“The prince of—You mean Jason?” She had to. “Lady Medea, he doesn’t love me.”
“Why wouldn’t he love you? You’re so beautiful, and so young! He brought you on this voyage, helped shield you from the other men. How did you do it? Was it enough just to let him see your face, how gracefully you move, or did he fall in love with you after he heard about your fame as a huntress? Is that what he wants from a woman? It isn’t fair. You have so much to draw his heart to you, and I have nothing.” She wrung her hands.
I was speechless. She must be mad, thinking she loves him! How is it possible? She just set eyes on him. Suddenly Hylas’s image flashed through my mind, and the memory of my own reaction at the first sight of his handsome face. But that was different! I protested to myself. Hylas wasn’t just handsome; he was kind, and thoughtful. Jason thinks of no one but himself. I don’t care how handsome he is, it’s a thin coating for an ugly core.
“Listen,” I said to Medea. “Take me to the shrine of whichever god you worship most faithfully and I’ll swear on the altar that I don’t love Jason and Jason doesn’t love me. As far as I know, he loves no one.” Except himself.
Medea’s eyes lit up with a blazing hunger. She was no longer the same girl who’d cowered at Lord Aetes’ stern words. The change was so abrupt, so complete, that I felt a stab of fear, for her sake. It’s like she’s got two spirits living in one skin, I thought. How does she keep them from tearing her apart?
She dragged me back into the palace and through many hallways until we came to a door painted with jewel-bright dragons and studded with polished bronze. A boy dozed against one of the doorposts. Medea gave him a kick to rouse him and said something sharp to him in her own language. White-faced, he flung the door open before us, then bolted away as if he’d caught fire. We entered a high-ceilinged chamber, sumptuously furnished, lit by a forest of tall braziers. Three harried serving women were hastening to kindle the last of these. When they saw Medea, they bowed so low, so swiftly that I thought they’d snap in two at the waist. She gave another command and they fled the room in an instant. I could almost smell their terror as they flew past me.
Does Lord Aetes know his little mouse can wear a wolf’s skin when she wants to? I wondered. Or is this other self something beyond even her control? I had no answer to that, only a growing sense of misgiving.
Medea pulled me over to an elaborately painted couch and made me sit beside her. She undid one of her necklaces and forced it into my hands. “I owe you a better gift than this for what you’ve just given me,” she said passionately. “From this moment, you are more sacred to me than any guest. You will be my beloved sister.”
“Lady Medea, I’ve only told you the truth. I’ve done nothing to merit this.” I tried to give her back the necklace.
She wouldn’t have it back. “Then take it as a reward for what you will do for me.” A thoughtful look came into her eyes. “You come from his lands. You know what women there do to attract a man. You will teach me.”
I didn’t like the way our conversation was going. Even though she kept her voice soft and coaxing, she wasn’t asking for my help, she was demanding it. “Lady Medea, I don’t know about such things.”
“You wouldn’t need to, would you?” Now her expression was hard and bitter. Her moods shifted at a frightening rate, and my apprehension grew with each change. “You don’t need to do anything but breathe and the men flock to you, ready to die for your sake.”
“That’s not true. You heard how I came here. No one questioned my disguise for an instant.” Except Argus, I reminded myself. And perhaps Orpheus too, though he never came out and said anything about it directly. But she doesn’t need to hear that. “Besides, I have other things to occupy my days: hunting, riding, racing, practicing….”
“I can’t learn how to do all that before Jason leaves!” she wailed.
“I’m not saying you should,” I told her. “I doubt such skills matter to Jason, or any other prince, when it comes to choosing a bride.”
“Is that why he’s come here?” Medea’s dramatic despair became wild-eyed hope. I wished I could get away from her. I didn’t want to come face to face with whatever lay at the core of so many abrupt transformations. “He wants to marry? But that’s wonderful! I’m the only one left. He’ll have to choose me!”
I hesitated. I dreaded her reaction once I told her the true purpose of Jason’s voyage to Colchis. Best to get it over with. “He hasn’t come to Colchis for a bride,” I said. “He’s still a prince without a throne. That’s why he’s here, to bring back one of the famous gold-filled fleeces of Colchis. Lord Pelias of Iolkos has promised to set aside his own son, Acastus, and make Jason his heir if he fulfills that quest.”
To my relief, Medea didn’t burst into tears, curses, or worse. Instead her expression turned thoughtful again, and then she actually lifted one corner of her mouth in a half-smile. It was like watching a serpent raise its head to strike. “A golden fleece? I can give him that,” she said. “I can give him the best of them all.”
“He’ll be happy to hear that,” I said. “You can tell him so in the morning.”
“Oh, I couldn’t!” Medea hid her face in her hands and giggled. “You must be there with me, Atalanta. I wouldn’t be able to say a word if I was alone with him. And we must see him secretly. If my father knew, he’d lock me up again.”