Chapter 4
Chapter Four
Theseus slumped against the wall in his cell, hands pinned above his head by his chains.
Had he passed that test? Or failed? He couldn’t be sure.
Sure, he had recognized that Minnie wasn’t a monster. He proved that he didn’t hold the prejudices of some of the other Court rulers.
But he hadn’t realized that her presence there was a part of the test. Of course Hippolyta wouldn’t lock up one of her own in the labyrinth.
He would have realized that, if he had stopped to think it through.
Instead, he’d been so angry at the sight of Minnie chained deep in the labyrinth—a cell even worse than the dungeon where he once again found himself—that he hadn’t paused to think. In that, he had failed.
What would have happened if he’d actually attacked Minnie? The goblin woman was strong. But would her bare hands have been enough to stop his sword?
Maybe. Still, that seemed like quite the risk, especially considering the chain around her ankle would hamper her maneuverability. She wouldn’t have time to pause and free herself if he attacked.
He squeezed his eyes shut, once again seeing Ariadne drawing her sword, her golden hair gleaming in the torchlight.
Ariadne had been in on it the whole time. She hadn’t been there to help him, despite her golden string. She was there to protect Minnie, should Theseus prove to be the kind to attack her. Her drawn sword had been for Theseus, not the so-called monster.
And like a fool, he had given her his undefended back. She could have run him through whenever she wished. Was it a good sign for his chances that she hadn’t?
It confirmed his suspicions that Ariadne was no mere serving woman. She must be a swordmaiden herself, someone that Queen Hippolyta trusted implicitly for a mission like that.
As expected, the light patter of her footsteps sounded on the stairs a few moments before she came into view, carrying his supper tray as always.
Theseus leaned his head against the stone wall behind him. “You don’t have to pretend anymore.”
Ariadne froze, one hand balancing his tray of food, the other reaching for the ring of keys at her belt. A blank expression slammed across her face. “I don’t?”
“I know you’re a swordmaiden. Clearly a high-ranking swordmaiden, trusted by Queen Hippolyta.” Theseus searched Ariadne’s face for her reaction.
The blank expression cleared, something almost like relief slumping her shoulders for a moment before she straightened. Her gaze focused on her hand rather than on him as she twisted the key in the lock. “I wondered how long it would take you to put the pieces together.”
Something in her reaction seemed off, though he couldn’t name what it was. He filed it away to ponder once he was alone in the dungeon cell again.
“It took far longer than it should have.” Theseus kept his tone light as she sat on the floor across from him.
She grinned, the light back in her clear blue eyes. “A pitiful performance for the king of the Court of Knowledge. Aren’t you supposed to be intelligent?”
He pulled himself into a kneeling position and took the plate she offered him, holding it level with his nose. “Knowledgeable, yes. Intelligent, maybe. Wise, not necessarily.”
She snorted a laugh. Not a tinkling, pretty laugh. But a snorting, loud laugh that sounded like she would choke on her own spit at any moment. “True. If you were wise, you wouldn’t be here.”
“Perhaps. But I’m desperate.” He shrugged and swung the plate of food in front of his face. With his hands chained as they were, he swiveled his hands at the end of the chain to shovel the food from the plate directly into his mouth. It wasn’t elegant, but it worked.
Funny how Queen Hippolyta claimed she would never chain Minnie, but she had no problem keeping Theseus in chains. Perhaps it was all a part of his test, but it still rankled.
He finished the plate of greens and fruit and held out the empty plate to Ariadne. “So, the golden string. Did we actually need it? Or would you have been able to navigate the labyrinth without it?”
“We needed it.” Ariadne shrugged, then swapped out the plate for a slice of bread.
“The labyrinth is tricky. It is very easy to find your way deep inside it, but very difficult to find your way out. The labyrinth would have taken us to Minnie eventually, but it would have made it very difficult to leave without the golden yarn.”
Ah. The labyrinth was one of those kinds of enchanted mazes. It was a good thing he’d had Ariadne with him. It would have been far more difficult if he’d been by himself.
