I stayed silent for a moment and when I looked over at him, he was staring into the night sky above him, as if he couldn’t bear to look at me.
“Why is no one allowed to touch you? I mean…truly. Because Lythandra is a Goddess and she was touching people all around tonight.”
He grimaced. “I was hoping you wouldn’t catch on to that. I am guessing you won’t consider simply accepting my apology and moving on from this topic, would you?” he said hopefully.
I shook my head. “No chance, God of Wisdom.”
He chuckled quietly and got up from his seat.
“We need more wine for this conversation, or at least I do.”
He walked over to the bar and came back with two glasses and a bottle of rosé wine. After downing a whole glass, he leaned forward and placed his elbows on his knees.
“So, you remember the prophecy…”
I nodded.
“The prophecy came to be more than 530 years ago and was written down in great detail. The priests back then had the difficult job of deciding what to do with it and how to interpret the words of the Oracle. Not only did they have to deal with the interpretation of the words, but they also hadto do it fast, because I was born the same night that prophecy was issued. The prophecy says that a God of Purity shall be born and the priests assumed that that was referring to me. As a person.”
Instead of filling up another glass, Theo took the whole bottle and sipped.
“The first few years of my life were… relatively simple. One might even call it a nearly normal existence. But as I began to grow, what you mortals would refer to as adolescence, it became increasingly difficult to keep me… pure. I would sneak away with my friends, stir up mischief, and, well… girls started taking notice. That was when the sentinels decided it would be best for me to stay within the temple walls. I resisted, of course. But in the end, they confined me there. They said it was for my own good. Days turned to months, and my only real escape became the books they allowed me to read. I had to remain untainted by the outside world. And by the time they permitted me to see my friends again… they had moved on with their lives.”
He sighed and his voice was tinged with sadness.
I stayed quiet and simply watched different emotions taking over his face as he continued to tell his story. It was fascinating to see his stoic facade slip a tiny fraction, to see the person underneath the layers of gold paint.
“A few years later, a young female worked at the temple. You see, women used to be part of the temples at my court… Tale as old as time: I fell in love. But the prophecy said I had to remain pure, untouched. They forbade me from seeing her, but I couldn’t stay away. So the sentinels sent her away and it broke my heart.”
He paused.
“So, ultimately it wasmewho put the rules into place about not wanting females to work around me, because I knew it would eventually happen again.”
I stared at him. “So the male servants…”
He nodded and finished my sentence. “…are not here because I don’t trust women or don’t want to work with them. It’s simply the rules to keep any and all temptation away from me.”
He looked at me intently.
Suddenly it was hard to breathe as reality sank in.
“So you have never had the chance to have a relationship, to touch someone and be touched?” It was an intimate question, but I couldn’t stop myself from asking it.
He simply shook his head.
“That must be… difficult,” I said, not knowing how to express what I was feeling. “Don’t you ever get lonely?” I asked instead.
He huffed. “At first, I was perfectly content. I truly love what I do. I adore reading, learning new things, and using what I know to help the people in my court. But there comes a time when, after reading about so many marvelous things, you start to feel this deep longing to actuallylivethem, not just read about them in some book. Tonight, when you were talking about all those travels, I felt something stir inside of me. This quiet but insistent tug, urging me to leave it all behind and justgo. To finally see the Hanging Gardens with my own eyes, to stand beside wide rivers and peer into deep, ancient valleys… rather than simply staring at faded illustrations and imagining what they might be like.”
It finally clicked for me. “That’s why you are pushing so hard to find the evil that you are suspecting has awakened. Ifwe defeat it and the prophecy is fulfilled, you will be able to leave here and actually have a life. And… um… Other stuff, too.”
Theo chuckled and took a sip from the bottle.
I leaned forward and took the bottle from him, taking a big swig myself.
“Thank you for telling me. I am going to do my best to help you free yourself of this prophecy.”
Theo smiled faintly “I appreciate it, I do.”
