“Drunk?”
She laughed again. “Happy. You look happy.”
“I am happy.”
Penelope’s expression softened beneath the moonlight.
“Everyone else is happy, too, I think,” I continued. “Not because of Achilles or anything. I think they’re just…happy.”
“They are.”
Lying down, I marveled at how soft the sand felt beneath me. Splaying my hands, I dug my fingers into those tiny grains, feeling the lingering warmth of the day’s sun baked within them.
“I met Actoris earlier,” Penelope said.
“What did you think of her?”
“She reminds me of you.”
I snorted. “Because she’s small and angry?”
“Because she’s brave,” Penelope corrected, “and has clearly been let down by this world.”
I closed my eyes, swallowing the sudden knot in my throat.
“I saw her laughing tonight,” I whispered. “She’s not even been here a day and already she’s laughing. Do you know what that means?”
Penelope smiled. “What?”
“It means we’ve made something here. Somethinggood.”
Even with mine closed, I could feel Penelope’s eyes on me as she murmured, “We have.”
“I wish everything could stay just like this. Always.”
Penelope said nothing, and the realization hit me a moment too late.
“I’m sorry.” I sat up, the world spinning slightly with the motion. “That was insensitive of me. I didn’t mean I wanted the war to—”
“I understand what you meant, Melantho,” she said quietly.
“It’ll be over soon anyway, what with Hector now dead,” I hastened to add. “That’s what everyone is saying.”
Penelope gazed out across the night-soaked waves, her expression growing distant as it so often did when she was deep in thought. But there was something else lining her face tonight, something delicate and wistful.
“You must be…looking forward to it,” I prompted her. “Odysseus finally returning.”
“Sacker of Cities,” she murmured.
“What?”
“Sacker of Cities—that is what they call him now.” She smiled, though the edges seemed stiff. “It is rather a gruesome title, is it not?”
I could think of nothing to say to that, so instead I watched wordlessly as Penelope brought the wine to her lips again, taking a deep drink.
“Eumaeus asked me earlier tonight if he could court you,” she said suddenly.
I let out a surprised snort. “Eumaeus?”
