Helen thought their conversation curious indeed, and she wasn't certain whether she'd just been warned against speaking to Cassandra, or to Paris. She had long kept her own counsel and wasn't even tempted to confide in Paris until she'd learned all she could about the curse hovering over him. He didn't seem concerned about it, but he was the daring sort rather than an introspective man who'd brood over his fate. He had been acknowledged as a prince of a fabulous city, and everything had been going his way. He'd taken her for a wife, and they'd been welcomed upon his return to Troy. Clearly if there had once been a curse, it hadn't touched him.
* * *
Paris hadn't kept count of the kantharos of wine passed his way, but he feared he'd taken too many long swallows. He found Helen's chamber, but stumbled through the doorway. "I beg your forgiveness," he murmured. "I shouldn't have celebrated my own homecoming with such enthusiasm."
"Come and lie down beside me," Helen invited, but he fell across the end of her beautiful ivory inlaid bed still clothed. She laughed and left him where he lay. Her first day in his home had been a full one. Troy was as magnificent a place as he'd promised, and she doubted she'd ever tire of living there, or being with him. She craved his tender touch, and she intended to make him happy all of his days. She brushed her fingers through his hair, whispered a good night, and left him to enjoy his wine-laced dreams.
* * *
Helen woke early the next morning. Paris hadn't moved during the night, and he slept so soundly, she dressed and left her chamber without waking him. She made a mental note of the frescoes decorating the corridor so she could return to her own chamber rather than wander aimlessly. Troy was known for its horsemen, and many a fresco featured a rearing stallion, or a magnificent herd running wild. She stopped the first maidservant coming her way.
"Would you please show me to Cassandra's bedchamber?" she asked.
The girl took a quick backwards step. "You wish to see her?"
"Yes, why not? Is she ill?"
"No, although some might say so," she stuttered, clearly unsure how to respond. "Come this way, my lady." She looked down the corridor the way Helen had come.
Helen reached for her arm. "Wait. First tell me what I might find."
The girl shook her head. "One never knows. Maybe you should wait for her to find you."
"She wasn't introduced at the celebration last night. Does she prefer her own company?"
"I've already said too much."
The girl looked too frightened to say more, and Helen had to be content to be shown to Cassandra's door without learning why. She knocked lightly, but there was no response. "Princess Cassandra, it's Helen. Do you have time to see me?"
After a long moment, the door opened only a crack, and Cassandra peered out with a dark, piercing gaze. Her black hair flew about her head in wild disarray, and her sleep gown fell off one shoulder to expose a thin, bony arm.
She looked older than Helen had expected Paris's sister to be. She smiled anyway. "I'm Helen, Alexandros's wife. Have I come too early?" she asked.
Cassandra slammed the door shut without speaking. Startled, Helen knocked again. "May I bring you something to eat or drink? It's going to be such a lovely day, and I thought you might show me around the palace."
Cassandra failed to respond and left Helen feeling uneasy. She started back to her own room, and met Hecuba on the way. "I fear I'm awake too early."
"I'm up with the dawn as well. Come into my chamber and join me for something to eat. My maid always brings more date cakes than I can possibly enjoy."
Helen followed her new mother-in-law into her bedchamber. It was easily twice the size of the room she'd been given, and decorated with gorgeous frescos of dolphins swimming in a rippling sea. They were so superbly painted, the playful creatures appeared real.
Out on the columned balcony, a maidservant set up folding chairs and a small tripod table for a tray of figs, pears and little cakes. Just as Paris had promised, she'd found Troy to be a dazzling place, and sacred Mt. Ida could be seen in the far distance exerting a silent blessing.
Once seated, Helen tasted one of the cakes. "These are so good. Thank you."
"Some should already have been sent to your room. I didn't expect you'd be roaming about yet, but since you are, we can talk together as we couldn't last night."
Helen brushed cake crumbs from her skirt and reached for a slice of pear. "I love your son. Is there anything more you need to know?"
Hecuba smiled and shook her head. "I suppose not, but I hope you'll be patient with those who are slow to offer their affections. Everyone is comfortably set in their place here, and I'm afraid my love for Alexandros has made some feel set aside."
"I understand." Hektor had looked ready to spit venom when she'd been introduced, and it appeared a great deal more than time would be required in his case. "I did learn some names yesterday, and hope I won't confuse them while I learn the rest. A gift of your patience will be greatly appreciated."
"You'll have it." Hecuba tilted her head to study her newest daughter-in-law more closely. "There's a highly polished bronze mirror in the bedchamber you were given. Haven't you looked in it?"
Surprised by the odd question, Helen shrugged. "Only to comb my hair and straighten my clothes. No one has ever accused me of being vain."
"You are remarkably unaffected by your exceptional beauty, but others, like my husband, are simply dazzled by you. You have an other-worldly glow, as a goddess would have walking among us."