“Well, for all your trickery, I am thankful you showed up with that magic yarn.” Theseus spoke between bites of his bread before he gestured to her with the crust. “Getting lost in a labyrinth would not have helped my Court any. If your queen wants some real monsters for her labyrinth, I can send a few her way on Midsummer Night. I have a feeling my Court will have more than enough to spare.”
“She might be willing to take you up on that, you know.” Ariadne’s gaze searched his face, as if her words were yet another test. “We swordmaidens always appreciate a good fight.”
Was she trying to tell him that he didn’t need to win Hippolyta’s hand in order to secure the help of the swordmaidens? That Queen Hippolyta would be willing to bargain with him for their help without a marriage involved?
Perhaps. Maybe that had been what she had been getting at when she’d asked him what the Court of Knowledge had to offer the Court of Swordmaidens. She had wanted a bargain, not a marriage.
But as her reaction to his answer had shown, he didn’t have anything to offer the Court of Swordmaidens.
Nothing that they seemed to want and nothing that he was willing to give.
He could not risk giving the Court of Swordmaidens too much power over the Court of Knowledge, if he made a bargain that was less than balanced.
He couldn’t bargain. Marriage it would have to be.
Ariadne’s smile faded, and she set the tray with plates aside. She pulled out a folded piece of paper from where it had been tucked underneath her belt. “A note came from your steward.”
Theseus reached as far forward as he could against the chains to take the paper from her. Unfolding it, he quickly read the note, written in Philostrate’s familiar handwriting.
The news from his Court wasn’t good. A few monsters had already slipped through the barrier between realms and hurt several people before the monsters were dispatched. Thankfully there had been no fatalities, but it was only a matter of time.
To add to the problems, King Oberon and Queen Titania’s fighting was escalating to the point that the Court of Revels was starting to split as its members took sides.
It just reinforced that he had to see this through. He had to win the hand of Queen Hippolyta and save his Court.
“It must be serious.” Ariadne’s expression remained impassive, though she probably knew what the note said already since Theseus assumed the swordmaidens would have read his message before giving it to him.
“Midsummer is just growing more dangerous back in my Court. There was a monster attack, and some of my people were injured.” Theseus let out a long sigh and tucked the note into a pocket of his shirt.
“You must love your Court very much.” Ariadne’s voice was soft, her light blue eyes gentling in a way he hadn’t seen before.
“Yes.” Theseus forced himself to smile and bring back the lighthearted tone of a moment ago. “I’m here, aren’t I? I’m clearly desperate.”
Ariadne’s mouth twitched, as if she wanted to smirk but didn’t allow herself that freedom. “You’ve told me a lot about the Library. Do you live in the Library itself?”
“No, the castle is connected to the Library by the Grand Hall of Anywhere Doors.” Theseus flexed his fingers in the shackles.
They were tingling from being pinned above his head for so long.
He would have to stand for a while soon to let the blood flow back into his hands.
“But the castle and the Library share much of the same architecture.”
“What is it like?” Ariadne’s keen gaze did something to him, and it started him talking.
Once he did, he found himself telling her all about the palace.
What it was like growing up there. Stories of himself when he was little and getting into trouble.
Mostly by hiding away somewhere deep inside the Library, reading when he was supposed to be doing something else.
She shared her own stories about her early years in the Court of Sand. It sounded like a hard life in that Court, but a good one.
“Are your parents still alive?” Theseus was standing now, leaning against the wall with his hands at his sides.
“Yes. They still live in the Court of Sand, along with my two brothers and my sister. She didn’t want to join the Court of Swordmaidens the way I did.” Ariadne’s gaze dropped, her tone carrying an edge of pain.
It must be hard, leaving her family at such a young age to join the Court of Swordmaidens. How free was Ariadne to visit her family? Her father and brothers wouldn’t be welcome to visit her at her Court.
It itched at him. Yet another thing to think on when Ariadne left him alone once more.
Not that Theseus wanted her to leave anytime soon. He would happily talk with her long into the night. It hurt, knowing he shouldn’t enjoy her company this much. He was planning to win the hand of Hippolyta.
But this swordmaiden before him was already well on her way to stealing his heart.