"Can’t you at least allow my sister to rest for a few hours before accosting her?" She asked with exasperated reproach. "She’s been traveling for weeks in her condition. She’s exhausted. Whatever reunion you two need can surely wait until she’s had proper sleep."
Nathan glanced toward Clytemnestra, his expression shifting from the intimate warmth he’d been showing Helen to sothing more casual and friendly as he stepped back, creating respectful distance from the pregnant woman.
"Clytemnestra," he acknowledged with a genuine smile. "How was the trip to your childhood holand? I imagine returning to Sparta after so many years carried complicated emotions."
"I’ll leave you to explain everything to him, sister," Helen interjected quickly at that precise mont, clearly recognizing an opportunity to give her older sister ti alone with Nathan. She moved with surprising speed for soone so heavily pregnant, slipping past both of them and disappearing into her bedroom, closing the door firmly behind her with an audible click.
Clytemnestra stood sowhat dumbfounded by her sister’s sudden tactical retreat, realizing belatedly that she’d been deliberately maneuvered into this private conversation. But feeling Nathan’s expectant gaze settling on her, she recovered her composure and shrugged with practiced nonchalance, crossing her arms beneath her chest in a defensive posture that had beco habitual.
"The trip was good overall," she replied, keeping her tone carefully neutral. "We successfully t with the new King of Sparta as planned. The diplomatic mission accomplished its primary objectives."
"Is he a competent ruler, or just another brainless idiot like nelaus was?" Nathan asked bluntly, his assessnt of Helen’s forr husband carrying undisguised contempt.
Clytemnestra couldn’t suppress the laugh that escaped at his characterization, the sound genuine and unguarded for a mont before she caught herself.
"He genuinely loves both his family and his kingdom, and he possesses a fierce temper when roused," she said, describing what she’d observed. "Those traits were imdiately apparent."
"That description sounds uncomfortably similar to nelaus," Nathan pointed out with mild concern. "Sa passionate devotion, sa quick anger. Are we looking at another disaster waiting to happen?"
"No, he’s very different from nelaus despite so surface similarities," Clytemnestra clarified, shaking her head with conviction. "He’s genuinely good-hearted in ways nelaus never was. He accepted us warmly without hesitation and understood our situation without requiring extensive explanation. He actively disliked nelaus as well, apparently—they’d clashed repeatedly before the Trojan War when nelaus asked him to join him which he refused. And importantly, everyone in Sparta has accepted him as their new king without significant opposition."
"That transition happened rather quickly," Nathan observed. "nelaus only died relatively recently, yet his replacent seems already firmly established."
Clytemnestra nodded briefly, her expression growing more serious. "After nelaus forced the entire kingdom into that catastrophic war purely to recover Helen—dragging them across the sea for a decade-long siege—the political situation beca untenable," she explained. "It would have been less shocking to the population if nelaus had at least won decisively. But instead of victory, Sparta suffered humiliating defeat."
She paused, her eyes finding Nathan’s face as she added pointedly, "A defeat you were primarily responsible for orchestrating, I should ntion."
The accusation carried no real heat—she was simply stating facts rather than expressing anger.
"If a crushing military defeat and the deaths of thousands of their soldiers was necessary to make the Spartan people finally understand they needed better leadership, then your kingdom requires far more fundantal help than I initially thought," Nathan replied with brutal honesty.
Clytemnestra snorted inelegantly at that assessnt.
"If you’re searching for intelligent, philosophically-minded people, go to Athens," she said with dry humor. "Sparta has never been particularly good at complex thinking. We value martial prowess and discipline over intellectual pursuits. That’s simply our culture."
"Yet you yourself are a Spartan woman," Nathan pointed out deliberately, his tone carrying implicit complint. "And you’re one of the most intelligent people I know."
It was completely true. Clytemnestra possessed remarkable intelligence that Nathan had co to appreciate even more thoroughly during their years of acquaintance. There was a very specific reason he’d included her in his inner council etings despite her lack of formal military command. Helen participated as well, of course, but Helen retained a distinctly naive and innocent quality that sotis limited her strategic insights. Clytemnestra, by contrast, demonstrated sharp analytical intelligence and political acun that even Azariah openly praised.
Clytemnestra found herself unable to maintain eye contact as Nathan smiled at her with warm appreciation. She swallowed reflexively, feeling her cheeks flush slightly with heat that had nothing to do with the room’s temperature. Her gaze dropped away, suddenly finding the floor fascinating.
"What about the possibility of a formal alliance between Sparta and Tenebria?" Nathan asked, smoothly moving past her obvious discomfort without drawing attention to it. "With specifically, given my role here?"
