Truth and Sparta Read Online Free PDF Page B

difference.”
    Her brother
turned his back on her and walked off. She picked up a stone and
threw it at him, hitting him in the back, but he didn’t stop. He
kept walking.
    Chara couldn’t
believe that he was implying that she wanted this to happen, or
that she should have fought him off. What exactly would that have
served? Her experience would likely have been more violent and it
could also have jeopardized her whole family. Doros refused to see
her side of it, he only saw his own anger. It wasn’t like he put up
much of a fight when it came down to it, he’d just walked away. His
accusation was so very unfair. Anger coursed through her body
urging her to move so she could try to dissipate it.
    She knew that
once the anger subsided she would be extremely hurt, more so by
Doros’ words than anything else that happened that day. Being
imposed upon by a Spartan was an unfortunate event that came upon
one like anything of bad luck—Doros reaction felt like downright
betrayal.
    She spent the
next hours preparing the things she was going to say to him when he
returned, but he didn’t return that evening. It grew dark and still
he wasn’t back. She knew her parents were worried. Doros was a
hothead, but surely he wasn’t dumb enough to do something rash. He
knew that they would all be punished in the end if he did. He also
seemed to place the blame for the whole incident squarely with
her.
    She lay on her
cot and tried to make sense of the day. On the whole it had been
one of the worse days of her life—right up there next to Peracili’s
death, when she had lost her husband and her home in one day. At
least she had a roof over her head. That might not be the case when
they realize that she has to return to the Spartan the following
evening.
    Perhaps she
had to confront the idea that maybe it was better for all involved
if she didn’t return. Maybe she had upset the gods in some way and
they were handing out misfortune to her.
    With all the
happenings of the day, she hadn’t even turned her thoughts to what
the Spartan wanted from her. Perhaps his intentions were for one
more time, then he would forget about her. She couldn’t really
imagine his interest turning into anything more, she wasn’t sure
she could be the lover of a Spartan, she wasn’t even sure if that
entailed more than what happened in the field today.
    She wished she
could clear it all from her mind and think of nice things—lovely
spring days, ripe fruit and the scant days of leisure once the
harvest was done. Her life used to be very simple and she wasn’t
entirely sure when things got so complicated.
     

Chapter
6
     
     
    Chara was
extremely nervous as she walked up to the Menares house. She had no
idea how the evening would unfold, and as much as she didn’t want
to go, she equally didn’t like being at home at the moment either.
Her mother was still sad, her father was stubbornly ignoring the
issue and her brother refused to talk to her.
    Her brother
had returned in the morning—he’d been drinking. She was still
incredibly angry with him for the way he’d acted.
    She’d also
been trying to work out how she would deal with having to leave
that evening. In the end she just told them she needed to go for a
walk. Maybe it would happen sufficiently fast so they didn’t have
to know, but she wasn’t sure—it depended on how long it took.
    She would also
have to walk home in the dark, which wasn’t ideal, but it was
unlikely anything would happen to her that was worse than what she
was facing right now. Fortune had not been on her side lately.
    The gate at
the wall surrounding the villa was closed, the wall there to
protect the villa against attack from the Helots. They were right
to be concerned; they’d been attacked before from the stories she’d
been told. There had been an uprising quite a number of years ago
and there were always people referring back to that time, like her
brother, and she knew he wasn’t alone. It was always