Page 126 of Axios

When Sparta’s naval force had attacked the city of Corcyra to aid the oligarchs about a year and a half before, Thebes had seen it as an act to resume warfare. They had attacked Plataea where one of our armies had been garrisoned and captured the city.

“Why are they here?” I peered down at them from the hill we stood atop.

“It is a meeting to work toward peace. Again,” he answered, carefully following their movements as they advanced closer. He had insisted on retrieving his sword when they had first been spotted, and he moved his hand to rest on the hilt at his side. “Yet, peace negotiations or not, it is always wise to be ready for a fight.”

“Are you to participate in the meeting?” I asked.

“No,” he answered, shaking his head.

“Then, there is no point in us standing here just watching them, if there is not a thing we can do,” I spoke, looking over at him. “The waiting will only make you anxious.”

“I am not anxious,” he denied, but the way he continued to hold the hilt of his sword told me differently.

“Let us go see my sister,” I suggested, angling my body more toward his and gently stroking his forearm. “I wish to escape from war and outsiders for a while longer. And I wish to see the baby.”

He watched me with suspicion before moving his gaze to my hand that still caressed his arm. “Are you attempting to seduce me to get me to do as you ask?”

“Perhaps,” I answered, shrugging. “Is it working?”

Eryx sighed before moving away from me and walking down the hill. He turned to look over his shoulder. “Are you coming?”

Smiling at my small victory, I nodded and followed behind him.

Leanna was sitting in the yard when we arrived, holding her son in front of her and helping him as he stood in the grass. She’d had another boy, and she couldn’t have been happier.

Unlike Leonidas who had dark hair, her youngest son had hair like his father—a lighter shade of brown.

“Brother!” she said upon seeing me. With her son still wobbling before her, she helped him turn and grabbed his little hand to point at me. “Icarius, it is your uncle.”

Icarius gave a toothy grin and his gray eyes were big and bright. He was nearly two years of age and had just learned to stand. Leanna feared he would be a slow learner—as Leo had already learned to walk by that age—but I told her not to worry over such minor things. He would walk when he was ready to and not a day before.

I scooped him up and placed kisses on his chubby cheeks.

He giggled and slapped at my face before putting his arms around my neck and laying his head on my shoulder.

Smiling, I rested my cheek against the top of his brown hair and shifted my weight from foot to foot, slowly rocking him. It amazed me how something so small could have such a huge hold on my heart.

Eryx met my stare and there was a longing in his eyes. He stepped closer and rubbed Icarius’ back before putting his arm around my waist.

“He adores you,” Leanna said to me, standing up and brushing the dirt and grass from her dress. “Every time I mention your name, he smiles and searches for you. Then when you do not appear, he cries.” When she reached to take him from my arms, he pouted his bottom lip and held me tighter. “Do you see?”

I chuckled and kissed his temple. He smelled of flowers and the earth—a scent I knew he’d gotten from his time outside in his mother’s garden.

“There is my boy,” Haden spoke as he approached us and laid eyes on Icarius. He wore no shirt and was covered in both sweat and tiny bruises, probably returning from his training with his group ofephebes. “Have you been good for your mother?”

Seeing his father, Icarius raised his head and grinned, reaching out his arms.

I gave him one last kiss on the head before handing him off to Haden.

“He is never bad,” Leanna answered, nearing her husband and wrapping her arms around him, not minding that he was filthy with sweat and dirt. “I believe he takes after his uncle: kind-spirited, bashful, and a fondness for the sky. It does not take much to keep him occupied and behaving well.”

Haden scoffed before shooting me a playfully angered look. “Takes after Axalina, does he?”

Eryx laughed, and even though I was the focus of the jest, so did I. It took me back to so many years ago when we were younger and still innocent in a sense. Before war had tainted our minds and our outlooks on life.

Leanna slapped Haden’s shoulder. Icarius—witnessing his mother do it—slapped Haden too.

“There is no fairness here,” Haden chuckled, looking at his family. “I am being attacked by both wife and child.”