Page 90 of This Divine Revelry

‘And you’re a lost, needy little whore who opened her legs for the first man who told her she was worth anything. You’re pathetic. You threw yourself at me and you’re just furious I didn’t want you.’ He leans closer, his words hissing through his teeth. ‘Go ahead and tell me I’m nothing. I’m the stuff of legends. I’m the King of Athens. And beyond all of that – I’ll always be the man who fucked you and walked away.’

I hear the clack of a foot on a tile, a startled gasp. Finally.

Theseus doesn’t hear – too busy fisting a hand through my hair and pushing me up against the wall. He brings his face so close I can feel the spit as he snarls, ‘And my only regret is not slitting your throat before I left so I didn’t have to hear you whine about it.’

‘Unhand her,’ my father’s voice booms. He and my mother stand at the other side of the courtyard, her clutched to his side, doing a very good job of acting startled and like she hadn’t led my father here for exactly this. Deucalion and my father’s usual retinue of guards surround him and, even though Theseus is scurrying back, he motions them towards us. ‘It is time to finish our negotiations, King Theseus.’ His gaze flits to me, narrowing. ‘And it appears my banishment has been ignored, so perhaps another punishment is in order. Take her too.’

I worry we are being taken to the throne room – and what if Dionysus hasn’t rescued Icarus and Daedalus yet? What if my father catches them leaving the labyrinth?

But we’re dragged to a smaller room alongside – where Phaedra awaits.

‘Oh,’ she says, eyeing us all – and the hands holding me tight. ‘Sorry, I’ll come back –’

‘No,’ my father declares. ‘You ought to witness this. To know what you have escaped with this man.’ He looks to me. ‘And what will happen to you should you choose a similar path to your sister.’

Phaedra sinks into herself, pressing back against the wall like she might disappear into it all the same. The guards release Theseus and me, but they take up positions by the door, ready to seize us again if ordered.

Father seems to take up half the space, turning to us like he is leading armies into a charge. His lip curls as he regards Theseus.

‘We have been negotiating on the basis that your only disrespect was abducting my daughter. But now you admit that you also defiled her and left her for dead,’ my father says.

Phaedra flinches.

‘I …’ Theseus begins, and I can see every lie hurtling to the tip of his tongue. I watch as they fade away. ‘Not as such, but yes.’

‘I demand recompense,’ Father says. ‘You have slighted both my honour and this kingdom. You will make amends. Grain. Coin. And, of course, the tribute.’

Theseus stills. ‘Tribute?’

‘I’ll be generous.’ My father flashes his teeth. ‘The world recognizes your bravery, Theseus. But they will recognize my outrage too – you took a maiden from Crete. We’ll have one from Athens. And let’s make it yearly this time.’

‘But …’ Theseus is sputtering. ‘You no longer have a monster to feed them to.’

‘Oh, I’m sure I can find some other spectacle.’

I edge back, instinctively trying to cover Phaedra – to protect her from this horror.

Why, why do I only seem to make things worse?

Theseus bristles, his hand hovering near the hilt of his sword, but in a split second he changes tack and smiles. ‘Counter – you made clear what this daughter of yours is worth, and clearly it is not as much as that. You’ll have your grain and coin, and I’ll throw in far more than you gave to the god who took her. In return, I’ll add the Athenian fleets to our marriage negotiations. Not just an agreement to lay down arms, but to pick them up together.’

My father remains tense, but he tilts his head to the side, considering. ‘Your navy wasn’t all that much eighteen years ago.’

‘But there’s a reason we’re avoiding clashing now. Our army might not rival yours, but our intelligence does – we have men posted in every corner of the known world. With our strategies and your forces, we could conquer the undefeatable. We could slay Scylla and Charybdis. We could hunt out Echidna herself. We could even eradicate the Amazons.’

Father scratches his jaw. ‘The Amazons?’

Theseus eyes me as he answers – that same gleam in his eye. Victory. ‘To be the men to tear down that unnatural band of warrior women, to put them all so firmly back where they belong? Our names would go down in history. We would become legends.’

That is quite enough – Hermes must have planted that evidence by now. So despite everything urging me not to, I step forward.

‘Father, he –’

‘You do not speak here!’ my father roars so violently the palace itself might as well shake. I feel my mother and sister flinch as I do – that raised voice, those echoing shouts. Eighteen years of terror, stemming from exactly that sound.

But let him shout – I will be the quiet whisper beneath that he cannot ignore. ‘Theseus has been intercepting other offers for Phaedra’s hand in marriage!’

And the room, finally, falls quiet.