Chapter Fourteen #5
“Oh. I didn’t know, but that’s nothing for her to be ashamed of. She’s only fourteen. So she’s a late bloomer—”
Lucas cut her off. “My sister will never bloom. She was taken by the Fates.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means that even if she wants to, even if she feels what other woman feel, she’ll never fall in love or have children.
She won’t even be able to have the kind of careless physical relationships that Hector has pretty much once a week,” Lucas said.
“She is sacrosanct to the Three Fates, and they will not share their daughter.”
“But if she feels like a woman, why can’t she act like one? Who cares what three dusty old spinsters say?” Helen asked persuasively, but that made Lucas even more upset.
“You’re not understanding this, Helen. We’re talking about the Fates, not a couple of overprotective parents with virginity issues.
The Moirai can’t be avoided or tricked. Cassandra won’t be able to sneak out of her bedroom window and have sex with some hot guy she met at a party,” he said, pacing around.
“Even if he was a man she truly respected, a man she could grow to love, the Fates would separate them. Fate herself would make sure Cassandra never laid eyes on that man again.”
“How cruel,” Helen said, horrified.
“And someday the Fates will separate her from us, her own family. You can barely tell now, but she and I used to be so close. She used to take my hand anytime we walked next to each other, but not anymore,” he said, his voice breaking with emotion.
“She was the sweetest little sister ever, I swear. Such a big, warm heart and such a big, clever mind—all packed into the tiniest girl you’ve ever seen.
Now she’s becoming more like them. Cold, meticulous, unrelenting. ”
Helen put her hands on his waist and waited silently until he was ready to pull her into his arms and relax against her, which he finally did in a wave. She had held him for only a few minutes when Ariadne came into the library and told Helen she needed to come out to the kitchen.
“What is it?” Lucas asked.
“Your mom found out about the whole cestus of Aphrodite thing and she’s sort of throwing a fit, Luke,” Ariadne admitted with a heavy heart, her gentle eyes darting between the two of them with sympathy. “Aunt Noel has asked for a meeting with Helen.”
All the air seemed to leave the room, most of it sucked into Lucas’s lungs. Ariadne spun on her heel and Lucas took Helen’s hand.
“Is this bad?” Helen asked Lucas breathlessly as they followed Ariadne through the house.
“Yes,” he whispered. “Listen, will you promise me something?”
“What?”
“Promise me that no matter what my mother says, that this isn’t the last time you talk to me.” Lucas made her stop and face him. He held her by her stiff shoulders and placed his lips against her forehead as he spoke. “Promise that you will speak to me again. Even if it’s just once.”
“I promise,” she stammered, not sure if this was really happening to her or if she’d wandered into some bizarre dream.
She and Lucas went into the kitchen holding hands tightly, as though for the last time.
Noel looked over at Castor and gestured to them as if they were “Exhibit A” in her prosecution.
“Luke, go upstairs,” Castor said without being able to look him in the eye.
“I think I’m entitled to hear this,” he replied calmly. Helen clutched his hand and glanced around at everyone’s solemn faces.
Something was very wrong. Helen started to breathe so fast she felt like for the first time in her life she might actually hyperventilate.
“I want you all out. It’s my hearth, and my sacred right by Hestia,” Noel said firmly, as if she were invoking some old ritual. “This is between Helen and me now.”
After a few moments of silence, Jason was the first to move.
Seeing the look in Noel’s eyes, he went to Lucas and physically separated his hand from Helen’s.
If it had been anyone else, Helen was convinced Lucas would have put up a fight, but he allowed Jason to lead him upstairs.
Everyone else filed out of the kitchen, looking sad.
Everyone except for Pallas, that is. Helen noticed that he looked satisfied. Even a little smug.
“Sit,” Noel said, pulling out a chair for herself, facing Helen. “You don’t understand what’s happening, do you?”
Helen shook her head and swallowed. Noel asked another question. “Ariadne explained the Truce to you, right?”
“She said the Houses have to stay separate or the gods will come back and start the Trojan War all over again,” Helen croaked through a tight throat.
“Right. Now what does that mean? What would be the simplest way for the Houses to be unified?” Noel asked sharply.
Helen shook her head again, scared dumb, and Noel continued.
“There are two obvious ways. One House can destroy the others, or the Houses can intermarry. Usually this is impossible for Scions because the Furies keep everyone hating everyone else, but that isn’t an issue for you and Lucas. ”
Helen let out a giant breath of relief.
“Is that it?” she asked. “Nobody’s marrying anybody! Lucas and I are way too young! We’re not that stupid.”
Noel shook her head, as if Helen had missed the point.
“Do you know how marriage was defined in ancient Greece?” Noel said in a calmer tone.
“It’s really simple. A virgin goes to a man’s house with the family gathered as witnesses.
The virgin and the man share a fire, a meal, and a bed.
If the girl wasn’t a virgin in the morning, then the couple was considered married.
That’s it. That’s all it took. You’re still a virgin, right? ”
Helen blushed furiously, her jaw dropping. “Yes. But that’s no one’s business but my own!”
