Read Online Helen of Sparta by Amalia Carosella - Free Book Online Page B

refilling his cup with wine, and their shoulders brushed. Theseus’s head filled with the scent of the white windflowers woven into the braided crown of her hair. She looked even more striking without all the gold and jewels from her earlie r display.
    “Is my company so unappealing that you wish to see me drunk?” he teased.
    She smiled over the rim of her own cup. “I am pleasantly surprised by the good fortune of your company, my lord. I feared my mother would think it necessary to seat me beside King Nestor this first night, to do him honor, and I’m afraid I have no taste for storie s of war.”
    “You’ve spoken just in time to prevent me from launching into my own,” he said, forcing himself not to smile. “What of the tales of raiders, outwitting th eir foes?”
    “It seems to me those, too, often end in bloodshed,” she said, the light of humor dimming from her eyes. She looked away, picking at the bread on her plate. “What makes men hunger so for such contests? Is there no suitable glory to be found in other pursuits?”
    “Plenty, if a man has the temperament and the patience to find it.” There was more to her words than idle conversation, and he wished he knew where her distress had come from, but now was not the time to ask. “Does your brother Castor not find glory in his horses? He is known already as the finest horseman in the Peloponnese without even the benefit of being Poseid on’s son.”
    Her eyes were the color of mint leaves in the lamplight, meeting his with all the warmth of gratitude. “Yes. Castor takes great pleasure in his horsemanship. I’m sure that if you asked it of him, he would share with you what he knows.”
    He smiled. “I think your brother’s skill is not something that can be taught, but I will speak to him, if only to say that if he ever wishes to leave Sparta, he and his talents will be welcome i n Athens.”
    “You’re very kind, King Theseus.”
    “It is only in the best interests of my city and my people, I as sure you.”
    “And would you put your people and your city above all else? If you saw some greater threat to them, some future that might be avoided at the cost of some smaller risk in the present, would you act, or refuse, to save them from the nea rer pain?”
    He laughed and picked figs from a dish at the center of the table. “That isn’t a question I can answer without knowing the nature of both events. Nor would I make such a choice without consulting Athena, for Athens is her city more than mine.” He offered her the figs, and she accepted one. “Why do you ask?”
    She bit her bottom lip, toying with the stem of the fruit. “A good queen would collect wisdom from those who have led be fore her.”
    “Very wise , indeed.”
    Helen’s eyes widened slightly in surprise; then she smiled with such brilliance, he could not help but grin in response.
    Nor would he risk losing such a gift by pointing out that a decision as she had described would fall to the king. His marriage to Antiope, the Amazon queen, had taught him the difference between a queen who took interest in the fate of her people and one who concerned herself only with the affairs of running the palace, as Phaedra had. There was no question in his mind which he preferred to have at his side, beautiful or not, but not all men would agree that a partnership between equals, ruling in all things together, made for a stronger kingdom. His gaze slid down the table to the king of Mycenae, Agamemnon, and his brother, Menelaus. Neither one had the strength of character to stand as an equal beside an Amazon.
    “The younger Atrides takes great interest in you, Princess.” In truth, Menelaus had been watching them all night with an intensity that made his shoulder blades itch against the pressure of a phan tom knife.
    Helen glanced at Menelaus, where he sat with her sister and Agamemnon. Clytemnestra seemed to be enjoying herself, even if the two men were not as pleased with their