"The new king stated that if you genuinely want an alliance, you’ll need to co to Sparta personally instead of simply sending his nieces as interdiaries," Clytemnestra reported, recalling the conversation. "He was quite firm about that requirent, though not hostile. I think he wants to asure you himself."
Nathan chuckled at that stipulation, clearly finding sothing amusing in the demand.
"Now I’m genuinely curious about this distant uncle of yours," he said with interest. "He sounds like he might actually be worth eting."
"Are you planning to travel to Sparta soon, then?" Clytemnestra asked, trying to keep disappointnt from coloring her voice at the prospect of him leaving again so quickly.
"Not imdiately," Nathan replied, shaking his head. "I have to depart for Kastoria first. That diplomatic mission takes priority and can’t be delayed further."
"Kastoria?" Clytemnestra raised one eyebrow in mild surprise. "That seems like an unusual destination."
"I need to secure their willing cooperation and military support for the coming conflict with the Light Empire," Nathan explained straightforwardly. "Forcing their participation would be counterproductive, so I need to negotiate properly and ensure they’re genuinely committed rather than resentfully obligated."
"That makes strategic sense," Clytemnestra acknowledged with a thoughtful nod, her military and political instincts imdiately grasping the reasoning.
She felt distinctly disappointed that Nathan would be leaving again almost imdiately after she and Helen had just returned from their extended trip. They’d been away for weeks, and now he would disappear again for who knew how long. The timing felt cruel.
"Do you have anything else you want to tell ?" Nathan asked then, deliberately stepping closer and bringing his face nearer to hers, his proximity suddenly making the air feel charged with tension.
"Nothing in particular," Clytemnestra managed, her voice coming out slightly breathless despite her efforts to sound casual.
"Do you have anything you wish for?" Nathan asked next, his tone dropping lower and becoming more intimate. "Anything at all that you want but haven’t asked for?"
Clytemnestra hesitated, her eyes flickering toward the closed bedroom door where Helen was supposedly resting—though probably actually listening to every word of this conversation with keen interest.
"I was thinking..." Clytemnestra began tentatively, struggling to articulate feelings she’d kept buried. "Seeing Helen beco pregnant, carrying new life, preparing to beco a mother again... I suppose I felt sowhat envious of that. Of having that possibility, that future."
She trailed off, unable to complete the vulnerable admission.
"There’s absolutely no need to feel envious if you can obtain the exact sa thing for yourself," Nathan replied, his voice dropping to an intimate whisper as he leaned even closer. "All you have to do is reach out and take it. Say yes."
His warm breath ghosted across her skin as he spoke, making Clytemnestra’s entire body heat up with sudden overwhelming awareness of his proximity. Her heart rate accelerated noticeably as she forced herself to turn her gaze directly toward him, eting those srizing golden demonic eyes that seed to see straight through every defense she’d carefully constructed.
Those eyes were as hypnotic and compelling as ever—perhaps even more so now when focused on her with such concentrated intensity.
"I..." Clytemnestra opened her lips to say sothing, to either accept what he was offering or explain why she couldn’t, her mind racing through a thousand conflicting thoughts and emotions simultaneously.
But at precisely that mont, Nathan suddenly pulled away, creating distance between them with deliberate abruptness that left her feeling oddly bereft.
"Take good care of Helen," he said simply, his tone shifting back to casual friendliness as though that charged mont hadn’t just occurred.
And with that, he turned and left the room quickly, his footsteps receding down the corridor before Clytemnestra could formulate any response.
Clytemnestra finally released the breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding, exhaling shakily as tension drained from her body. Her heart was still racing, her cheeks still flushed, her mind spinning with everything unsaid hanging between them.
He’d given her an opening—a clear, unmistakable invitation to sothing more. And she’d frozen, paralyzed by old fears and unhealed wounds, unable to take that final step forward.
But he hadn’t pushed. Hadn’t forced or demanded or made her feel guilty for her hesitation. He’d simply offered, then withdrawn gracefully when she couldn’t imdiately accept.
Which sohow made it worse. Made her feel the loss of what she’d just failed to reach for.
After leaving Clytemnestra alone in the corridor with her brooding thoughts and unresolved emotions, Nathan departed the room and moved down the hallway with purposeful strides.
He’d barely taken a dozen steps when Scylla appeared seemingly from nowhere, launching herself from an open window with supernatural agility and hurtling directly toward him through the air.
Nathan caught her smoothly despite the speed and force of her approach, his arms wrapping around her body as she collided with him. He’d been anticipating this enthusiastic greeting—Scylla always announced her return this way, throwing herself at him like a missile the mont they reunited after any separation.
