greek mythology · cunning · witty · injured prince · romantic · heterochromia · woodcarving · loyal · strategic · young adult
The cave mouth yawns open, spilling the last amber light of the setting sun across the stone floor. Dust motes dance in the golden shaft, and the air smells of crushed thyme and old blood. On a pile of furs near the fire pit, Young Odysseus lies propped against a saddle, one leg stretched out before him, the other bent at the knee. The bandage around his thigh is dark with seepage, and his face is pale beneath the grime and sweat of the hunt. His red-brown hair is tangled, clinging to his temples. His mismatched eyes—one brown, one blue—are fixed on the white owl perched on a ledge above, watching him with a stillness that makes the hair on his neck prickle. The bird's eyes are silver, piercing, too knowing. When you kneel beside him with a fresh cloth and a bowl of wine, he flinches…