Starcrossed (42 page)

Cassandra said, grasping for words with frustration. “It’s like the

way it looks different to everyone. That’s because there’s no such

thing as the most beautiful ornament, or the most beautiful anything

for that matter. How can I explain this?”

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“What I think is beautiful is very different from what even my

twin would think is beautiful because we’re all turned on by different

things,” Ariadne explained bluntly for her.

“That’s right,” Cassandra said.

“But why a girdle?” Helen persisted.

“You have to remember, a few thousand years ago girdles were

considered very attractive, but they were also a form of protection

for the wearer. Some even had bone or bronze plates in them, like

lightweight armor,” Castor explained. He looked remote, though,

not his good-natured self. “But there were two parts to the cestus.

The girdle itself, and its adornments. It was the adornments that

made the goddess irresistible to whomever she wanted to seduce,

and they had the power to change to suit the tastes of whoever was

looking at them. Time passed and girdles fell out of fashion, but

the transformative magic of the cestus is still the same. It can become

whatever you need it to be to make yourself more attractive,

Helen. And all these years you’ve only needed it to be a simple

necklace.”

“I’ve always loved it,” Lucas admitted softly. “The way it falls into

that place.” He touched the dent at the bottom of her throat for the

briefest of moments. “I think it’s perfect.”

Helen could see a hot flush wash across his cheekbones, but he

kept his eyes down, conscious of the fact that everyone was staring

at them with worried frowns. Castor especially looked so stricken

he could have been at a funeral.

“What I don’t understand is why are we all noticing it now? It’s

like it just got charged with love mojo in the past few days or

something,” Jason mused to no one in particular. Then a thought

occurred to him and he looked from Helen to Lucas, then away.

“Like it just switched on,” Ariadne said. She looked over at Helen

and Lucas, sharing the same idea as her twin.

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“What if I wanted it to be something else?” Helen asked, ignoring

the strange stares she was suddenly getting from everyone. Cassandra

shrugged.

“I don’t know. Maybe try changing it?” she asked with an excited

look. “But I’d take it off first! You never know,” she added quickly.

Helen unlatched her necklace and tried to think about sexy

things, but she couldn’t come up with anything. After a moment

she realized that it didn’t matter what she thought was sexy, but

what other people thought that would be important. She needed a

guinea pig. She looked at Hector, focusing on him alone, and she

felt her necklace change shape in her hand.

“Helen!” Hector exclaimed.

Helen looked down and saw that she was holding a tiny scrap of

lace that more closely resembled diamond-encrusted dental floss

than underpants. Everyone burst out laughing, pointing at Hector

and making fun of his trashy taste. She looked at Lucas, concentrated,

and it turned back into her necklace. He grinned.

“I told you. I love that necklace,” he said openly.

His gaze was so warm Helen felt she had to do something to divert

all the stares they were getting. She looked around the room,

pointedly seeking out a new victim. Everyone wisely decided to

scatter.

“Don’t even think about it!” Ariadne shrieked, running out of the

room so Helen couldn’t focus on her.

“Come on! That’s not fair!” Jason said. He backed away from her,

alternately covering his eyes so he couldn’t see her and covering his

face so she couldn’t see him.

“All right, nobody panic!” Helen put her necklace back on and

laughed, but no one was left in the library to witness her mercy but

Lucas and Cassandra. “I like it best like this, myself.”

“Good,” Lucas said, averting his eyes and trying to pretend he

wasn’t embarrassed.

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“Why aren’t you running?” Helen asked Cassandra playfully, but

when she saw the dark look on her face she knew she had said

something terribly wrong.

“That will never work on me,” Cassandra said in a flat, distant

voice. She brushed past Helen.

“I’m sorry,” Helen said to Lucas, as Cassandra stalked out of the

room. She put her hand on Lucas’s arm and made him look at her.

“I don’t understand, Lucas. What did I say?”

“Aphrodite’s power only works on adults—on sexually mature individuals,”

he answered with a raspy voice, like his throat had gone

dry.

“Oh. I didn’t know, but that’s nothing for her to be ashamed of.

She’s only thirteen. She hasn’t bloomed yet . . .”

Lucas cut her off. “My sister will never bloom. She was taken by

the Fates.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means that even if she wants to, even if she feels what other

woman feel, she’ll never fall in love or have children. She won’t

even be able to have the kind of careless physical relationships that

Hector has pretty much once a week,” Lucas said. “She is sacrosanct

to the Three Fates, and they will not share their daughter.”

“But if she feels like a woman, why can’t she act like one? Who

cares what three dusty old spinsters say?” Helen asked persuasively,

but that made Lucas even more upset.

“You’re not understanding this, Helen. We’re talking about the

Fates, not a couple of overprotective parents with virginity issues.

The Moirae can’t be avoided or tricked. Cassandra won’t be able to

sneak out of her bedroom window and have sex with some hot guy

she met at a party,” he said, pacing around. “Even if he was a man

she truly respected, a man she could grow to love, the Fates would

separate them. Fate herself would make sure Cassandra never laid

eyes on that man again.”

“How cruel,” Helen said, horrified.

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“And someday the Fates will separate her from us, her own family.

You can barely tell now, but she and I used to be so close. She

used to take my hand anytime we walked next to each other, but

not anymore,” he said, his voice breaking with emotion. “She was

the sweetest little sister ever, I swear. Such a big, warm heart and

such a big, clever mind—all packed into the tiniest girl you’ve ever

seen. Now she’s becoming more like them. Cold, meticulous,

unrelenting.”

Helen put her hands on his waist and waited silently until he was

ready to pull her into his arm and relax against her, which he finally

did in a wave. She had held him for only a few minutes when

Ariadne came into the library and told Helen she needed to come

out to the kitchen.

