Shadows on the Aegean Read Online Free

was fast and already held three long,
     eyed feathers in his hand. Three, a number to honor the Great Goddess. Laughing triumphantly, Ileana turned back to her water
     mirror. Deftly the boy tucked the feathers into her crown of corn gold hair.
    “The feathers make your eyes as fathomless as Theros Sea,” the boy said.
    Admiring her reflection, Ileana leaned back against him, her head against his chest. She feasted on his expression of admiration
     reflected in the mirror, then waved him away.
    Immediately he bowed, stepping back. She snapped her fingers and two handsome men, long limbed and narrow waisted, opened
     her chamber’s doors. With a final tug of her seven-tiered skirt, befitting her role as mother-goddess, Ileana stepped to her
     carrying chair. Before she asked, a rhyton was handed to her. It was a slender pointed cup fashioned from mother-of-pearl
     and gold, pointed at the end to stay fixed upright in a graceful metal stand or the ground. She snapped her fingers and the
     men proceeded slowly so they would not step on the wandering peacocks.
    The walls of the palace, with their life-size paintings of priestesses and princes in worship and parade, sailed by in a haze
     of gold, scarlet, black, and white. Sounds of the festivities—music, the clatter of earthenware and alabaster, and the low
     trill of laughter—caressed Ileana’s ears as she was carried down the wide staircase to the queen’s
Megaron
.
    The guards set her chair down gently and assisted her out. Shooing the peacocks into the spacious chamber, Ileana smiled as
     silence fell. One solitary flute played as she sauntered in. The guests, her subjects, stood with bowed heads and arms raised
     in supplication.
    “Kela-Ileana, Queen of Heaven, Mother-Goddess of the Harvest, Mistress of Aztlan,” a high voice sang.
    She took her seat at the elevated edge of the company: with a snap of her fingers the feast returned to life. Her rhyton was
     refilled, and before she could sink it in the ground a male voice spoke. “Fairest Heaven, may I?”
    Slowly she raised her gaze. By the strength of Apis, this man was a beauty! His smile indicated he knew this well. Irritated
     by his arrogance, Ileana plunged the rhyton’s end into the ground. His shock was visible. Was she the first to refuse him?
    Looking beyond him, she called out to her stepson, “Arus! Tell me, who is this man to think he can approach Heaven on the
     strength of his smile?” From the corner of her eye she saw the youth’s cheeks redden.
    Arus, his hair unfashionably short, but bearing a
most
impressive nose, leaned forward. “He’s the youngest Troizen prince. Not enough man for an Aztlantu woman.” He smiled and
     turned his attention back to his companion.
    Ileana snapped for food and waited in silence, watching the courtiers of Aztlan. It was a gay group since
Hreesos’
grayheads had gone to an annual symbolic sea skirmish.
    Her gaze flickered quickly over the women present. Summer approached, when she would have to defend herself and her goddess-given
     throne against the nymphs who chose to challenge her. The Coil Dancers were priestesses, but not Olimpi. She dismissed them.
     Long ago she’d learned their sexual tricks and had gone on to perfect them.
    She saw the occasional fresh-faced nymph; however, they were not priestesses and therefore no threat to the Queen of Heaven.
     A clanswoman or two roamed the room, their years proclaimed by the backs of their hands. Age alone would prevent them from
     catching her in the footrace.
    Three women were her true rivals: Vena, Selena, and Sibylla. Ileana smiled at a courtier attempting to woo her through gifts.
     Even if one of her clanswomen managed to win the race, she would still have to wait a moon to see if Ileana had become pregnant.
     Then Ileana had several moons when she could pretend pregnancy before she was discovered. Those moons would be fatal for any
     potential successor, giving Ileana time to get with