*
Aegisthus comes. He is silent as air, but she has learned to feel him in different ways. Rooms always grow colder when he steps into them, as if his thoughts and feelings float around him, bringing waves of darkness with them.
“The warlords are patrolling the streets,” he says. “The people rejoiced at the news.”
“Did the elders say how the king was killed?” she asks.
“They didn’t.”
Good.
His face is blurred in the rose light. His hair has been cut, and the scars on his face are faded. The wolf has been domesticated.
He reaches for her, and their hands touch. “For a moment, I thought you were going to betray me,” he says. “But you didn’t.”
“Don’t you know? I don’t betray those who are loyal to me.”
The frost in his eyes is cracking and, behind it, the green of the first buds of spring. “When I was young,” he says, “I was afraid of everything. Atreus’s hounds, Agamemnon’s games, mutilated bodies, angry slaves. Wherever I looked, I feared.
“I learned to overcome those fears. I had to, or I would have died. But something stayed inside me, a feeling of rootlessness, of floating through life trying not to drown.”
She listens, though she doesn’t know that sensation. Every step she has taken since she was a child had a direction. And it brought her here.
He stares at her. “But now I know that I belong with you.”
She closes her eyes and savors the feel of his hand against her own. He doesn’t know this, but he gave her a chance too, which no one else did. He told her: Look, I am as damaged as you, but here I am.
She thinks of those white flowers blooming against the rocks of the Ceadas. For years, she wondered how they survived down there, among the corpses and darkness.
But maybe this is how broken people keep living. They find someone as broken, fit him into the empty spaces of their hearts, and together grow something different.
Outside, the light is golden. It shines on them as if they were gods.
*
There will come a time when songs are sung about her, about the people she loved and the ones she hated.
They will sing of her mother, the queen seduced by a god,
of her brothers, boxers and horse-breakers,
of her sister, a woman so vain who couldn’t stay in her husband’s bed,
of Agamemnon, the proud lion of Mycenae,
of the wise, many-minded Odysseus,
of the treacherous, cursed Aegisthus,
of Clytemnestra, cruel queen and unfaithful wife.
But it doesn’t matter. She was there. She knows songs never tell the truth.
An Ancient Greek Glossary
Aristos Achaion—“best of the Greeks,” a title that, in The Iliad, belongs to Achilles.
Atreidai—patronymic of Agamemnon and Menelaus, literally “sons of Atreus.”
Aulos—double-reed wind instrument. According to the myth, the satyr Marsyas found the aulos that Athena had thrown away and challenged Apollo to a musical contest. The god defeated him, tied him to a tree, and flayed him.
Barbaros (plural: barbaroi)—term used by the Greeks to define all the non-Greeks. Literally “foreigners,” “barbarians,” “uncivilized people.”
Basileia—word for “queen” in the Greek Heroic Age.
Boreas—purple-winged god, bringer of the wind.
Ceadas—ravine on Mount Taygetus where Spartans threw criminals and ill-born babies. This notion comes from Plutarch, though archaeological evidence suggests that the bodies thrown down the cliff were traitors and prisoners, not children.
Chiton—a short tunic that fastens at the shoulder, made by a single piece of wool or linen.
Furies—ancient goddesses of torment and vengeance. They represent the law of “blood will have blood” and are also the spirits of avenging dead that can bring regeneration. Daughters of Gaia (Earth), they sprang to life from the blood of Ouranos’s genitals when Kronos flung them into the sea.
Gymnasium—training facility. The word comes from gymnos, meaning “naked,” as the men (and women, in the case of Sparta) practiced naked.
Gynaeceum—women’s quarters in the palace.
Harpazéin—“to marry” but also “to take with force.”
Homoioi—literally “those who are alike,” it refers to the elite of Spartan citizens.
Hubris—the arrogance and pride of men that is always punished by the gods.
Megaron—the great hall in early Mycenaean and ancient Greek palaces. It was a rectangular hall that contained the throne of the king, an open hearth that usually vented through an oculus in the roof, frescoed walls, and a columned portico.
Moira—the fate from which mortals can’t escape. The Moirai were deities who ensured that every being lived out their destiny as it was assigned to them.
Mousike—music, dance, and the performance of poetry. Mousike was an integral part of life in the world of ancient Greece.
Myrmidons—Achilles’s devoted soldiers. The word comes from the Greek myrmex, “ant,” as according to the myth, the Myrmidons were once ants from the island of Aegina, which Zeus then transformed into men.
Oionopolos—bird-savant, seer, diviner. Literally “someone who observes the flight of birds.”
Orthia—epithet of the goddess Artemis in Sparta and Arcadia.
Pallake—concubine.
Pelides—Achilles’s patronymic, literally “son of Peleus.”
Peplos—a body length garment for women, belted at the waist.
Polutropos—the man “of twists and turns,” “ingenious,” “cunning” beyond measure. Odysseus’s epithet.
Spartiates—members of the ruling class of ancient Laconia. Elite citizens of Sparta, usually male, though we can assume that in Mycenaean times, women belonged to the group too, since Spartan women were free citizens.
Teras—word to describe both a portent and a freak.
Tholos—tomb where the royal ashes are placed.
Xenia—the law of hospitality, one of the most crucial concepts in ancient Greece, where protection and generosity toward guests were a moral obligation.
Xiphos—short sword with a curved blade.
Reading Group Guide
At the start of the novel, Clytemnestra intervenes in a fight involving her sister, Helen. When told that she must let people win their own battles, she thinks to herself, “What if the loser is your loved one?” How does this mentality guide Clytemnestra throughout her life?
Clytemnestra and the rest of the girls in Sparta are trained to fight as children. How does this warrior mentality guide her throughout the novel? How does this set her apart from other heroines you have read before?
The murder of Clytemnestra’s first husband, Tantalus, and her baby is not told from the perspective of Clytemnestra herself. How did you read this change in perspective? What did it add to the narrative?
Clytemnestra and Helen’s relationship is tested many times, yet there is always love between them. How might you describe the evolution of their relationship? How does the theme of forgiveness play a role between the two?
Describe Clytemnestra’s relationship with her father. How did his betrayal make you feel, and how does it shape Clytemnestra?
The story of Clytemnestra and her family is foreshadowed by an inescapable prophecy. Did the priestess’s vision play out the way you though it would? What roles did prophecies and religion have in this world?
This story does not have obvious good characters and bad characters; all of them make decisions that are morally questionable. Were there specific moments that made you think differently about any of the characters? Were there some you found unforgiveable?
Why do you think Odysseus allowed for Clytemnestra’s daughter to be sacrificed?
How did you feel about Clytemnestra’s final act against Agamemnon? In the end, were her actions warranted? Who do you believe is ultimately to blame?
Vengeance is a common theme that courses throughout the story. How does vengeance play a role in all the characters’ lives, especially Clytemnestra’s?