The Breaking — Chapter 17

I take the papyrus that contains my freedom, the purse full of drachmae and jewels, and go home.

Mykonos has changed in five years. The salt-stained docks creak under the weight of people and cargo, and the agora has spilled into the surrounding streets, its merchants offering honeyed wine, jewelry, and cosmetics. Such luxuries used to be rare. The city has prospered now that Podarkes is gone, just as I always hoped it would.