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Chapter One

Helen

Troy

1251 BC

The walls of the rooht of doves soared from the balcony of e on the street below and the screams of terror and pain had not disturbed the birds at these heights Only the ruolden rooftops of Troy They dodged the plu te sun

I wished Paris and I could make a similar escape Too late There was no safe haven for us anywhere I cradled his head in my lap, the blood trail from the corner of his mouth now dry He had no breath, no life Taken fro to Hades or Elysiu with his in a never-ending river of sorrow

The sound of a thousand feet dru outside our roo the door Theythese lofty corridors They would raid every room and kill all within

Now they were on my doorstep, their voices harsh and full of blood

Barring the door and piling furniture against it in a heap would keep theet in There were too many of them bent on destruction The soldiers had washed over the city like a bloody tide that was now lapping atwith the skeletal remains of Troy

The cacophony of violence faded to the background as I looked upon Paris, the fine curves and lines of his face still beautiful in the lad he would not be subjected to any more of this world, this life, or the tortures inflicted by the de door

The warriors continued their onslaught, eager to claies, the assault ceased and the soldiers quieted

“Helen,” a voice called His voice “If you come out to me, ill stop and no harm will come to you If you do not, you know the price that must be paid for disobedience”

A shiver coursed through me, and the air shimmered I was all too aware of what he would do to ain The ed at the thought of his favorite punishment, the kind that happened in my bedchambers, only spoken of in undertones by my handmaidens