‘Untroubled by remorse, Pelops married the girl, and she bore him three sons: Chrysippus, Atreus and Thyestes. But the younger brothers were as brutal and faithless as their father, and his father before him. They nurtured a resentment against Chrysippus and together, they conspired to kill him and take the throne. But they couldn’t be satisfied with that, and it wasn’t long before they turned upon each other. Thyestes seduced Atreus’ wife and tried to take Mycenae for his own.’
Atreus was Agamemnon’s father. My baby’s grandfather. I wanted to stop her, to hear no more, but I was transfixed by the relentless rhythm of her tales, and I had to know. ‘What was Atreus’ revenge?’
The fire flickered, shadows jumping about the room, casting her face into darkness. ‘He drove them out of Mycenae, but it was not enough. For years, Atreus brooded on the punishment he owed his brother. He invited him back, pretended to hold a feast in reconciliation. And Thyestes was foolish enough to forget the banquet his grandfather had once held, and did not realise what was in Atreus’ heart.’
A monstrous circle; a hideous repetition.
‘Atreus butchered his brother’s sons himself and roasted their tender bodies. Thyestes never suspected what he had done, until the terrible moment after he swallowed the last bite, when Atreus whipped away the dome of the final serving dish to reveal his children’s heads, staring blankly up at him from the table.’
I had married this man’s son. The horror of it was dizzying.
‘Stunned by grief and devastation, Thyestes fled the city. But in his exile, he planned his revenge. He came back and murdered his brother, though some pity stirred his heart enough to spare the young Agamemnon and Menelaus. For a time, there was peace. Atreus was dead and Thyestes ruled. Another son was born to him, a boy he named Aegisthus, a comfort to his father, who still wept for the sons he had lost.’
But far away, I thought, the two banished sons of Atreus had grown to manhood, dreaming of the revenge they would one day return to take upon their uncle. The Atreidae, who came marching back with a Spartan army at their heels. I had been so confident that Agamemnon had closed this terrible cycle, that his victory had ended the bloodshed.
I could not vanquish the treacherous thought wriggling in my mind. What if he had simply given the wheel another spin? Somewhere out there, was Aegisthus growing up, nurturing a vision of his own revenge? A struggle for power was one thing – common enough, perhaps – but the history of this family I had joined was a gnarled and warped tangle, like the twisted roots of an ancient tree. Could I really believe that Agamemnon had severed the knot? That the death of Thyestes would sate the ravenous maw of the House of Atreus at last?
I watched my daughter sleep, blameless and innocent, in my arms. I thought of the babies born at Mycenae before, of their crumpled faces and the sweet softness of their flesh.
‘These stories are in the past,’ I whispered. I looked the slave-woman in the eye. ‘Thank you for telling me. I won’t breathe a word of it, not to anyone.’ I could feel her eyes still steady upon me as I stood up, careful not to disturb Iphigenia. ‘Don’t speak of it again,’ I said as I opened the door. I was grateful to breathe the cool air of the corridor, to be out of that room, away from the claustrophobic darkness and the hideous legends.
I was Queen of Mycenae now. My Spartan blood ran in my daughter’s veins just as much as the cursed blood of Atreus. Our fortifications were strong, and our army was powerful. She would be protected from anything that could threaten her from the outside.
But her father, my husband, was the son of Atreus. The descendant of killers more wicked than I could have dreamed. There was no crime more terrible than slaying your own kin; no greater evil imaginable.
And however fast our defences against the world beyond our kingdom, I didn’t know how I could keep her safe if the enemy was already inside our walls.
6
Elektra
My first memory is illness. A fever that wracked my body, bathing me in sweat as I shivered from head to foot. My eyes burning in the darkened room. Weird shapes twisting and blooming in front of me, and bursts of livid colour. A nightmarish landscape that swelled up and shrank again, leaving me panting and bewildered. Monstrous creatures rising from the floor, which I screamed and shrank away from. Snaking coils shifting around me, brushing my face. I clawed at them, trying to tear them away, and I heard my mother’s voice telling me to be still, to be quiet, to rest and it would all stop.
When the fever abated, it burned away all my energy with it, and I lay in bed too weak to move. Food sickened me and even the effort of lifting my head to drink seemed too great. I slept in long, heavy stretches of blankness, never knowing if it was day or night when I woke. They summoned a healer. I remember her in flashes: a dark silhouette in the dim light, her muttered incantations, the sharp stink of the herbs, bitter liquid swirling in a cup. Once, I woke to hear my parents talking in hushed voices in the doorway.
‘But could she die?’ I heard my mother say. I felt my body go rigid, my breath halting in my chest as my eyes widened and I strained to make out the answer.
‘We’ve made offerings to the gods.’ I shrank back from the sound of the healer’s voice. ‘We can only wait.’
My father’s voice was clear, no mumbling or softness. ‘They’ll spare her. There’s no need for worry.’
I breathed out, reassured by his ring of confidence, his authority. My mother carried on talking, rapid and shrill, making my head ache more. I shifted in my blankets; my throat so dry I felt like the insides of it would stick together.
Alerted by the sound of my feeble movement, she was at my side at once. Her hand slid behind my head, raising it up, her other hand holding a cup to my lips. Water, just water this time, clear and sweet and pure. I sipped at it gratefully. My father was already gone. Already I wanted to go back to sleep, but what she’d said before had scared me. What if I fell asleep and died?
Her hands were on my face, smoothing my hair back, her touch soft and gentle as she settled me into the soft cushions. I clung on to my father’s words as sleep pulled me back under.
A bright morning, the surface of the long oak table shining in the sunlight that streamed through the window. My mother trying to persuade me to eat. I pursed up my mouth and shook my head, shoving the bowl away, sending it clattering down the table. I remember the noise it made as it crashed to the floor, how she stared at the broken shards on the stone tiles. For a moment, she looked as though she would be angry, but then she laughed and kissed me on the forehead. ‘You must have your strength back, to send the bowl flying so far,’ was all she said before she summoned a slave to clear away the mess.
The happiest memory: outside in a courtyard, my father lifting me up in his arms. I was fascinated by the golden clasp at his shoulder that held the fine woollen edges of his purple cloak together; how it glinted in the sun. A little gem sunk into the centre, with two tiny figures embossed upon its surface: warriors in combat.
He had a pair of daggers made of bronze that I loved to look at. The blades were inlaid with gold and silver. One was decorated with sea creatures, shining tentacles looping across the surface. The other, my favourite, was a scene of men hunting lions. I loved to trace the tiny bright gold spears, the silver shields, the snarling face of the lion. He laughed, pleased at my interest.
An evening when I couldn’t sleep. The distant sound of my parents arguing somewhere in the palace, my mother storming from a room. The only word I heard distinctly was Helen’s name.
7
Cassandra
In Troy, I had grown used to walking out of step with everyone else. But I had never known what it was to be shunned. The other priestesses pitied me at first for my madness, but they soon grew impatient with my wild claims to have been visited by the god himself. I saw how their faces pinched when they looked at me, the sympathy draining from their eyes. It was replaced by suspicion, exasperation and, finally, a cold disinterest. I suppose they thought I lied for the attention, and they grew tired of hearing me.