I
Paris reached the eastern wing with smoke already crawling along the ceiling.
He did not look down into the courtyard. He could hear enough. Greek voices. Steel against stone. A woman calling a name again and again until the sound stopped.
Arsini said Helen was not in the palace.
He did not know why he refused to believe it. Only that if Helen had left, she would have taken the road to the harbour. And if she had stayed, there was one place no one would have thought to search.
Her room.
The door was closed. A thin line of lamplight showed beneath it.
Paris lifted his hand to knock. Then he lowered it and opened the door.
Helen was sitting on the edge of the bed with her hands in her lap. She was dressed, her hair pinned, as if she had been ready to leave for hours and had never stood up.
She looked at him.
"Helen." His voice came out rough. "Why are you not with the others? Arsini searched the whole palace for you."
"I heard her. I did not open the door."
"Why?"
