to rubble if they deny me."