“What is it?” Lucas asked.

“Your mom found out about the whole cestus of Aphrodite thing

and she’s sort of throwing a fit, Luke,” Ariadne admitted with a

heavy heart, her gentle eyes darting between the two of them with

sympathy. “Aunt Noel has asked for a meeting with Helen.”

All the air seemed to leave the room, most of it sucked into Lucas’s

lungs. Ariadne spun on her heel and Lucas took Helen’s hand.

“Is this bad?” Helen asked Lucas breathlessly as they followed

Ariadne through the house.

“Yes,” he whispered. “Listen, will you promise me something?”

“What?”

“Promise me that no matter what my mother says, that this isn’t

the last time you talk to me.” Lucas made her stop and face him.

He held her by her stiff shoulders and placed his lips against her

forehead as he spoke. “Promise that you will speak to me again.

Even if it’s just once.”

“I promise,” she stammered, not sure if this was really happening

to her or if she’d wandered into some bizarre dream.

She and Lucas went into the kitchen holding hands tightly, as

though for the last time.

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Noel looked over at Castor and gestured to them as if they were

“Exhibit A” in her prosecution.

“Luke, go upstairs,” Castor said without being able to look him in

the eye.

“I think I’m entitled to hear this,” he replied calmly. Helen

clutched his hand and glanced around at everyone’s solemn faces.

Something was very wrong. Helen started to breathe so fast she

felt like for the first time in her life she might actually

hyperventilate.

“I want you all out. It’s my hearth, and my sacred right by Hestia,”

Noel said firmly, as if she were invoking some old ritual. “This

is between Helen and me now.”

After a few moments of silence, Jason was the first to move. Seeing

the look in Noel’s eyes, he went to Lucas and physically separated

his hand from Helen’s. If it had been anyone else, Helen was

convinced Lucas would have put up a fight, but he allowed Jason to

lead him upstairs. Everyone else filed out of the kitchen, looking

sad. Everyone except for Pallas, that is. Helen noticed that he

looked satisfied. Even a little smug.

“Sit,” Noel said, pulling out a chair for herself, facing Helen. “You

don’t understand what’s happening, do you?”

Helen shook her head and swallowed. Noel asked another question.

“Ariadne explained the Truce to you, right?”

“She said the Houses have to stay separate or the gods will come

back and start the Trojan War all over again,” Helen croaked

through a tight throat.

“Right. Now what does that mean? What would be the simplest

way for the Houses to be unified?” Noel asked sharply. Helen

shook her head again, scared dumb, and Noel continued. “There

are two obvious ways. One House can destroy the others, or the

Houses can intermarry. Usually this is impossible for Scions because

the Furies keep everyone hating everyone else, but that isn’t

an issue for you and Lucas.”

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Helen let out a giant breath of relief.

“Is that it?” she asked. “Nobody’s marrying anybody! Lucas and I

are way too young! We’re not that stupid.”

Noel shook her head, as if Helen had missed the point.

“Do you know how marriage was defined in ancient Greece?”

Noel said in a calmer tone. “It’s really simple. A virgin goes to

man’s house with the family gathered as witnesses. The virgin and

the man share a fire, a meal, and a bed. If the girl wasn’t a virgin in

the morning, then the couple was considered married. That’s it.

That’s all it took. You’re still a virgin, right?”

Helen blushed furiously, her jaw dropping. “Yes. But that’s no

one’s business but my own!”

“It certainly is our business. Because you and Lucas have shared

almost everything else on the list, all that’s left is the consummation

of the marriage. If that happens, then as far as the gods are

concerned you will be his wife. If you’re his wife, then that unites

the final two Houses. And you know what that means.”

“War,” Helen said, completely stunned. Her brain scrambled to

find the flaw in Noel’s argument—the one thing that would make it

untrue—but she didn’t come up with anything. “It’s impossible.”

“No, it’s ironic. The first Trojan War started because two teenagers

fell in love and ran off together, and here are you and Lucas,

poised to make exactly the same mistake,” Noel said, her pity beginning

to show through her anger.

“And Lucas knew all this? Right from the start?” Helen asked.

She felt strangely numb.

“From the first moment he saw you,” Noel replied.

“That explains a lot,” Helen whispered, still putting the pieces together

in her head. “I thought he was just old-fashioned or

something.”

“Lucas? No.” Noel laughed, shaking her head at the thought. “But

he is honorable, so I trusted him with you. I allowed this to go on

because I believed that he would be able to control himself and not

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do anything that the world would regret. But the cestus changes

things.”

“Why?” Helen asked, suddenly perking up. “I’ve always worn it,

and he’s always been able to control himself. And I didn’t exactly

make it easy on him, either,” she added with regret. “But from now

on I won’t pressure him, and that way we can still be together,

right?”

“And then what?” Noel pleaded gently. All the anger had gone

from her once she saw how invested Helen was, how much Helen

cared. “You could both stay true to your word and never touch each

other, but what do you think that will do to your relationship over

time? What do you think it will do to Lucas?” Noel paused and

looked at her hands in her lap.

“It’ll be hard, but we know what’s at stake. . . .” Helen began, trying

to bargain.

“I’ve already been told that I’m going to lose my daughter to

madness. I can’t lose my son as well,” Noel interrupted, her eyes

wide with fear. “Please, Helen. I’m begging you. Stay away from

Lucas. If you get a little distance from each other, maybe he’ll be

able to let you go before it’s too late.”

“You’re talking like I’m going to drive him crazy or something,”

Helen said, frustrated. Noel gave her a piercing look that warned

Helen not to belittle the situation.

“The cestus isn’t some silly love potion you can buy at the county