"I hate to tell you this, Meggie, but a promise from you is meaningless," Menoikeus told her when they were alone. "I truly am sorry. This is not a time for making your own rules."
"Was there ever going to be one?" Megara growled and stalked toward the royal chariot with her fists bared at her sides. "Fine, take me home if you want, but I'm not doing whatever I'm told just because someone thinks it's a good idea!"
Menoikeus climbed into the chariot behind her. "It's time to stop being such a childish rebel, Meg. Pyrrha and Halkyone accepted marriage plans while we were looking for you. They'll be gone by the time we get back to the palace. You're the oldest sister. You're meant to set the example."
"I arranged marriage plans for myself this weekend. Maybe they should've followed my example, after all."
Menoikeus sighed. "Don't be like that, Meg. You know the score."
"If I had someone to defend my choices and wasn't always fighting my own corner, maybe the score would add up differently."
"There's only so much I can do. It's you versus the king and our parents. Their word is law, and my power is papyrus. Not just that I'll have power only if all of them die."
Megara stared straight ahead. The closer they drew to Thebes, the more inevitable it seemed that she'd be forced to comply. Multiple times, she imagined herself breaking away and running free. But the chariot was too fast, and there were too many soldiers marching and riding around her.
It all felt like a cloud that represented the curse of Thebes, choking out every hint of hope. The happiness and hope she felt while she was with Hercules diminished with each passing turn of the chariot wheel. Though he had shone a light into it, her world was small and dark, with no escape.
When the seven gates of Thebes closed around her that evening, there was an air of finality to the way they clanked and slammed into place. She'd gotten out once before, but now, with a war coming, how could she expect to traverse the surrounding territory to freedom? Hercules was gone, and she had no way to reach him again.
She couldn't reach his island. Nor could she ever go back to Prometheus Academy. If the war blew over and she survived, what then? Would the satyr have convinced him that she was a bad influence? He seemed sure while she was with him that he wanted her with him, but maybe his memories would distort without the ability to see her again.
Gripping the front of the chariot, Megara buried her hope and softness under the veneer she had spent years building. She could survive this confrontation with her family. Princesses tended to survive wars, too, but only if they were connected to the right man.
She'd never love anyone else, but she was small. The fact was no amount of ferocity could preserve her chastity in a family that would give her up to anyone with the force to take her. She would resist as much as possible. Maybe she could even stab her way to freedom under the right circumstances…
But by the time it was over, she'd be second-hand scraps to Hercules. Heroes didn't take scraps.
In the courtyard outside the palace, Menoikeus helped his sister out of the chariot and supported her while she adjusted to standing on solid ground. "It doesn't have to be so grim, you know. If you cooperate, we can get the best deal possible for you."
"Will the deal be for me or for the rest of you at my expense?" Megara folded her arms and narrowed her eyes.
"It will be whatever is best for Thebes, Meg. You've got to be part of this and make sacrifices like everyone else."
"I don't see you getting sold off to some jerk to be impregnated with nasty little kids I never asked for. You think I'm too young to have a demigod, and maybe I am, but why, then, aren't I too young to have a prince or princess?"
"I make other sorts of sacrifices," Menoikeus said. He took Megara by the arm and led her into the palace.
Someone may have been forgiven for believing Creon was king of the polis when they arrived in the throne room. He sat upon a throne overseeing a map of Thebes, and his wife, Eurydice, sat beside him. They both wore crowns adorned with amethysts and sphinxes. At the arrival of their children, their worry and anxiety disappeared.
"Megara," Creon rumbled.
"Creon?" She made her voice sound as nonchalant as possible. She knew exactly what her parents would say once the floodgates opened.
The predictable twin tirade began, but all Megara could hear was the ringing in her ears.
That morning, she'd received a goodbye kiss from the only boy she would ever love. He didn't know they'd never see each other again at the time. He couldn't possibly understand the condemnation burning away at her like it would char her flesh.
"She will do whatever is required of her," Menoikeus said. "Please don't waste more time chastising her. She's been through enough."
Megara let out one bitter note of almost laughter. Yes, she'd been through a lot, but the worst had been prior to this weekend. Without the Lethe water to wash it away, she could never forget she had once known something better than this. But now she was to remember everything and live with it.
"You should have been at work fortifying the city, but you went out to find her instead," Creon said. "Well? I assume the fact she's here and you're alive means she wasn't kidnapped by Polynikes?"
"It was imps from the Underworld," Megara said. "But I know you don't care."
"You can't blame the Underworld for being a Royal runaway," Princess Eurydice scoffed. "You've made plenty of excuses, but this is the most outlandish yet! Practice is meant to improve a liar, Megara, not make you forget how to be convincing."
"I'll take your word for it. Clearly, you're more of an expert than me."
Her mother was still speechless when the throne room doors opened again.
King Eteocles, son of Oedipus, casually strode in, surrounded by men wearing uniforms that made them resemble generals. None of them had ever participated in a war. She had to wonder why they got to decorate their armor.
The king's eyes brushed across her face, and he said, "Ah, you've retrieved my queen."
There was no room to stay numb anymore. Rage flared up in its place. "I'm not going to marry you, you spoiled pissant! You should be begging for forgiveness for damning us all with your own selfishness! What makes you think you're not a bigger war criminal than your brother?"
