Page 26 of Odette's Vow

“You find that such a strange reason?”

“From a man who is known for his clever ideas and charming words, one who he himself admitted does not like to resort to violence if he can help it … Yes, I find it strange.”

“I am a general, Odette. He was causing insubordination, I had no other choice. If anything, you should be grateful, given the way he targeted you.”

I snorted. “Grateful?! What should I be grateful for? That you did one decent thing amongst all the horrible? Why should I be grateful that I’m a slave? Grateful to you, to this life, that I have the honour of serving ‘the great Odysseus’? Yes, let us forget that I had a kind man that used to care about my honour, and that you killed him. Instead let me begratefulthat I have it soeasynow.”

“Perhaps then, we should address the other reason.”

I stilled, eyes immediately darting to the sand floor. I hadn’t expected that.Damn my hot temper and my frivolous tongue.

“Look at me, Odette.”

His tone suggested that if I didn’t do so willingly, I would have to regardless.

Odysseus moved until he was standing in front of me. When I went to break eye contact, his thumb and forefinger grabbed my chin with a lightning fast reflex.

But the grip on my chin was not tight as he said, “You and I both know why I resorted to violence.”

“If you are going to give me some contrived notion of our base natures again, then I have heard this argument before.” I stared at him defiantly.

“Is it not a valid one?”

“When every reasoning boils down to our basic animal instinct to survive, it gets a little tedious.” I shook my head, trying to get out of his grip, but he tightened his clasp. The only thing I did was shake my plait loose.

Still, he didn’t let go.

“War puts us in those conditions – the most extreme, the most basic,” he reasoned.

“For some of us. Not all,” I countered, glancing around at the spoils gathered around the tent.

“For all. We all must choose to remain human, or to turn into animals. Every day, we make hard choices. I can choose to let the hatred for my enemies overwhelm me, or I can choose to retain my humanity.”

“And?”

He knew what I was asking.

“I have found that since you arrived, I have been enjoying the simple things for the first time since the war began. Food. Wine. Morning. Company to keep. I find myself loath to lose that.”

I didn’t know how to respond to that raw admission.

“Your hair – I’ve never seen it down before,” he murmured, his hands curling around the ends.

It was all too much. I slapped his hand away.

“You cannot keep making claims on me as your property and then treating me as you might a free woman you care for,” I snapped. “If war invites a choice, then you must choose.”

There it was; now that I had voiced it, it was clear as day why I felt unnerved. The sands were shifting beneath my feet, the hand the Fates had dealt me changing once again. I wasn’t ready for it.

The look of shock on Odysseus’ face turned to piercing clarity in those dark eyes that danced between mine, until his hands leaned onto the table behind me, either side of my hips, effectively caging me.

“Do you think I like to be here? That I like killing innocent men? Fighting for that oaf of a king who is greedy and arrogant, who has no concern for others? That Ilikethis nagging responsibility I feel for you, a gravity I cannot ignore?”

I didn’t answer. I just continued to hold my head up high, staring into the depths of those unfathomable eyes that I swore went on for eternity.

Odysseus’ gaze flicked down to my lips, my cleavage, and then met my eyes again. Our breathing was evenly matched, both dragging in what little air we could between us without our chests crashing into one another.

“You think I want to be here, feeling thisneedto protect you? This desire to damn the gods and this war andtouchyou, hold you? That I wouldn’t rather be home with my wife?”

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