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yourself all day. I won’t have a princess of Sparta fidgeting in her seat.”
    I had known from the beginning that it was only a matter of time, but I had hoped to hide my bleeding for another month or two. Until Menelaus left again, at the least. If I bathed now, in front of Leda, in front of Leda’s servants, she would know the truth at once and my childhood would be over. Tyndareus could not afford to put off my marriage for too long once it was known I had become a woman. The sooner I had a husband, the sooner Tyndareus could begin to teach him about the kingdom he would inherit, and secure the s uccession.
    Of course, if he meant me for Menelaus, he need not rush things quite so much. Menelaus was already well-known from the years he and Agamemnon had spent living in the palace, exiled from Mycenae, and now he had proven himself in war as well. Sparta would have no trouble accepting him as its fu ture king.
    I had to believe Tyndareus would consult my feelings before he chose my husband, or else I would go mad. What was the point of being so beautiful if that beauty could not at least ensure peace? Surely one of the men it might attract would serve Sparta better than Menelaus.
    “Now, Helen.” Leda tugged at the sleeves of my dress, urging me to lift my arms so she might pull it up over my head. I hesitated for only a moment. It would do nothing to help me if I fought her, and everything to increase her fury when she discovered what I h ad hidden.
    I shrugged out from beneath her hands and stripped the fabric from my body, hiding the wool I had kept between my legs in the cloth as I did so.
    Unlike the small tubs, the communal baths were fed from a hot spring and always warm, but I shivered all the same as I stepped down into the pool. It was large enough to swim in, and if I had not been so afraid the blood would show, I would have done so. Instead, I clamped my legs together and held as still as possible in the water.
    One of the slaves picked up my shift, shaking it out. The wool rolled free onto the tile, leaving a tra il of red.
    Leda pressed her lips together.
    “For how long?” she asked.
    I said nothing, watching the warm water weave faint tendrils of blood through the carved dolphins on the bottom of the pool. Dolphins were sacred to Apollo, and I hoped I did not owe my dreams to him. Athena, the goddess of wisdom, was the only Olympian I could respect in the least. She was strong and beautiful, and no one would ever make her marry against her will.
    “You will go straight to the shrine and make an offering of your morning meal to Zeus, your father.” Leda scrubbed my back with a coarse sea sponge, making my skin sting. “And you will spend the morning on your knees, begging for h is favor.”
    She shoved me deeper into the water to rinse the hard soap from my skin. Normally, the servants would have used sweet-smelling oils. But normally, a bath was not a punishment. My hair would stink all day from the tallow, like rancid fat. I grimaced. Perhaps it would keep Menelaus from coming too near.
    “You will return by midday, and you will tell Tyndareus what you have done.” She let me go, leaving me the soap to wash the rest of my body. “Let him decide your punishment, and determine your fate now that you’re a woman. This is the last time you will b etray me .”
    “Yes, Mama.” The words sounded v ery small.
    Leda did not spare me ano ther look.

    My morning meal waited for me at the table in the megaron, the remnants of last night’s feasting still in evidence. Kraters, empty now of the watered wine mixed for the guests, still stood on their pedestals at each corner of the room for easy access by the servants. The long tables and benches, littered with wine cups and empty platters, had not been put away yet.
    At the family table, Pollux and Menelaus sat on either side of my usual stool. Pollux looked as though he had barely slept, but he smiled and called for me to join them. I could feel