Cassandra had risked angering the Fates to save the man she loved, but instead, her plan had turned back around and devoured itself like a snake eating its own tail. By loving Aeneas, Cassandra hadn’t made him want to flee Troy as she had planned, but rather, she had given him an unshakable desire to stay. For all her foresight, the one thing Cassandra hadn’t accounted for was that Aeneas might fall madly in love with her. But it had happened. And now she had to change his mind or watch him die at the hands of the Greeks.
“I know Paris will support our marriage,” Aeneas said, making excited plans. “You’ll have to leave your high station at the temple, of course, but that wouldn’t be so bad, would it?”
“It would be paradise,” Cassandra admitted sadly. She climbed out of his lap, sought out her chiton in the heap, and put it on as she spoke. “But you have more to fear than just my brother. We all do.”
“Are you talking about the fall of Troy again?” he asked, his face wary. He braced himself, like he was getting ready for Cassandra to start raving.
“No. I’ll never speak of it again,” Cassandra said quietly, and Aeneas relaxed. “I’m talking of another matter that has nothing to do with prophecy.”
So he might believe her, Helen thought, trying to figure out Cassandra’s strategy. Her curse is that her prophecy is not to be believed, not other truths she might know.
“You must leave Troy before the sun rises, or Apollo will see that you have become my lover.”
“How does this concern Apollo?” Aeneas asked cautiously.
“I refused him years ago. The only reason I’m still alive is because even he fears the Fates, and they claimed me first.” Cassandra’s voice faltered when she saw the horrified look on Aeneas’ face, but still, she continued. “Apollo comes with the sun. If he sees that I gave myself to you he will curse you, your boy, and your father.”
Aeneas stared at Cassandra, his face paling in the torchlight.
“I’m sorry.” She reached out to him but Aeneas threw her hands off and pushed away from her.
“Why?” he asked her desperately. “Why did you do this to me?”
“I’m sorry,” she repeated. He stood up, searched for his chiton, and tied it angrily.
“I was ready to die for you if that was my punishment, but my son and father have nothing to do with this. You should have told me.” His voice shook with betrayal. “You’ve cursed my family forever.”
“No,” Cassandra said, dashing tears off her cheek. “If you leave now, take your father and your son and get out of Troy before dawn, Apollo will not chase you.”
“Of course he will!” Aeneas yelled, finally raising his voice at her.
“No, he won’t be able to touch you ever again, I swear it!” she yelled back. That made Aeneas pause. Oracles did not swear lightly. “Shortly after dawn, Apollo will be trapped on Olympus by a vow that Zeus ha
s made on the River Styx. Zeus thought it would be impossible for the demigods to accomplish their end of it, but by dawn, it will be so. Zeus’ unbreakable vow binds him and the Twelve to stay imprisoned on Olympus for many generations.”
“And what is this impossible thing the demigods will have accomplished by dawn?” Aeneas asked, like he was starting to be convinced.
“You won’t believe me.” Cassandra sighed like Atlas had just rolled his burden onto her shoulders. Then she laughed, and muttered to herself. “A giant wooden horse. Ridiculous.”
“What about the horse?” Aeneas asked, his voice dropping dangerously. “The one outside the great gate?”
“It’s already too late,” she said, shaking her head. “Get your son. Get your father. Leave Troy. If you stay, Apollo will punish us all.”
Aeneas’ shoulders shrank, and the wounded expression on his face made him look as young as he had been when Helen first met him a decade ago.
“I actually believed you when you said you loved me,” he told her quietly.
“Maybe someday you’ll look back on tonight and believe it again.” Cassandra bent her head, and Aeneas left her.
Andy woke long before dawn. She was alone in Ariadne’s bed for the first time since the Delos family had taken her in, and it felt too weird. She’d gotten used to Ariadne’s snoring and Helen’s thrashing about. In a few short days, it had started to feel like the three of them had grown up piled on top of each other, and now that the room was quiet, it felt too quiet to sleep.
It also didn’t help that every time she closed her eyes the only thing she could see was Hector rising up out of the water to come to her rescue, soaking wet, bare chested, and not exactly sleep inducing. Giving up on getting any more rest, Andy swung her legs out of bed and rumpled her short, dark hair with her fingers until the back stood up in spikes. She decided to go downstairs to see what she could do to help Noel and Kate set up for the monumental breakfast they were going to serve before Daedalus and Phaon’s dawn duel.
Noel didn’t expect Andy to do chores, but Andy insisted. She’d been taking care of herself her whole life, and she wasn’t comfortable sitting around while other people waited on her. If she was going to be protected by this family, she figured the least she could do was help out. Plus, there were milk and cookies in the kitchen—Kate’s cookies, no less. Andy may not have been on Nantucket for very long, but she’d already learned that Kate baked the kind of cookies that made a person want to get out of bed.
Creeping into the kitchen, Andy saw a big, dark shape sitting at the table and gasped in surprise.
“You’re not thinking of trying to go for another swim, are you?” Hector asked quietly.