I made four escape attempts that very day. I didn’t expect them to succeed. What I wanted to do was learn as much about the ins and outs of the palace as I could as quickly as possible. Theseus was no fool. He knew I wasn’t about to submit docilely to his plan to wed me.
My technique was simple: hike up my skirt and take flight the instant my keepers’ attention wandered—simple, but it wasn’t easy. By Lady Aithra’s order, my boy’s clothing had been taken away and replaced by dresses suitable for her son’s intended bride. They were pretty enough, and they provided warmth against the chilly weather, but they were cumbersome. It was like running with a blanket tangling my legs. I was caught every time, though not before I managed to add to my familiarity with the palace.
And it felt so good to run, even clumsily, after all of those miserable days in bed! I couldn’t help grinning every time I slipped away from my escorts and dashed off. I did it without thinking, though once I realized how thoughtlessly happy I felt, reality hit.
Forgive me, Milo, I thought as my smiling mouth shrank to a grim line. I haven’t forgotten you, I swear it by almighty Zeus. You died trying to save me from my captors. If I don’t get out of this prison, you died for nothing.
By my third try, Lady Aithra had lost her patience and brought me to stand before her son while he was in conference with a group of hard-faced Athenian nobles. I smiled unashamedly when she called me willful, wild, and ungrateful, which provoked her so much that she actually dared to declare, “My son, you must not marry this girl. I don’t care how beautiful she is, she’ll bring us nothing but grief and leave Athens in flames!”
Theseus’s brow furrowed. “If I don’t ask for your opinion, I don’t want it. Be silent, Mother. You sound like a fool.” The men with him looked at one another unhappily to hear their king speak so coldly to his own mother. One of them must have mumbled words to that effect, because Theseus whirled fiercely on the imprudent counselor and shouted in his face, “While I rule here, no one rules me!”
“But, my lord, she’s your mother,” the man persisted. I admired his courage, no matter how badly it would serve him against Theseus. “You should respect her enough to let her have her say.”
Oh, that was a mistake. I recognized the callous look that came into Theseus’s eyes. I’d seen it at close range on a street in Delphi when he’d grabbed my wrist and twisted it painfully because I wouldn’t bend to his will. May the gods have mercy on you, I thought, looking with pity at the counselor. Theseus won’t.
I was right. The young Athenian king moved with a panther’s speed, knocking the outspoken man off his feet with a blow that split his lip and drew blood. “Since when do I answer to you?” he bellowed. “Poseidon is my witness that I treat the lady Aithra with more respect than my father, Lord Aegeus, ever did. I brought her to Athens, to sit on the throne he denied her! She’s usually smart enough to remember that and to mind how she speaks to me. You’d do well to learn from her.” Grudgingly, he helped the bleeding man to his feet again. The assaulted counselor retreated swiftly.
Theseus returned to his throne and raised a hand for silence. “The lady Helen of Sparta will become my bride ten days from now. Mother, see to the preparations for the feast. Men, you and all the rest of Athens’s noblest families will celebrate my good fortune in having such a beautiful young woman for my wife, but if one whisper of my plans reaches the ears of anyone else, I promise I’ll find out whose lips betrayed.”
“Why all this secrecy?” I spoke up clearly. “You’re terrified that my father will hear that you’ve taken me prisoner. No Spartan woman marries a coward!”
“Watch your tongue,” Theseus growled, his hands clenched. If he hit me, I’d hit him back, no matter how bad a beating I got for it. I would not surrender.
“Or what? Will you kill me? Go ahead and try. If you succeed, you lose what you really want to gain from this marriage. If I die, I take the Spartan crown with me into Hades’ kingdom. Better that than let you get your filthy hands on it!”
He took a step forward. I held my ground, shifting my weight just a bit and grabbing hold of my skirt. I’d changed my mind. If he gave the slightest sign that he intended to strike me, I wouldn’t wait for the blow to land. I’d jerk up the hem of my gown and kick him so hard that—!
Suddenly the hall rang with Theseus’s laughter. He held his sides, threw back his head, and brayed. “Ah, Lady Helen, the gods have been more than good to you. The three Graces gave you a face to outshine the sun, then filled your lovely mouth with these bursts of comical nonsense. We should be grateful to them. It’s all that keeps us poor mortal men from mistaking you for a goddess.”
He turned his back on me and returned to his throne. From there he proclaimed, “As a reward for amusing me so well, I’m going to give the lady Helen her own lodging in the palace and her very own attendant to be responsible for her every wish, her every whim, and above all, her every movement. Now who deserves such a prize?” His eyes closed and a mean smile twisted his lips. “Telys.”
12
QUEEN’S SON, SLAVE’S SON