The Bonds of Osteria: Book Four of the Osteria Chronicles (Greek Gods Epic Fantasy) by Tammie Painter

Author:Tammie Painter [Painter, Tammie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction & Literature
Published: 2018-05-27T22:00:00+00:00

25

Penelope

Well, it seems I’ve gotten what I wanted: I’m no longer traveling. Unfortunately, I’m stuck in Athenos not only because Chimera and Medusa are making it too dangerous to travel, but because the last deluge that blew through has flooded portions of the Osterian Road with several feet of mud that must now be cleared.

Still, the message system of Osteria lets neither weather nor danger stand in its way; the runners do charge more for the risks, but it’s a price I’m willing to pay to try to get in touch with my husband. Over the past weeks I’ve written letters daily in the hope that at least one will get through. I’ve heard rumors he’s in Salemnos. Ironically, he’s staying put just at the time I can’t get to him. My mother posts my messages when she goes out on her endless rounds of social calls and one or two runners have reported back to me that the letters they carried made it into Odysseus’s hands, but I’ve yet to see a return message and the runners have only looked to their feet when I asked if Odysseus opened my letters.

This isn’t to say I’m short of reading material. Niko Karadimos has managed to slip me notes at least daily. Walking through the agora, I’ll feel a gentle brush against my hand and look down to find a piece of paper pressed into it. Or a servant will slip me a note as I dine. And sometimes, notes even come by the conventional means: a messenger.

Regardless of how they’re delivered, each note is filled with his musings on me, poems about my beauty, and innocent descriptions of how we might spend a day together. I may roll my eyes as I read each line of his professed love, but I can’t help but be charmed by his devotion.

I’m staring out the window of my room trying to remember the view from Odysseus’s home in Salemnos, when my mother comes bustling through the outer gate. Our lack of mobility spurred my mother to rent one of the perfectly rectangular townhouses that line the perfectly square Athenian agora. We had been staying over a tavern, but since we don’t know when we’re going to be able to leave, my mother thought it better to have our own home for comfort and privacy. As the gate now clangs behind her, my mother’s face glows with excitement and she’s waving a piece of parchment. A smile bursts onto my face so broadly and so suddenly my cheeks ache. Odysseus has finally written!

I find my hands trembling with an unexpected bout of nerves. What will he have to say? Will it be a love letter, or a note finally admitting he has found someone else? Even though my stomach gives a little lurch, I shake my head telling myself I’m being ridiculous.

I dash down the stairs and yank open the door. She’s still fluttering the letter. I want to grab it from her but am afraid of ripping this rare and precious object.

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