“It certainly is our business. Because you and Lucas have shared almost everything else on the list, all that’s left is the consummation of the marriage.
If that happens, then as far as the gods are concerned you will be his wife.
If you’re his wife, then that unites the final two Houses. And you know what that means.”
“War,” Helen said, completely stunned. Her brain scrambled to find the flaw in Noel’s argument—the one thing that would make it untrue—but she didn’t come up with anything. “It’s impossible.”
“No, it’s ironic. The first Trojan War started because two teenagers fell in love and ran off together, and here are you and Lucas, poised to make exactly the same mistake,” Noel said, her pity beginning to show through her anger.
“And Lucas knew all this? Right from the start?” Helen asked. She felt strangely numb.
“From the first moment he saw you,” Noel replied.
“That explains a lot,” Helen whispered, still putting the pieces together in her head. “I thought he was just old-fashioned or something.”
“Lucas? No.” Noel laughed, shaking her head at the thought. “But he is honorable, so I trusted him with you. I allowed this to go on because I believed that he would be able to control himself and not do anything that the world would regret. But the cestus changes things.”
“Why?” Helen asked, suddenly perking up. “I’ve always worn it, and he’s always been able to control himself. And I didn’t exactly make it easy on him, either,” she added with regret. “But from now on I won’t pressure him, and that way we can still be together, right?”
“And then what?” Noel pleaded gently. All the anger had gone from her once she saw how invested Helen was, how much Helen cared.
“You could both stay true to your word and never touch each other, but what do you think that will do to your relationship over time? What do you think it will do to Lucas?” Noel paused and looked at her hands in her lap.
“It’ll be hard, but we know what’s at stake. . . .” Helen began, trying to bargain.
“I’ve already been told that I’m going to lose my daughter to madness.
I can’t lose my son as well,” Noel interrupted, her eyes wide with fear.
“Please, Helen. I’m begging you. Stay away from Lucas.
If you get a little distance from each other, maybe he’ll be able to let you go before it’s too late. ”
“You’re talking like I’m going to drive him crazy or something,” Helen said, frustrated. Noel gave her a piercing look that warned Helen not to belittle the situation.
“The cestus isn’t some silly love potion you can buy at the county fair. This is a relic from the goddess of love herself, and if you don’t think it’s possible for someone to be driven mad by love, it’s only because you haven’t truly felt it yet.”
“Then I’ll take it off. . . .”
“You will not,” Noel ordered. “The cestus has probably saved you more times than you can know. Do I need to remind you again how important your life is?”
They sat staring at each other for a few moments while Helen struggled with her thoughts.
She’d read the Iliad, and she’d hated Paris and Helen as much as Lucas had.
She saw them as selfish. So selfish that they were willing to watch a city burn to the ground rather than part.
But was Helen Hamilton any better than Helen of Troy if she wouldn’t give up the man she wanted when it was required?
“Why didn’t anyone tell me this before?” Helen burst out.
“Lucas forbade it. He said he wanted a little time and a little privacy, and no one blamed him for that. Relationships are private things.”
“But we’re not allowed to have a relationship, are we?” Tears tried to make hot puddles out of her eyes. “This isn’t fair.”
“I know it isn’t,” Noel said, brushing a lock of Helen’s hair behind her shoulder so she could see her face.
“Are none of us are allowed to choose?” Helen said, thinking of Cassandra and what she had to suffer.
Her whole body was clammy with nervous sweat and starting to shake.
How could she stay away from Lucas? She didn’t think she could make herself do that any sooner than she could make one of her hands shrivel up and fall off.
“Castor and I tried to choose differently,” Noel said sadly. “We tried to run away just before Lucas was born. We wanted a fresh start so badly that we didn’t even give him a traditional name.”
“So what happened?” Helen asked, desperate to keep Noel talking and maybe learn something that might give her a reason to hope.
“What always happens,” Noel said with a knowing smile. “Family.”
Helen sat still for a moment, unwilling to stand up for fear that it would end the interview and therefore end her welcome in this house.
She knew from witnessing everyone else’s obedient reaction that what Noel said in her kitchen was law for the entire family.
Helen had always thought that Noel was the weak one, the one who needed protecting, but she was beginning to realize that Noel had a power all her own.
When it came down to the matter of who was to be accepted into the family and who was denied hospitality, Noel had the final say for everyone who lived under her roof.
Not even Lucas would be able to break away from that without being forced to leave his entire family behind.
Helen had been denied Noel’s blessing, and that was the end of it.
Helen managed to stand up and make her way to the door but when she got there she paused. “May I ask you one more question?” Helen said, following an impulse. She waited politely for Noel to nod before continuing. “What would you have named Lucas?”
“Tradition would have led us to name him after Castor’s father, who died just before Lucas was born.” Noel’s face was closed.
“And what was that?” Helen asked, already half knowing what Lucas’s name would have been, what it should have been if his mother and father had followed the rules.
“Paris,” Noel replied, unable to look Helen in the eye.