I do not want to marry him.
Hecate’s heart seized as Aeëtes’s face flashed in her mind. She blinked rapidly and came back to the present, the voice dying out in her conscience. The woman that Hecate was still holding onto, was Faidra.
“Excuse me?” she said softly, not recognizing Hecate under her glamour. “Are you alright?”
It took Hecate a second to compose herself before she nodded.
You’re all out of excuses, my terrifying one.Hecate fought the urge to roll her eyes as her internal monologue sounded a lot like Hermes.
“Can I speak to you outside for a second?” Hecate asked her gently, removing her hands from Faidra’s waist. She nodded, a look of concern crossing her face, as she let Hecate lead them outside. They took a few steps away from the entrance to the temple, ducking into an alley, where Faidra paused, only looking slightly dubious that she had now followed a woman she didn’t know into an alley outside. Hecate looked around, and once she was sure that no one could see them, she let her glamour drop.
As soon as it fell, Faidra gasped, her hand coming up and covering her face. “I’m so sorry,” she started speaking quickly, shaking her head, “I had no idea. I did not recognize you…”
“You couldn’t have.” Hecate stepped closer to her and put a hand on Faidra’s arm. “Please do not chastise yourself for this, for not recognizing me on the spot.” Hecate let out a small laugh, as if this was a joke between the two of them, and it eased Faidra’s worries. She looked up at Hecate with imploring eyes, and Hecate could see the tears that were building there.
“I wanted to ask you ever since you got here if you… if you had maybe heard my prayers.” Faidra made a sniffling sound and wiped at her nose with the back of her hand. “But you were always with the queen. I didn’t want to misspeak in front of her or speak poorly of my situation.”
Hecate gave her a soft smile in encouragement and knew that she was telling the truth.
“You are kind to be so considerate of others, Faidra.” Hecate tilted her head to one side. “I have heard your prayers. It is true that you do not want to marry Aeëtes, then?”
“Yes, oh to the gods, yes. Neither of us wants this. I don’t think he even realizes that I don’t want this, but I can’t get him alone to tell him.”
“He is a very good match, you know.” Hecate struggled to keep her voice impassive, curious to see what Faidra’s reaction would be. The woman flushed, pushing some of the ringlet curls out of her face.
“Aeëtes is a fine match but…” There was a gleam in her eyes that Hecate identified immediately, a look that she had been trained over the centuries to identify. A look that every woman knew.
“There is another.” Hecate winked at Faidra, wanting to make sure that the woman felt encouraged and not threatened. She only blushed further and nodded, her curls bouncing around her open face.
“He’s back home.”
“Where is home for you, child?” There was a commotion outside of the alley as a heavy wagon passed, and Hecate pulled them a little further into the shadows to ensure that they weren’t overheard.
“Near Athens,” Faidra replied, looking wistfully up at the sky. “My father is a tradesman, a rather wealthy one, but this was his opportunity to get into the echelons of royalty. I have other sisters. If I agreed to this, then it would mean better matches for them, too.”
“You are kindhearted to think of them. You would sacrifice your own happiness?” Hecate implored her, her mind already beginning to tick.
“For my sisters? Absolutely. I couldn’t refuse the match without it being a huge blow to our family. My sister’s matches would suffer, if I ever got another proposal at all.”
“And your beloved? He did not come to propose to you or contest the match?”
Faidra flushed a little brighter at that, her cheeks turning red.
“He works for my father.” Faidra swallowed thickly. “My father would have never approved the match with someone who makes so little. He would’ve seen it as a breach of loyalty, too, and he would have lost his job.”
“I see.” Hecate was fully attuned to Faidra’s story, her own thoughts of Aeëtes taking a backseat for a moment. These were the moments when women cried out to her for help, and she would damn herself for the rest of her immortal life if she did not answer the call. “What if he were to fall into prosperity?”
Faidra’s eyes got wide before she sighed and let out a long sigh. “I don’t think it would be enough. What’s better than a crown prince when it comes to a marriage proposal?”
“Your father sounds like he is certainly…entrepreneurial.” Hecate rolled her eyes, which got a laugh from Faidra. She was quiet for a moment as Hecate began thinking before she bit her lip and spoke again.
“Goddess? Perhaps if, well, if Aeëtes was the one who had an even better match, then the engagement would be broken. If he had an even better option, then no one would fault me or his family for taking it.”
Hecate was confused as she looked at the woman, her face pensive. “If Aeëtes was the one who had a better match?”
Faidra looked downright sheepish as she nodded her head. “If Aeëtes were to become, say…a king consort…of an immortal variety.”
It was Hecate’s turn to blush as she ran her mind through what Faidra was saying. Certainly, something couldn’t be falling together right in front of her? Of course she had known since Hermes visited her the night before what she was going to do about Aeëtes. Her heart left her no choice. If this were an opportunity to help Faidra reunite with her love, effectively dissolving the engagement, then it would remove one of the last blockages in their way.
