Page 111 of Where Darkness Bloomed
The girl’s lips pressed into a trembling line, but she held his gaze. “No, lord. I stopped her from coming here.”
Her confession stirred a ripple of surprise in him—no small feat.
“She would have been recognized instantly,” the girl continued, her fingers twisting together. “I am... less noticeable.”
That was undoubtedly true. She was small, unassuming, hardly worth a second glance. Entirely unlike Helen, whose brilliance rivaled a star falling from the heavens.
Then he snorted. For all the absurdities he’d witnessed in war, this girl—plain and trembling—stood before him by choice.
She had courage. That, he could grant her. It took courage to step into the jaws of the lion. Little sense, perhaps. But courage, at least.
“Tell me...” Achilles let the silence stretch as he weighed his words. “Why would a servant risk so much for a foreign mistress? One who brings such a terrible blow to Troy, no less.”
Her eyes flicked up to his, cautious and reproachful.
“Speak freely,” Achilles commanded, an impatient bite in his tone. “I mean you no harm.”
Her throat bobbed. “She was brought to Troy against her will, as I once was. She is the prince’s captive, forced to watch thousands die in her name.”Her fingers twisted the hem of her cloak. “She has suffered much but still seeks to end this bloodshed, and I would help her... if I can.”
The tent fell into silence, the growing storm outside a low murmur. Achilles stood unmoving, grimly considering her words.
“And how, exactly,” he drawled at last, “does she intend to accomplish such a feat?”
She reached into the folds of her cloak, hands trembling as she withdrew a piece of parchment. Striding across the tent, Achilles took it from her. Unfolding it, he scanned the feminine script.
Spare the city. Take me.
Words heavy with desperation, despair.
A dry, humorless laugh left him. Achilles crushed the parchment in his fist. “She thinks the Greeks will abandon Troy if I help her escape?” Scorn curled his voice. “Agamemnon didn’t drag an army across the sea to bandage his brother’s marriage. He is here for Troy—its gold, its power and position on the Aegean.”
The girl flinched, but replied, “She believes the army follows you, not the king.”
Silence fell, heavy and sudden. The words sank deep.
“If you turn from Troy,” she continued, softer now, “the others will follow. And if she is gone, the Trojan prince and king—they’ll have nothing left to defend. The city, its people, they may yet survive.”
Achilles stirred, his eyes sharpening like a sword drawn. “You flatter her, girl,” he growled, deliberately harsh. “She seeks escape, nothing more.”
Defiance lit in the girl’s eyes, a startling flash of fire for one so powerless. “No, lord,” she replied, the words raw and trembling. “She tried to flee Troy. She meant to come here, to end this. She would accept death to spare innocent lives.”
Her voice dropped, quiet and pleading, desperate as the message still crumpled in his fist. “You must believe me. Helen of Sparta is honorable.”
It struck like lightning.
Achilles went entirely still. His thoughts turned sharp and rapid, racing half-wild. Memory and instinct, all unraveling at once.
When his voice returned, it came hoarsely. “Wait here,” he rasped. “Do not leave this tent.”
Without waiting for a response, he turned and pushed through the leather flap.
Rain struck his shoulders in icy bursts, the night ready to swallow himwhole. The sky had become a black expanse, and the sea roared like a chained beast straining at its bonds.
In the distance, Troy blazed with torchlight—a city bracing for ruin. Soldiers paced the battlements, their shadows restless. Behind those thick walls, thousands of civilians huddled together, waiting for the blow.
His eyes swept the sprawling Greek encampment. Tents stretched out like a plague upon the land. Each one sheltered men caught in the same brutal bargain: kill or die. Boys with faces still smooth. Men too old to outrun death. All sent to force the point of Agamemnon’s pride—
Bring Troy to heel. Or else carve it from the face of the earth.
