On the shore, the leader stepped forward. He reached up to tug off his helmet, and long hair tumbled down. With a start, I realized that what I’d taken for a man was in fact a woman, with a sun-browned loveliness and a golden cast to her fabulous fall of curls.
“I am Hypsipyle, daughter of Thoas,” the woman in armor called. “Queen of this island of Lemnos.”
With a shock, I realized I recognized the name. “Hypsipyle!” I replied, gripping the railing of the ship and ignoring the stares that my outburst earned. “You are the descendant of Ariadne, daughter of Pasiphaë, sister to my own father, Aeetes. My name is Medea. We are cousins after a fashion, Heliades all alike. Daughters of the sun.”
I bounced on the balls of my feet. What a stroke of luck! Perhaps I would find a way to recover my magic here, on this island ruled by other descendants of Helios. Then again, it was equally possible that I would find nothing but misfortune and death. The house of the sun was not tender to its own, as I well knew.
“I greet you, daughter of Aeetes,” Hypsipyle replied, “and bid you welcome. Who are these others with you? Who is their leader?”
Jason leaned over the ship’s railing. “I am Jason, son of Aeson,” he called. “And these are my Argonauts. We are heroes, sailing on an epic quest.”
“An epic quest?” Hypsipyle’s head tilted in a surprisingly flirtatious gesture. She turned to one of her captains for a brief conferral, then back to us. “Well, Jason and his Argonauts, we welcome you to stay the night in our city rather than on this lonely shore. We shall offer you gifts and show our hospitality. There will be wine, and music, and much food. We will welcome your crew with greater than the usual xenia and celebrate the rites of Aphrodite together.”
Rites of Aphrodite?I frowned, feeling an oily twinge of suspicion. Aphrodite was the goddess of love and beauty, a strange deity to welcome sailors so recently landed on this island’s shores. But Hypsipyle’s invitation drew raucous cheers from the crew of theArgo.
I followed the others to the beach, my skirts trailing through the shallows. By now the sun was low in the sky, so perhaps it was only the shadows of late afternoon that sent a chill down my spine. Or maybe it was the premonition of a trap set by my father or his loyalists; after all, we were not really so very far from Colchis. Even so, I would risk everything for a chance at getting my magic back.
Atalanta walked beside me, an uneasy reassurance. She’d pledged her help, but could I really trust her, this stranger?
Then again, I didn’t have much of a choice.
26
Medea
A few hours later, I concluded that I could probably trust Atalanta, but I could not fail to be annoyed by her almost beyond bearing.
She was pacing up and down the cramped, windowless room where Hyspipyle had escorted us. The room itself wasn’t more than eight or nine paces across, but still Atalanta kept at it, stomping like a bull. I, on the other hand, sat on a plush couch and ate the grapes that had been left out for us, though Atalanta’s pacing rather interrupted my enjoyment of this. She cut so close that I could feel the air stirred by her passage.
“Do you mind?” I demanded.
Atalanta paused in her relentless circling to glance at me, looking like a wild animal trapped in a cage far too small. “Yes, I do mind. I mind very much being stuck here while the others are gods only know where. We’re vulnerable, cut off from the rest of the group like this, and could be picked off easily.”
“We’re in the home of my kinswoman,” I replied loftily. “We won’t bepicked off.” In truth, I shared some of Atalanta’s disquiet, but I wasn’t about to give her the satisfaction of showing it. I continued to eat the grapes, hoping they weren’t poisoned.
The door opened and Hyspipyle appeared. She had discarded her armor in favor of a sleek dress. Her sun-kissed hair was gathered into a braided crown atop her head.
“Forgive me for the wait,” she said smoothly, all smiles. “I hope you’ve taken the time to refresh yourselves.”
“Why have we—” Atalanta began.
“So lovely to see you, cousin,” I said to Hypsipyle, cutting Atalanta off. “I trust that you are well?”
“Quite well. But I’m concerned about you.” Hypsipyle settled herself at the table next to me, laying a gentle hand on my shoulder. “How did you come to ride on a ship of all men, with only a single bodyguard?” Her gaze slid to Atalanta, who narrowed her eyes but mercifully did not correct Hypsipyle.
Alarm shot through me. I could not exactly tell her that I’d run away from home after stealing my father’s greatest treasure and helping my sister lead a coup. “I am... betrothed, you see. To Jason.”
“Betrothed to Jason!” Hypsipyle’s eyes widened, a smile frozen on her face. “How marvelous,” she said in a tone suggesting it was anything but.
“Yes.” I flushed. Atalanta shot me another look; I ignored her. “We will marry when he returns home and takes his place as king.”
“I see,” Hypsipyle said, her expression unreadable. “And they are... good to you, this Jason and his Argonauts? They treat you in a manner befitting your station, like a lady, not a peasant or a common slave?”
Mostly the Argonauts kept their distance after watching me chop my brother into pieces, but I wasn’t going to tell Hypsipyle that. “They treat me with the utmost respect,” I said.
Hypsipyle gave a sharp nod, seemingly satisfied. “Good. If it were otherwise, I would have to take decisive action. On Lemnos, we are familiar with the cruelty of men.”
A silence stretched between us, one in which anything might be said.