Eteocles stalked closer. "The answer to that is simple, Meggie." He raised a hand; whether to smack or strangle her, she wasn't sure. "I'm the one inside the walls. My brother is the one out there bringing death upon us all. Do you know what happens to pretty little princesses when kingdoms are overthrown?"
"Don't you know what happens to families who only marry cousin to cousin instead of making outside alliances?"
The strike across her face was not a shock.
Megara righted herself and bared her teeth against the sting of it. "Come on. You're a king now. Don't tell me you haven't come up with anything new since we were kids."
Eteocles closed his hand around her throat. "Stop talking!" He snapped. "You never learned when to stop talking!"
Menoikeus put a hand on Eteocles's arm. "You can't marry her if you kill her."
"I can do whatever I want!" Eteocles screamed.
Megara's knees buckled under her, and her vision blurred, but she maintained the same look of skeptical irritation as she felt her life slipping away.
Creon and Eurydice stood behind her.
"Eteocles, killing her will bring the Furies down on all of us. Are you not ashamed enough already?"
"What's the point of waiting for her to get home if you're just going to kill her?" Eurydice asked. "The deal doesn't work if she's gone. I already shipped the other two out of town."
The realization hit Megara that she'd never see her sisters again. Her ears rang with it, but then she lost all connection to the world. In the growing darkness, she clung to visions of Hercules.
That was a life she'd never live, but she'd love him for the rest of what little life she had.
Air filled her lungs, and she was pretty sure that didn't happen to dead people. She was dizzy, and none of the voices she heard resolved into words. Hands jerked her in all directions, but the only reason she had trouble breathing was the heat and closeness of so many bodies.
One voice barked louder than the others. She couldn't recognize it, but it turned the tide of the fight.
"Some king you are!" the voice closest to her face said. "This isn't how you treat a cousin or a fiancee, so maybe you don't deserve either one!" The voice slowly became familiar, much slower than usual. Her vision resolved until she could see her older brother Haemon clearly. His eyes were full of concern, and his features were red with rage. "Princes, huh?" he asked, trying to laugh, and she tried to laugh, too.
Eteocles was throwing another tantrum, but there were other voices to drown him out this time.
"C'mon, Meggie, let's clean you up." Haemon picked her up, and she didn't complain. Her legs wouldn't work, anyway.
Antigone trotted alongside them. "What did you say to my brother?" she asked Megara, who only croaked in response.
"Not right now, Tigs. We both know it doesn't take much to set him off," Haemon said.
"He's the king!" Antigone protested. "Meg never figured out how to talk to authority. We all have to pull together now. Why doesn't she have to be accountable?"
Megara's voice creaked back to life. "He's no king. He's a spoiled little boy."
"How dare you?" Antigone shrieked.
"I said not now!" Haemon shouted even louder than her. He carried Megara into a room and slammed the door. "I'll get Megarion to bring water," he said, "but I'm not leaving. Too dangerous right now."
"Who cares?" Megara asked.
"What do you mean, who cares? I care! Someone has to! This family will never survive if we can't look out for each other."
"What if we shouldn't survive?"
"You almost died. How'd you like it?"
"Better than talking to our parents." Megara was in a bed. Was it hers? She leaned back and closed her eyes. "I fell in love this weekend."
"Malaka, Meg! What's the matter with you?"
"I don't know." She draped an arm across her eyes.
"You saw who I wound up falling in love with, right?" Haemon tried to laugh his way through the question. "Now I'm stuck with her, and she doesn't even know why it's wrong to strangle my baby sister."
"Mine was different…" Megara slowly sat up. "He was honest and sweet… I actually believed him that he wouldn't hurt me."
"That's a pretty high bar for a weekend," Haemon noted.
"I know…" Megara bowed her head and pounded her forehead with the heels of her hands. "I'm so dumb."
"No, you're just looking for a way out of this mess, and I get it." Haemon sat on the end of her bed and patted her knee. "It's going to be rough, but we have to stick together, all right? We're all under this curse together, so the best we can do is stick together."
"I think I'd be better off alone." Or not really alone. Just with someone else.
"I have days where I think that, too, but there's really no escape." Haemon sighed. "We'll try to smooth this over. It'll be okay.'
"I'd rather die than marry Eteocles."
"I support you in that, but I won't do the killing, and I'm not going to watch him do it, either. Meno's out there trying to negotiate his way out of this, but it's not really working."
"No kidding? I thought he could negotiate a manticore out of its lunch. What's the problem here?"
"It's three against one, and Menoikeus just wants everyone to get along."
"Even after that? Why aren't we chucking Eteocles off the roof?"
"Give it time, Meg. They're all in an uproar, but they'll be distracted soon. I'll make it work for you. We'll get you to school tomorrow, and I'll make sure you can stay for theater practice."
"I think I forgot all my lines."
"Then you'll need extra practice, won't you?"
Megara couldn't help but laugh along with her brother. "You know this place would be unbearable without you, right?"
"Yeah, I'm pretty great," Haemon said, and this time, his laugh was laced with twice the cynicism. "But you are too, Meg. Don't let anyone make you forget it."