Chapter 13

“The dress is not tight, my lady, you’re wearing it the wrong way.”

Helena raised an eyebrow at the maid the innkeeper had sent to help her dress. The maid came forward and unbuckled the hooks holding the dress up, she helped Helena locate where to put her hands then buckled it up for her. It was a dark red tunic that stopped at her sandaled feet, over the thick material was a veil of see-through silk that had blew gently in the wind.

“You will need this.” The maid pulled a veil from the bundle of clothes Likia had sent to her. She pinned Helena’s hair up and attached the veil to it before wrapping round.

“Have you done this before?” Helena asked.

The maid giggled. “Yes, my lady, I have taken care of many merchants' daughters. They always love my services.” She brought the mirror from the dressing room and handed it to Helena. Helena gawked at the image she saw. The only time she had ever looked this good was during her wedding feast with Robos. The maid’s services were really good. She looked up at her and smiled.

“Thank you,” she said.

The maid beamed. “Your escort is here, my lady.”

Her heart began to beat. Why was she suddenly shy? She mentally shook and collected herself. She already promised to keep her feelings in check and by the heavens, she would do just that.

Demeus stood outside the inn after paying the stable hand for feeding and watering the horse the previous. He was impatient to begin his work as her escort done and over with, the sooner he satisfied her curiosity the better because then he wouldn’t have to worry about keeping his hands off her. He had given the stable hand instructions to keep the horse in the stable since they would be moving through the city by foot.

There was a slight commotion inside the inn and before he could figure out what it was about Helena stumbled out of the inn, she had stripped on the hem of her dress but she caught herself before hitting the ground.

“Sorry. Morning Ramus,” she laughed. She held the hem of her dress up with one hand and looked up at him. He caught his breath. Could a woman look any more beautiful? Even when she looked embarrassed at tripping over her cloth she still managed to take his breath away. The veil on her head was almost the same as her vibrant red hair and he ached to reach out and pull the veil off so he could run his hands through her hair.

Helena swallowed at the look she saw in his eyes. It was a look of longing and aching, she had been with Robos long enough to recognize the look whenever an Adonis passed him by. But this was different from what she saw in Robos’ eyes, this made her feel different and she found herself liking the feeling.

“I have packed some food for you both,” the innkeeper whose name Helena discovered was Gran. Gran was a motherly figure to all who stayed at her inn or eat and drank at her tavern. She was looking from Helena to Demeus with a smile on her face and that alone made Helena’s cheeks hot.

“Thank you, Gran,” she collected the bag the woman was holding out to her and smiled at Demeus who was narrowing his eyes at the woman’s meddlesome behavior.

“Let’s start going before it gets too sunny.”

Helena walked beside him. As she requested he took her to see the markets. In Eyrotia there were general markets and there were markets where specific products were sold. The cotton market was occupied by only cotton farmers who processed and spun cotton, same as the markets where oils were pressed from eucalyptus seeds, castor beans and other seeds, the fish market was where fishermen like Banjo sold their products ranging from fish, salts and all kinds of seafoods. The general markets had people dealing in all kinds of products ranging from fruits, foodstuffs, clothes, daggers, there were even blacksmith shops. Helena was fascinated by the way the people worked. At Mount Kpamos she was never too fascinated by mortals but being in close range with them she could see how hard they worked calling out to passersby to buy their wares, exchanging pleasantries, gossiping about the latest things in the village. Demeus told her the names of some of the things the traders sold. As noon drew near her stomach began to rumble. She brought out some of the fruits Gran had packed for them and shared them with Demeus.

Helena wasn’t one to be drawn to pieces of jewelry but as they passed a jeweler’s shop she could not help noticing the beautiful stones that caught the light of the sun. There were bracelets, necklaces, rings, earrings, nose rings and many other pieces of jewelry she had never seen before.

Demeus caught the look on Helena’s face. Of all the shops they passed this was the one that fascinated her the most and he should know because he had been watching her since they left the inn. The expression on her face was of childlike curiosity as they walked around. It made him wonder. She was of such free spirit that it was easy to assume that she was used to seeing things like this. It made him wonder if this was the first time she had such freedom to explore as she wished. She had mentioned that she was a merchant’s daughter and merchants were known to be very protective of their children, especially their daughters.

He took her elbow and directed her towards the shop.

“Let’s have a look.”

Helena started to protest. “But what…” She didn’t want to delay then from getting back to the inn, she was already embarrassed enough for almost falling in front of him when she was coming out of the inn. She had just been surprised to see him standing there, a head and shoulders taller than the other people around him. His figure was imposing but when he saw her the look in his eyes had turned her brain to mush for a second.

Before she could complete her statement the owner of the shop, a slim middle-aged man with white greying hair and another young man came out of the shop.

The middle-aged man exclaimed as he clapped his hands together. “Welcome, welcome to Ignas shop where you can find any stone your heart desires.”

Before either she or Demeus could say another word the man was pulling them into his shop with smiles while hailing his agreeably expensive collection of jewels.