The guardsman at the gate did not recognize me at first, and actually laughed when I told him I was the princess Psyche. It was only when another, more familiar face peered down over the wall that he was informed of his mistake.
‘Dexios!’ I called to the new arrival.
In a moment my childhood friend was down the stairs, staring at me in wonder. We might have embraced, but it did notsuit the differences in our social stations. He bowed to me awkwardly instead.
‘Welcome back, Psyche,’ he said. ‘I’ll escort you to the palace.’ He did not ask me what had happened or where I had been, and I was too relieved to find this odd.
‘First, you must tell me what you’re wearing,’ I said, catching sight of his armour – not boiled leather, but real metal. Where did stable boys come by armour like that?
‘Do you like it?’ he grinned and glanced down at himself. ‘It was given to me when I joined the Myrmidons.’
We passed below the gaze of the stone felines that adorned the Lion’s Gate, though they seemed much smaller than I remembered. ‘The Myrmidons?’ I asked as I followed Dexios into the city.Myrmidonmeantant-man, which left me with a number of questions.
‘Prince Achilles’s personal fighting force,’ Dexios answered. ‘We are called Myrmidons because we move with the coordination of a colony of ants. Achilles takes any man who shows skill, not only those born to warrior families. Soon we’ll set sail for Troy. No more shovelling out horse stalls for me!’
The triumph in his voice made me smile, but I was soon distracted by the sights and sounds of the city. Tiryns was preparing for war: The fires of various forges laid a thick veil over the streets and houses, and the ringing of blacksmiths’ hammers echoed against the walls. Preparations for Agamemnon’s troops, I assumed. More than a few soldiers, armoured like Dexios, strolled the streets. The few ordinary citizens we passed seemed harried and downcast. None of them recognized me, and I wondered about this. Were they focused on their own concerns, or had I truly changed so much that my own people didn’t know me?
‘We leave within the week to join the fleet at Aulis,’ Dexios told me.
He led me through a series of winding alleys to one of the smaller doors of the palace, a servant’s passage. From there, I found myself in a small courtyard garden. It was a favourite of my mother’s, well shaded and filled with flowers. Astydamia tended this garden herself when she felt well enough, singing softly as she pruned browned leaves from the plants. But I noticed several dead leaves today; perhaps preparation for the war had kept her away.
Behind me, I heard Dexios say, ‘I will send word to the lady of the house.’
I turned to ask why he had smuggled me in through the servants’ passage like a bundle of contraband rather than bringing me through the front door for a proper welcome, but he was already gone.
I sat on the familiar stone bench and examined the mosaic that ran along the edges of the garden. It depicted dryads who darted around trees and flowers, pursuing one another playfully. It had the same flaw that I remembered – a tile had fallen out of one nymph’s cheek, leaving her half-headless. That small detail convinced me that this homecoming was real and not some fragile dream, and relief loosened my limbs like sweet wine.
At last, I was home, and could set down the fears and uncertainty I had carried for so long. Within the walls of the palace, all my problems shrank to pinpoints, and the pain of grief receded like a low tide. Within moments my parents would sweep me into their protective arms, and I wondered how I could describe all that had happened. Should tell them of my pregnancy now, or wait until after I had explained the rest?
‘Psyche?’ The voice was Iphigenia’s, and I whirled to see her standing in the doorway, wearing a dress of stunningly finefabric. Her hands flew to her mouth, but she did not rush to embrace me.
‘What are you doing here?’ I gaped. I would have been less surprised by the sudden appearance of Medusa. ‘Where are my father and mother?’
Iphigenia’s mouth opened, then closed. ‘No one told you?’ she finally managed. ‘We tried to send word, but the messenger hawk returned with the letter unopened.’
I looked for Dexios, but he was nowhere to be found.
The lady of the house, I thought wildly.Dexios said he would find the lady of the house.He didn’t say that he would find my mother.
‘Psyche,’ Iphigenia said, choosing her words with the care of a child leaping from one slick river rock to another. ‘In the absence of a direct male heir, the throne goes to the princess’s husband, or her son if she has one. If that man cannot be found, it goes to the king’s closest male relative …’ She trailed off again, gazing at me with horrible pity.
‘What are you trying to say?’ I demanded.
Clytemnestra appeared like a shadow behind her daughter. Unlike my gentle cousin, Clytemnestra did not attempt to soften the blow. ‘Psyche, your parents are dead.’
27
Psyche
I stood before my parents’ mausoleum and felt grief twine like a serpent around my heart.
The tomb was a beautiful structure of soaring columns and white marble, though it bore the marks of hasty completion. Most rulers, if they had any authority at all, began work on their tombs when they were still relatively young. My mother and father had been no exception. The builders must have thought they had many years to finish it, but the mausoleum was serving its intended purpose sooner than anyone expected.
Alkaios and Astydamia had been carried off by illness. Iphigenia told me this the day before, as I lay weeping on the tiles of my mother’s garden. Astydamia had gone first, burning with a fever, which was no surprise given her frailty. My father’s decline had been more unexpected, but at the news of his wife’s death, he seemed to give up his hold on life.
It isn’t surprising to anyone who really knew them, I thought, swallowing my grief.He wouldn’t want to live without her, is all.
I should have been there, even if all I could do was wipe the fevered sweat from their brows. If only I had left the seaside house sooner. If only I had not pursued the monster that fateful day, the last time I saw my parents alive.
