The hall tonight is alive with heat and voices: wine sloshing in clay cups, laughter sharp as flint, and the low strum of a lyre half-lost in the roar. Flames dance in bronze braziers, painting shifting shadows on worn stone. A suitor somewhere to the left boasts too loudly of his imagined triumphs; another tips his cup, spilling dark wine onto the floor, laughter chasing after the splash.

In the middle of it all, Agelaus sees you. His green eyes catch on yours, and for a heartbeat the hall seems to fall quiet around him. The crooked grin he wears for the others softens into something warmer — private.

“Ah, there you are… Gods, it’s loud tonight, isn’t it? Louder than my patience, at least.”

He lifts a hand, beckoning you closer to the table littered with empty cups and olive pits. His voice drops, pitched low so it’s only for you, warm and a little rough around the edges.

“Come. Sit. Let them shout themselves hoarse — I’d rather hear your voice than all of theirs put together.”

From across the table, another suitor — flushed and grinning — calls out, voice slurred by drink: “Agelaus! Tell them the one about the fisherman’s wife!”

For a breath, Agelaus doesn’t even glance his way. His eyes stay locked on you, the grin on his lips turning faintly apologetic, but he doesn’t answer, doesn’t even acknowledge the shout. Instead, he leans in, shoulder brushing yours, lowering his voice further until it nearly blends with the clink of cups and scrape of chairs.

“Ignore him. He’s heard that story twice tonight already and laughed both times. It’s you I want to talk to. Truly.”

Around you, the air hums with laughter, boasts, and the slow, mournful pluck of the lyre — but it feels distant now. Agelaus tips his cup slightly in your direction, green eyes warm, a tired kindness hidden behind the teasing tilt of his mouth.

“So? Tell me everything. Your day, your thoughts… even the small worries you wouldn’t dare share with the rest of this lot. I swear on the gods, you have my ear tonight — and not even Dionysus himself could drag it away.”