For Cassandra's behavior, the King had her locked away without food. Her confinement would end once his anger lessened, but Priam was well known to hold long grudges. No one could visit her, only a servant once a day to tend her most basic needs.
After the third day, Helenus and Hector snuck her food scraps from the kitchen. They chastised her actions but believed her ill. They didn't think confinement would do her well, yet they wouldn't dare air their misgivings to the King.
Cassandra let them think what they wanted and barely talked to them. She only ate a little of what they brought. She didn't want to die, but she saw no point in living. Helen hadn't left and seemed determined to remain at Paris' side.
Cassandra hadn't saved Troy. Nothing she did would.
Proof of this came a week into Cassandra's sentence.
King Menelaus sent a summons for his wife, or Troy would suffer.
Priam laughed at Sparta's threat, though he didn't understand the power King Menelaus could wield.
A vision had revealed to Cassandra that all Helen's previous suitors had sworn to come to her aid if she ever got captured. Most of Greece would battle Troy, but King Menelaus didn't mention this, and so Helen stayed in Troy.
Shortly after, Helen's previous husband declared war.
The overall attitude toward Helen changed after King Menelaus' announcement. Her beauty was still lusted after, but she ranked no higher than an ordinary whore in most people's thoughts.
Only Priam, Paris, and Hector considered her better than a servant.
From what Cassandra overheard, Helen often had stated she wanted to return to Sparta. She couldn't understand why she'd fallen for Paris.
Part of Cassandra wanted to sympathize with the former queen. Helen had no doubt fallen prey to a similar spell that had been used on Cassandra. But unlike Cassandra, the former queen hadn't had another god's intervention to keep her from succumbing to the powerful magic.
Helen was as much a victim of the gods as Cassandra.
Yet Cassandra couldn't muster the energy to overcome her anger at Helen. She knew her emotions were aimed at the gods but expressing fury at them could do nothing but worsen her and her loved ones' lives. Despising Helen stopped Cassandra from screaming obscenities at the sky.
Two months after Helen's arrival, Priam forgave Cassandra and allowed her to leave her bedchamber. He ordered her to avoid Paris' wife at all costs, lest she wanted to feel the full weight of his wrath.
The King didn't need to bother with his threat. Cassandra had no intention to harm Helen further.
With Cassandra's freedom came an increase of suitors the King paraded in front of her. Most were powerful men or the sons of influential men. They all thought the princess lovely but couldn't stomach her disinterest.
All left almost at a run.
Priam ranted and raved about her lackluster attitude, but nothing he said convinced her to care. No matter his allies, the King wouldn't win against most of Greece.
Once, Cassandra told her father this, and he forced her back to her bedchamber for another three days.
On her second day of imprisonment, Hector knocked on her door. She had seen little of him since King Menelaus had declared war. Her brother spent most of his time with the other generals in council and overseeing Troy's troops.
Cassandra turned away from her window and the lightning storm she'd watched all morning. "Come in."
Her brother opened her door and entered her room. He eyed her, then gestured to her bed. They both sat on it, and Hector took her left hand.
"I hear you're worried about this war."
"You're not?"
Hector chuckled. "I won't lie. Of course, I am. I'm terrified, but I am every time we encounter opposition."
"Doesn't it upset you to go to war over something so absurd?"
"There's more to this than Helen."
But nothing a negotiations meeting couldn't handle, Cassandra thought, but wouldn't say.
She'd mentioned that to one of Priam's advisors a few days prior. He'd told her she couldn't understand the complexities of ruling and needed to keep her ignorant opinions to herself.
That night, Cassandra had prayed to the gods to make the advisor's hair fall out faster than it already was.
"You know his army outnumbers ours, right?"
"For now, but we've just started. Troy has many friends, too."
"It won't be enough."
Her brother sighed. "What's happened to you? Why have you become so pessimistic?"
Cassandra looked away. "I'm just aware of reality. Something all of you are trying to avoid. It'll be the death of Troy."
Hector pouted. "When did you lose your faith in me?"
Cassandra sighed. "It's not that."
"Then what?"
Cassandra removed her hand from her brother's.
Even if Apollo hadn't cursed her, she knew Hector wouldn't consider her misgivings. Since he'd joined the military, Troy's troops had overcome all their endeavors. Hector had no reason to believe the same wouldn't happen now.