Scylla imdiately pressed her lips to his in a fierce, hungry kiss that spoke of weeks of pent-up desire and longing.
"Mmm~~ I missed you so much—mmm!" She tried to say between kisses, her words muffled and broken by her refusal to actually pull away long enough to speak properly.
Nathan shifted her body with deliberate strength, pivoting until her back pressed against the nearest wall, and kissed her even more intensely in return. His mouth claid hers with dominant passion, stopping her attempted mumbling completely as he bit down gently on her lower lip before his tongue swept across it in a deliberately sensual gesture.
The kiss stretched on for well over a minute, growing increasingly heated as Scylla lted against him with soft sounds of pleasure. Her arms wrapped tightly around his neck, fingers threading through his white hair as she returned his intensity with matching fervor.
When they finally separated, Scylla pulled back gasping for breath, her face noticeably flushed and her eyes glazed with desire. Her chest heaved as she tried to steady her breathing, looking thoroughly kissed and wanting more.
"I hope you didn’t cause too much chaos while you were away," Nathan said with a knowing smile, well aware of Scylla’s natural inclinations toward violence and destruction.
Scylla imdiately pouted, her expression transforming into sothing between offended and disappointed.
"I did not cause problems," she insisted with the defensive tone of soone who’d been specifically instructed to behave and had found restraint extrely difficult. "I held back considerably because you explicitly asked to control myself. It was genuinely hard, but I managed."
She paused, then added with considerably more enthusiasm, "Though I didn’t hold back at all against the ones who actually attacked Helen and her sister like you told I could deal with. Those I ripped apart slowly while they were still alive and screaming. It was very satisfying."
Her eyes practically glowed with sadistic pleasure at the mory of inflicting prolonged suffering on those who’d threatened Nathan’s won.
"Good," Nathan replied with genuine approval, carefully setting Scylla back on her feet though keeping one hand resting on her waist. "That’s exactly what I wanted—restraint in normal situations, but absolute brutality toward actual threats."
"Are you going sowhere now?" Scylla asked, imdiately picking up on the purposeful energy in his deanor that suggested imminent departure.
"I have sowhere to be shortly, yes," Nathan confird. "And then tomorrow morning I’m leaving for Kastoria. The diplomatic mission can’t be delayed any longer."
"Can I co with you?" Scylla asked imdiately, her tone carrying hope mixed with expectation. She always preferred accompanying Nathan on his travels rather than being left behind, hating the separation.
"No, you need to stay here with dea this ti," Nathan said firmly, shaking his head. "Actually, I want you to coordinate specifically with Spartacus and his gladiators for this assignnt."
"What? Why?" Scylla asked, her face twisting with visible disgust at the prospect of working with the human settlent. "I don’t want to spend ti with those sweaty forr slaves. They’re boring and they sll."
"The Light Empire has been deploying spies and potentially worse—assassins, saboteurs, intelligence gatherers," Nathan explained with serious intensity. "I want absolutely none of them to successfully reach or even set foot inside the capital’s boundaries. Your job is to patrol the surrounding territories and intercept anyone suspicious."
He paused for emphasis before continuing, "If you find anyone who seems like they might be Light Empire operatives, try to capture them alive if possible and extract information. Learn what their orders were, who sent them, what they know. That intelligence could prove invaluable."
"With pleasure," Scylla practically purred, licking her lips in anticipation. The prospect of hunting enemies and torturing information out of captives clearly appealed to her violent nature far more than simple guard duty. "I’ll make them tell everything they know. Slowly."
"And Scylla—" Nathan added with deliberate firmness, fixing her with a pointed look, "do not attack the gladiators themselves. I’m adding this instruction specifically because I know your inclinations. They’re allies, not enemies, regardless of how much their human scent or presence might irritate you."
Scylla’s expression imdiately fell into an exaggerated sulk, her shoulders slumping dramatically.
"You never let have any fun," she complained, though her tone carried more theatrical petulance than genuine anger. "What if one of them provokes ? What if they say sothing insulting or disrespectful?"
"Then you ignore it like the ancient being you are rather than reacting like a temperantal child," Nathan replied dryly. "Spartacus and his people are under my protection. Harming them would displease greatly. I trust you understand what that ans."
The implied warning in his tone was clear—disappointing Nathan was sothing Scylla desperately wanted to avoid.
She sighed heavily but nodded her acceptance, recognizing that arguing further would be pointless when Nathan used that particular voice.
"Fine," she muttered. "I’ll play nice with the sweaty humans and only kill Light Empire spies. But you owe for this restraint when you get back."
"I’m sure we can arrange appropriate compensation," Nathan said with a slight smile, releasing her waist and stepping back.
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