His eyes caught mine and I forgot for a moment … to look away. “Cage?” He leaned in slightly, his voice cool and dangerous, each word honed to cut. “I could have walked out of mine any time I wanted.”
The words slid under my skin, and I opened my mouth to respond, but he wasn’t finished.
“The real question …” His gaze swept down my body, lingering long enough to make my stomach knot. “Who’s going to let you out of yours?”
The air left me in a rush, as though he’d stolen it.
Gods, I hated him.
“Get away from me,” I hissed, my hands trembling as they clenched against the arms of my chair. The words tore out raw, shaking with rage. I knew I was caged, every breath of this palace reminded me, but how dare he name it. How dare he say it out loud.
His smile deepened. “Why?”
“Because I don’t trust you.”
“Good.” His eyes glinted. “Trust makes things dull.”
He stepped closer, his voice softening into a silken rasp that grazed my skin. “Tell me—did you dream of me?”
I blinked, frowning in confusion. “What?”
His head tilted, his smugness never faltering. “You look like a woman who woke upburning.”
Heat flared up my neck, and my hand twitched at my side.
Theron angled closer, bringing himself to eye level as if we were sharing a secret. “I could help with that.”
I forced myself back against the throne and lifted my chin. “Stay out of my way.”
“I would,” he murmured. “But you keep stepping into mine.” His grin spread easily, disarming, as if he hadn’t just gutted me with words. Then he eased back, the predator disguising itself again just as the doors boomed open.
My brow rose as Menelaus strode into the hall, robe trailing, guards at his back. He wasn’t supposed to be here this morning. His gaze cut across the nobles restlessly, and he carried the edge of a man who hadn’t slept.
“Out,” he barked, his voice booming around the room. “All of you. I’ll keep my captain and our new pet. The rest—leave us.”
My gaze flicked toward Theron before I could stop it. If the insult stung, he gave no sign. Only the faintest curve at the corner of his mouth, as though the king’s words were nothing more than entertainment.
The courtiers hurried toward the doors, their heads bowed low to avoid the king’s eye. Menelaus’s gaze snagged on me when I hadn’t moved yet. “You too, wife,” he said as his eyes trailed over me like a hand. “Try not to vanish to the storerooms for another round of charity when you leave. I’d hate to find the palace empty because you’ve fed half the realm.”
The mockery burned.
Not because I was ashamed of what I’d been doing, but because he dared to ridicule my attempts to ease the suffering he ignored. My tongue ached with the things I wanted to throw back at him. But if I said a single word, he’d shut every door I’d pried open.
Achilles’s shoulders locked, his jaw clenched so hard I thought his teeth might crack. The tension radiating from him wound tight and lethal, though he kept himself still. “Word of Helena’s generosity is spreading through all of Sparta, Menelaus,” he snapped. “The people have stopped calling her Helena the Beauty. They’re calling her Helena the Benevolent. Helena the Giver. They say she’s the only boon this kingdom has had in years. Maybe you should appreciate that.”
Menelaus’s lip curled. “Is that so? We’ll see how long their gratitude lasts,” he growled. “Especially when our hunts have been so fruitless.”
A silence followed, uncomfortable enough that it felt as though I’d stepped into the middle of a conversation I wasn’t meant to hear. I watched the exchange,confused by the momentary shift in the air. My thoughts snagged on the hunts again. The secrecy. The urgency.
What was he really searching for in those woods?
And why did Achilles’s eyes darken at the sound of it?
Theron was silent for once, his gaze tracking between me and Achilles, narrowing and searching, as though he’d caught the edge of a truth half hidden. A beast sniffing at the first trace of blood.
A chill cut down my spine. I forced my eyes forward, my fingers tightening around the folds of my chiton until the fabric bit into my palms.
Standing up from the throne, I moved with as much grace as I could summon, Alcmene falling in step behind me.
