“Come,” she said, as if sensing the dark turn of my thoughts. “It is not safe for us to linger here.”
As we turned to leave, I spied a tall figure slinking toward the banquet hall.
“Melanthius,” I breathed, watching my brother peer through the arched entryway. “What’s he doing here?”
“I do not know,” Penelope said from beside me.
“I have to warn him.”
Concern bloomed across her face. “It is not safe—”
“Which is exactly why I must warn him,” I shot back.
“I’ll go with her,” Hippodamia interjected. “You two go on. We’ll be safe together.”
Penelope’s eyes found mine, and I could sense her heavyreluctance as she whispered, “Be careful. Please.”
I nodded before breaking into a jog back to where my brother lurked in the shadows. He flinched as I touched his shoulder.
“What are you doing?”
Melanthius regarded me, then Hippodamia at my side. “Eurymachus invited me.”
“Hewhat?”
“He said I should join their feast tonight.”
“You cannot go in there.”
He puffed his chest out a little. “Why not?”
“Because they’re drunk, and they’re fools.”
“You think I’m not good enough to sit with them?”
“Melanthius.” His name was a frustrated growl in my throat.
“I see how it is.” His voice hardened, and I saw a bitterness lurking behind his eyes, cold and rotten and horribly familiar. “Youcan dine alongside Queen Penelope, butI’mnot good enough to drink with some noblemen?”
“That’s not what I said.” Something in his face gave me pause—the looseness of his gaze, the sneer on his lips. “Have you been drinking again?”
Instead of replying, my brother stormed into the banquet hall, head held high. I saw Eurymachus’s eyes narrow on Melanthius instantly, his smile curling dangerously wide as he leaned to murmur something in Antinous’s ear.
“We must go.” Hippodamia tugged my arm, but I shrugged her off.
“I’m not leaving him. Not with them.”
“We cannot go back in there—”
“Return to Penelope’s quarters,” I told her. “Don’t wait for me.”
Before she could object, I strode into the hall and grabbed Melanthius. He turned sharply, an ugly, embarrassed fury carving across his face.
“Let go,” he snarled.
“Melanthius!” Eurymachus called, his voice cutting over thebard’s lilting music. “You came!”
Melanthius threw me a warning glare before ripping his arm free from my grasp.
