“I see you have completed your task, King Theseus.”
He spun at the cold tone of Queen Hippolyta’s voice behind him.She stood on the trail, flanked by a cadre of eight swordmaidens.
“Yes.I have returned the mother pig to where she belongs.”Theseus plucked at his clothes.Dried mud flaked off and rained to the ground.“Please tell me my reward for succeeding in this task will be a bath.”
“The ocean is that way.”Queen Hippolyta jabbed her finger toward the horizon past the stockade, where the rocks ended in a cliff, giving a view of nothing but sky.
Theseus grimaced.He could tell even from there that the cliff would be far too high for a jump into the ocean.
It seemed he would be stuck wallowing in pig manure.That would make his dungeon cell so pleasant.Even the breeze through the barred window wouldn’t be enough to whisk away this stench.
* * *
Theseus paced as muchas he could inside his cell, swinging his arms to get as much airflow to his clothes as possible.
He was still dripping seawater and mud onto the floor of his cell.At least Queen Hippolyta had allowed him to take a detour to the beach and attempt to wash the mud off himself and his clothes all in one go.He was now gritty with both drying salt from the seawater and the ground-in pig muck he hadn’t been able to scrub away in the hurried dousing.
The expected footsteps padded on the stairs a moment before Ariadne appeared, carrying a bundle of clothing and a towel.Another woman dressed in white carried a bowl and pitcher, presumably filled with water.
“Oh, good.”Theseus slumped against the wall.“Please tell me those clothes are for me.”
“Your steward Philostrate kindly sent clothes when he was alerted that you needed a fresh set.”Ariadne unlocked his cell door.She waved for the other servant woman to step in first.
The servant woman scurried inside, set the bowl and pitcher on the floor out of Theseus’s reach, then swiftly left, hurrying back up the stairs.
Ariadne set her bundle of clothes and the towel on the floor next to the pitcher.
Theseus held out his wrists.“I promise I won’t try anything.”
“I wasn’t worried.”Ariadne smirked as she unlocked the shackles around his ankles.She stood and reached for his hand.She unlocked first one manacle, then the other, letting them fall to clank against the stone wall.“You’d better hurry.You have ten minutes.”
She strolled out of his cell, shutting and locking the door behind her.She disappeared around the corner, but then her footsteps halted.
“Aren’t you going to leave?”Theseus peeled off his mud-covered shirt and dropped it to the floor well away from the clean clothes.
“Just be glad I’m standing out of sight and giving you that much privacy,” Ariadne called back, her voice coming from what Theseus guessed was the base of the stairs.
“Thank you for that consideration.”Theseus hurriedly stripped out of his foul clothes, washed, and put on the new clothing.
He was lacing up his boots when Ariadne reappeared, her mouth pressed tight against a grin.He straightened.“When you said ten minutes, you meant ten minutes and not a second more.”
“More than sufficient time, unless you’re the type given to preening.”She raised her eyebrow as she let herself into his cell.
He obligingly held out his hands.
As she clapped the manacle around his wrist, her fingers brushed against his skin.
Theseus stilled as he caught a whiff of the fresh, floral scent wafting from her hair.His skin tingled from her touch as he grew all too aware of her nearness.
It would be easy to close the distance and kiss her smirking mouth.He found himself swaying closer, the temptation churning inside him.
The second manacle clicked closed around his other wrist, the faerie steel cold against his skin.
He jerked back, giving himself a mental shake.What was he thinking?He intended to win Queen Hippolyta’s hand, not Ariadne’s.
Could he ask for Ariadne’s hand, instead of Queen Hippolyta’s, at the end of this?She was a trusted swordmaiden, for all that she still dressed like a servant.
Was she high enough in the ranks of the swordmaidens that she could ask for help for Theseus’s Court, if she became its queen?Or would she be cut off from the swordmaidens, kicked off their island and out of their Court?
