Chapter 8
Chapter Eight
Something cold and sharp jabbed his chest. Theseus started awake, blinking at the glow from the faerie lights bobbing near the ceiling now that someone had called them into brightening.
Dressed in her full battle regalia, complete with a chainmail tunic and a golden crown tucked into her hair, Queen Hippolyta stood next to his bed, her sword drawn and menacing him. Ariadne, her black hair in a braid, flanked Hippolyta, guarding her back.
Theseus wasn’t sure if he should reach for a weapon or dredge up the last of his charm and pretend he was nonchalant about this queen showing up in his bedroom.
As he didn’t have any other choices, he went with the second option. He placed one hand behind his head as if he were relaxed. “Queen Hippolyta. This is a surprise. It seems you could not resist my charms after all.”
She smirked and tapped his bare chest with the flat of her sword. “King Theseus, I have conquered you and your Court. You have no choice but to yield to me.”
What was going on? What was she doing here? Sending a few of her swordmaidens to help out on Midsummer Night was one thing, but this was not what he had expected.
His blood ran cold. All those times she’d asked him about his Court and his castle, had it all been another trick? Had she been setting him up so that she could conquer his Court without a battle?
She had betrayed him. Used his friendship to take over his Court.
He met her gaze, opening his mouth to spew anger at her.
Yet instead of the hardness he had been expecting, her eyes were soft. Almost begging something from him.
Whatever gentleness in her eyes, her voice remained hard as she rested the flat of her sword against his skin. “Yield, King Theseus.”
What was she trying to tell him?
Either he remained angry, or he trusted her one more time. Hippolyta never did anything without a good reason. She had shown him that over and over again. Perhaps she was nothing but a cold, calculating woman who had planned all along to steal his Court from under him.
Or this was actually for the benefit of both their Courts.
It was time to trust her. One last time.
He trailed a finger up the flat of her sword. “I yield, Hippolyta. You have conquered me.”
Her pink lips twitched, as if she wanted to smirk but wasn’t ready to drop the hard facade just yet. “Then I have one last test for you. I ask you again, what benefit will you provide to my Court?”
For all of Hippolyta’s tests, this question was the most important. He’d answered wrong the first time. He couldn’t afford to give the wrong answer a second time.
His mind raced, as he thought back through his experiences in the Court of Swordmaidens. The pain in Hippolyta’s voice when she talked about leaving her family in the Court of Sand. The way no married women were allowed to remain on the island with their husbands and families.
And he knew what answer he needed to give.
He met and held Hippolyta’s gaze. “My Court can provide a refuge when your Court can’t.
My Court can be a place where married women can still serve as swordmaidens, even though they can no longer live on your island.
They can stay here with their families. My Court can make yours whole. ”
Her smile spread across her face. Not her smirk nor her battle grin. This was a genuine, joyful smile. She lifted her sword and rested its tip on the floor instead of his chest. “That would only work if our Courts were united in a true alliance that only a marriage between rulers can forge.”
“But I thought that if I won your hand, that you would have to give up your crown.” Theseus pushed onto an elbow, studying her. That was the cost she must pay if he had won her hand through the trials. He saw that now.
“True. But if I win your hand, that’s a different story.” Hippolyta’s smile took on a teasing tilt. “If a swordmaiden’s hand is won from her, she is forced to leave. But if I, instead, win your hand, I keep my crown.”
Theseus flopped back onto his pillow and laughed. With all her tricks and schemes, she had been playing the long game to make sure they both got what they wanted. That was why she had trounced him in their duel and had him tossed off the island. There had been no other way.
More than that, having swordmaidens permanently stationed here would protect the Court of Knowledge not just on Midsummer Night, but for a long time to come. This victory was not just for one night, but for as long as he and Hippolyta lived.
He held out his hand. “You have already stolen my heart. You might as well claim my hand too.”
She sheathed her sword, then clasped his hand. As their fingers met, a glow surrounded their hands. A binding, tying them together in the way of their peoples. They would need to be bound in marriage to complete the binding in full, but this was its start.
Theseus let Hippolyta tug him to his feet. He was barefoot, his trousers rumpled from sleep. He was not at his most kingly right now.
But that didn’t matter as he cradled Hippolyta’s face and kissed her as he’d longed to do.
After a long moment, Ariadne gave a cough. “Your Majesty, perhaps we should tell the swordmaidens to stand down? I’m sure the king’s Court is growing restless, thinking they have been attacked.”
Reluctantly, Theseus pulled away, still keeping an arm around Hippolyta’s waist. “I suppose we should reassure my Court that everything is all right. I am eager to introduce them to the warrior who will soon be their queen.”
Hippolyta grinned at him, then leaned in for another quick kiss, murmuring, “You may not have won my hand, but it seems your charms stole my heart after all.”
They would have plenty of details to work out, like how to make their marriage work when he wasn’t allowed to visit her Court. They still had to face Midsummer Night with all its dangerous monsters.
But with this queen at his side, Theseus would be able to take on anything. No monster would be as fierce, as deadly, as this queen of the swordmaidens.