She had turned Honey over to one of the governesses, and had started across the courtyard to check on the snakes when she encountered Khryse.
He looked weary and worn; there were new lines in his once-handsome face, and lines of dull silver in his fair hair. It was hard to realize that there had been a time when in this temple there had been those who considered him nearly as handsome as the Sunlord himself.
He recognized her at once, and cried out in welcome.
"Kassandra! We have all missed you," he exclaimed, and came quickly to embrace her. She would have recoiled, but it was not unpleasant to see a familiar face and to know herself so welcomed; so she allowed the embrace and at once regretted it, though she managed to twist her face so that his kiss fell only on her chin.
Quickly disentangling herself, she retreated out of reach.
"It seems that all has gone well with you while I was absent," she remarked. "You look well and thriving." Not for worlds would she have told him that it was his face in an oracle which had prompted her to return to Troy.
"But that is not true," he said. "Never again shall I have health or joy until the Gods choose to restore to me my poor dishonored child."
"Khryse," said Kassandra gently. "Is it not near upon three years that Chryseis has been in the camp of the Akhaians?"
"I care not if it is a lifetime," Khryse said passionately. "I will mourn and protest and cry out to the Gods—"
"Cry, then," Kassandra said, "but expect not that they will hear. It is your own pride you mourn and not your daughter," she went on sharply. "I saw her this morning in the Akhaian camp; she seems well and happy and content, and when I asked if I should try to arrange for her exchange, she told me to mind my own affairs. I truly think she is content to be Agamemnon's woman, even if she cannot be his queen."
Khryse's handsome face grew dark with wrath.
"Have a care, Kassandra; you say this to hurt me, and I believe not a word of it."
"Why should I wish to hurt you?" she asked. "You are my friend, and your daughter was like my own child. Think only of her happiness, Khryse, and leave her where she is. I warn you, if you press further in this matter, you will bring down the wrath of the Gods upon our city."
His face twisted in anger.
"And I am supposed to believe you have my good at heart? You care nothing for me; I who have so long loved you…'
"Oh, Khryse," she said, holding out her hands to him in absolute sincerity, "please, please, don't begin to talk of this again. Why must you think I wish you ill because I do not desire you?"
"Then what would you do if you wished me ill? When you have destroyed any kindness I might have in my heart—"
"If such kindness is destroyed, why do you say it is my fault? Cannot a man take any woman seriously unless she is willing to lie with him?" she asked. "I speak to you in all friendship, Khryse; do not press this matter."
"You are willing to see my daughter disgraced and insult offered to Apollo—"
"In the name of all the Gods, Khryse, the question is not what you feel, but what your daughter feels," she said in exasperation, remembering Chryseis's proud look when Patroklos had turned to her for help in translation. But she did not wish Khryse's anger to make more trouble; there was already enough bitterness and this could only make it worse. She spoke with what friendliness she could summon. "If you do not believe me, why not go down to the Akhaian camp - they will honor Apollo's truce for his priest - and ask her for yourself if she feels disgraced. If she wishes to leave Agamemnon, I swear to you I shall go to Priam and leave nothing undone to have her released or exchanged. But if she is happy with Agamemnon and he with her—believe me, she is no prisoner; they were calling upon her to translate when they took my waiting-women from me, and they are elderly women who truly do not wish to remain in the camp of the Akhaians. But I promise you: if Chryseis wishes to return I will do everything I can before the King and the Queen."
"But the disgrace - my daughter to be Agamemnon's concubine—"
"Cannot you see that you are unreasonable? Why is it so disgraceful for her to be Agamemnon's woman? And if this makes you shudder so with shame, why were you so eager to convince me that it would do no harm if I should be yours? Is it different for your daughter than Priam's daughter?" she asked harshly, losing patience at last. Now he was really angry; and she was just as well pleased; it meant she need no longer fear that he would try to grab at her.
"How dare you mention my daughter as if she were like you?" he charged her angrily. "You do not care what happens to my daughter. As long as you can follow your own unnatural ways and refuse to give yourself, to humiliate any man—"
"Humiliate you? Is that what you think?" she asked wearily. "Khryse, there are hundreds of women on this earth who would be happy to give themselves to you. Why should you choose one - perhaps the only one - who does not want you."
"I did not choose to desire you," he said, glaring at her, "but I find I wish for no other. You have bewitched me, out of some evil wish to humble me; I…' He stopped, gulped and said, "Do you think, sorceress, that I have not tried to break this spell you have cast on me?"
For a moment Kassandra almost pitied him. She said, "Khryse, if you are under a curse, some other has done it and not I. I swear by Serpent Mother and by Earth Mother and by Apollo himself whom we both worship; I bear you no malice and no evil will, and I will entreat any God to free you from any such spell. I want no power over you, and I would bless your manhood, providing you find some other woman on whom to exercise it."
"So you still have no pity on me? Even knowing what you have brought me to, you still deny yourself to me?"
"Khryse," she said, "enough. I am awaited above, and I must show myself to Charis and to the priestesses. I wish you good night."
She turned away, but he muttered between his teeth, "You will be sorry for this, Kassandra; even if I die for it I swear you will regret this."
I travelled all the way to Colchis and back to escape this man's bitterness; and I return no better off than I left, except that his wrath has had two years to grow.
Lord Apollo, was it your will that I should have given myself to this man I dislike so much? she wondered; almost frightened at her own thought. Even if Apollo demanded it, would I have given myself to Khryse?
But he had not demanded it. And Khryse—he was always a troublemaker; must she be part of his troublemaking?
CHAPTER 20
Kassandra lay awake much of the night, mentally going over her argument with Khryse, wondering what she should have said. Surely he would at last have seen reason, had she been able to find the right words.
Finally she decided that in his current state he probably was not capable of reason at all. Was any man, when a woman was concerned? Certainly, Paris had not showed much reason when it was a question of Helen… and he already had a virtuous and beautiful wife who had given him a son, and from what she had heard, that was what men wanted most.
But it certainly was not only men; women too seemed to lose all reason… when it was a matter of men. Even Queen Imandra, who was strong and independent, and Hecuba, who had been brought up as an Amazon, showed little of reason when it was a matter of their husbands. As for Briseis, or Chryseis, Kassandra thought almost with contempt, they are like puppy dogs, rolling over with all four feet in the air if their master but gives them a pat.
Perhaps the question is not why they do so, but why do I feel no desire to do so?
She shifted her weight on the bed to make room for the serpent which coiled slowly around her waist. It was good to be sleeping in a bed rather than on the hard floor of the cart; and with her last thought she reminded herself to check the cart and make certain which of Imandra's gifts, if any, had survived the Akhaian soldiers. Their fear of serpents might have kept them from exploring the depths of the cart.