⟁ Chapter 33: The Sweet Temptation of Divinity
Theodora was not a goddess.
But she didn't need to be.
Goddesses were distant. She sat on her throne like a storm that chose to wear silk.
"You've been here for seven days," she said, not looking at Jio. Her voice was calm, unhurried. "And you still haven't learned how to sit like you mean it."
Jio was kneeling on the polished stone floor. The smell of incense coiled in the air. It burned his throat. Or maybe that was the shame.
"I'm not a courtier," he muttered, avoiding her gaze.
"And yet here you are," she said, finally turning toward him. "In my court. Speaking like a child from a dried-up village."
She rose with deliberate grace. Her dress trailed like ink behind her, the movement of someone who learned to command presence—who clawed her way from the gutter and remembered every step.
"You want to seduce me? Or pass whatever you think this trial is?" She circled him now. "You think it's about flattery? About flinching less when I speak sharply?"
Jio lifted his head slightly. "I think... it's about seeing you as a person. Not a test."
That stopped her.
For a moment, the room went very still. The flickering torches cracked with soft pops of flame. Theodora said nothing.
"Interesting," she finally said. Not pleased. Not impressed. Just… curious.
"You've read enough histories to know my name. But I was never just a name. I was a dancer. An empress. A sinner. A redeemer." She leaned close. "What exactly do you see?"
Jio's voice was hoarse. "Someone who wanted more and took it."
Theodora smiled, slow and cold. "And you think you can take me?"
Jio met her eyes for the first time in three days. He didn't answer.
She turned away, walking back to her throne.
"You're doing better than most," she said, sitting again. "But that doesn't mean you'll make it."
"...How many have tried?"
Theodora leaned her head into her hand, her golden rings catching firelight.
"Too many. Some left empty. Others left too full of themselves. A few never left at all."
Silence fell.
She looked at him again, sharper now. "Let me tell you something, boy. Power doesn't blush. It doesn't flatter. It doesn't plead. It stands."
Jio forced himself to breathe.
"Then I'll stand."
"You're not standing now," she said simply.
He got to his feet, slow and trembling from the pain still lacing his back.
Theodora studied him. No smile now.
Only something harder to name. Respect? Not yet.
But perhaps the beginning of something that might become it.
"Very well," she murmured. "Let us see if you can make it to the morning still wanting to."
She clapped her hands once. The doors opened.
"Your trial continues."
And behind her words, Jio understood: she wasn't playing.
Not yet.
But if he endured, maybe… maybe one day she would.
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End of Chapter 33
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