Chapter One:
The Princes of Troy
Helen sat in the hand-crafted bronze chair in front of her ivory vanity, her delicate accessories strewn about before her. Tonight, the Trojan princes would arrive in Sparta, having spent four long days sailing the Aegean Sea in route from their homeland, Troy. Her husband, Menelaus, the king of Sparta, who was twice her age, had presented her with many new dresses and beautiful jewelry for the occasion, and Helen knew it was only because he wanted to "show her off" to his guests. They were here on a peace mission, to establish an alliance between Troy and Sparta.
Helen was quite used to such politics, as her aged husband would often give more attention to them rather than focus it all on her. However, she did not complain about it, as she like it when she was left alone. Ever since her parents had married her off to the King of Sparta, she feared every moment that her husband would try to touch her. She hated him, and every day she thought of walking into the sea and drowning herself. As far as she was concerned, she had nothing in her life to live it for.
But she wouldn't dare show her unhappiness to the King. Helen was constantly playing this charade, pretending as though lavish gifts and lush palaces satisfy her every need. On the contrary, she didn't even care about the jewels, the Egyptian sheets, the silken gowns. All she ever wanted was to be loved, although she knew that would never happen. Helen belonged to Menelaus, doomed to suffer in her own beautiful skin until the gods ended her life.
She was snapped out of her misery-filled trance when she heard the door open. She looked to see one of her hand-maidens, Aucrala, standing in the archway.
"The king requests your presence, Milady," Aucrala told Helen in a light voice.
"Thank you," replied Helen. "You can tell him I will be down momentarily." The hand-maiden smiled and left the room.
Helen turned her attention back to her vanity, deciding which accessories to wear tonight. It would be the first of three consecutive feasts this week, and she wanted to look her best. For who she was trying to impress, she did not know. After much contemplating, Helen chose a thin tiara, which shined silver in the torchlight. It was encrusted with gleaming sapphires more blue than the darkest depths of the Mediterranean, and she placed it among the delicate curls in her hair. Helen preferred to keep her hair down, as she thought she looked best that way. Next, she picked out a gown from her collection, a deep blue one to match her tiara. She gently closed the silver clasps on her shoulders, which was all that kept the gown on her body. The clasped were engraved with tritons, the symbol of Poseidon, the god of the sea. Small dolphins danced around the tritons, as if serenading them. After taking one final look at herself in the looking glass, Helen left her room and began to descend the winding stairway to the dining chamber below.
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When Helen entered, she let out a silent gasp. Her husband had thrown many great feasts before, but none nearly as lavish as the one before her. About fifty long wooden tables had been aligned in the center of the dining chamber, and parallel to them sat a long line of wooden chairs on each side. Helen was sure that the room could now seat at the least one hundred people, but was even more sure that the food could feed an entire army. At least twenty plates of lamb, thirty plates of pork, and fifteen plates of beef decorated the tables, which were dotted with many bottles of wine. Every fruit and cheese Helen had ever tasted (and some she hadn't) filled the many golden bowls on each table. Lastly, a hundred and fifty bronze plates stood in front of the many chairs, and each had a matching bronze chalice to go with it.
Helen was so focused on the tables and their setups that she had not noticed the many people in the room. She recognized quite a few of them, advisors to Menelaus, friends of the king, Spartan nobles that she had seen around the palace many times in the past. She made her way over to her husband, who acknowledged her presence by directing her to the seat beside his throne in the center of the tables. She sat quietly, her eyes wandering around the room. Helen's ears recognized the sounds of flute players in the far corner of the room, who were playing the gentle melodies of the gods. The music soothed her, and she tried to tune out all other noises in the room besides those of the small symphony. Her mind drifted as if in the clouds, and for a moment she was at peace.
But such peace did not last. Before she knew it, Helen heard Menelaus stand beside her, clearing his throat as he faced the rest of the room. Everyone immediately fell silent.
"My good men," bellowed Menelaus, and his voice echoed throughout the room. "Please direct your eyes to the entrance!"
Helen found herself obeying her husband, and what she found in the grand doorway across the room made her eyes widen.
Two tall, good-looking men stood there, both their skin as tan as gold. They had bronze amour on the chests, which were elaborately engraved with designs showing horses and chariots. They sported matching bronze, skirted wraps around their waists. As they neared closer, Helen could see that they both had long, curly locks that danced on their shoulders. The one on the left was quite rugged, and his face was covered in a manly stubble. His hair was much less neat and cared for than the one on the right, which was clearly his younger brother. This one had long, muscular legs, and he moved about the room very gracefully. He had beautiful facial features, with his godly cheekbones and nicely shaped jaw line. His hair, unlike his brothers, shined in the light of the torches on the walls and was clearly cared for. He wasn't as bulky as his older brother, but still quite a lot more attractive. Although Helen could not see him very well from this distance, she felt almost drawn to him.
Suddenly, Menelaus resumed speaking. "I give you Hector and Paris, Princes of the grand city of Troy!"
A/N: Do you like it? I will update very soon, and I can promise that the Paris/Orlando fans will be satisfied with future "love scenes". ;)