"I'm tired," she told her brother.
"It's not even mid-morning yet."
"That doesn't change the fact."
Hector stood and glared at her. "Maybe more days in here will fix your unsettling behavior."
"I wouldn't bet a healthy crop harvest on it."
Hector marched to the door. He glanced over his shoulder. Sadness replaced his previous frustration. "I don't like who you're becoming."
He left.
Cassandra pulled her knees to her chest. She rested her head in her lap and cried. If admitting it would make a difference, she didn't like who she was becoming, either.
Despite his threat, Hector didn't petition the King to expand her sentence. A day later, Cassandra left her bedchamber and resumed her praying and garden-tending.
She passed Hector on her way to Aesacus' old chambers moments after her release, but he refused to meet her gaze.
Cassandra spent more time sobbing that day than praying.
A week later, Hecuba went into labor.
For an entire day, the palace forgot about the war and focused on the Queen and her newest child. Priam paced outside the Queen's chambers and winced every time Hecuba screamed.
Cassandra prayed to Eileithyia all during her mother's ordeal. When news reached her that the Queen had given birth to a sturdy, beautiful boy and was on the road to a fast recovery, Cassandra cheered. She sang the goddess' praises and vowed to always honor her.
Later that day, Cassandra went to her newest brother's room, the one every child of Priam and Hecuba had occupied in their early years.
The wet-nurse had just tended to Cassandra's youngest brother when Cassandra opened the door. The older woman smiled and held out the child to Cassandra.
"Would you like to meet him, my Lady?"
Cassandra nodded and approached them.
She took the child in her arms as she'd done with all her younger siblings and gazed at his still-red features. He stared back with the biggest blue eyes Cassandra had ever seen. She ran a finger over his already twisting blond hair and marveled at how much he looked like the Queen.
"He's spectacular, isn't he?"
The child grasped Cassandra's finger and squeezed tight. Cassandra laughed. "He is."
She cooed unintelligible words at him until he made a face at her. "What's his name?"
"No one's told you yet, my Lady?"
"I've been hard to find today," Cassandra lied.
This new servant didn't need to hear her woes, and she wanted no more rumors circling about her.
"Oh..."
The wet-nurse glanced away, and Cassandra knew tales of her oddities had already reached the woman.
"The King named him Polydorus, my Lady."
"Hello, Polydorus," Cassandra said to her brother, then kissed his soft cheek.
As soon as her lips touched her skin, a prophecy engulfed her.
An older Polydorus (the boy didn't stand past her mid-chest) raced out onto a chaotic battlefield. He sped through the adult men and cut at their legs with a small dagger. His sure, quick jabs mimicked Hector's fighting style.
Polydorus' actions brought much-needed distractions for Troy's troops, and pure joy radiated from the boy.
A buff, tall man with closely shaved black hair spotted the young prince. He positioned himself close to the unaware boy and threw his spear.
The man's aim was true, and the spear skewered the boy's abdomen.
Polydorus screamed and toppled to the ground.
The man found the dying boy and, without flourish, severed Polydorus' head from his body.
The vision ended, and Cassandra returned to herself. Tears dripped from her eyes and onto Polydorus' face.
The child squealed, and he squirmed in Cassandra's arms.
The wet-nurse reached out. "Maybe I should—"
"No!" came a cry from the door.
Cassandra and the wet-nurse turned to see Polyxena standing in the doorway.
She pointed from Cassandra to the wet-nurse. Rage colored her cheeks an unsettling pink.
"Don't let her touch him," the youngest princess ordered.
"My Lady, I don't—"
Polyxena cut the wet-nurse off with a sharp hand gesture, then hurried into the bedchamber. She wrenched Polydorus from Cassandra.
"Never come near him again."
Shock rendered Cassandra motionless. "Why not?"
"You'll poison him."
"Poison him? What are you talking about?"
"You're sick. Bad." Polyxena pointed at the door. "Go and don't come back here."
"You can't speak to me this way."
"Go," Polyxena repeated with another jab at the door.
Cassandra looked at her sister and brother then the wet-nurse.
The servant twisted her hands as she eyed the unhappy child Polyxena held.
The annoyance at her sister's rude tone fled Cassandra. She lowered her head and retreated.