Medea by Eilish Quin

Author:Eilish Quin
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Atria Books
Published: 2024-02-13T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

I hardly slept that night. A chill saturated my chamber, a dampness that found its way through the cracks in the windows and gathered, pooling in the corners. The ceiling, covered in delicate frescoes, the same that had watched over me since babyhood, loomed threatening in the dark, and I tossed and turned under the layers of blankets. This would be the last night I spent here, if all went according to plan—the last night I ever spent on Kolchis.

The alternative, that lurking possibility that Aeetes would somehow find out exactly what I had planned, was unthinkable. Phaethon might survive his wrath, but I certainly would not.

When the sun finally rose, breaking over the sea cliffs with the urgency of light itself, I was awake to see it. I watched the shadows recede, the sun beginning to dapple the floor with specks of color. I pulled myself from bed. Though I would never have admitted it to his face, a part of me longed to be beside Jason as he went about his tasks, to offer him some silent support. That same shard longed for him to sit with me this morning as I brooded. I spent a moment unsure of what to wear. How should a princess dress to betray her father?

In the end, I selected one of my plainer dresses for the day, trying not to think of how by nightfall it would be covered in dried blood.

I tensed as a knock came at the door.

“Who is it?” I called, uneasy.

In swept Chalciope, her hair done up in an elaborate chignon, her face lively and intrigued. There was not a hint of tiredness in her manner as she came up behind me and surveyed the gown in my hands.

“You’re not going to wear that, are you?” she commented, shock bleeding into her speech. “When the youth Jason looks up at you triumphantly, cloaked in victory from whatever Father sets up for him, surely you will want to be radiant and lovely. This dress is homely at best.” I shook my head, exhausted already by this line of inquiry.

“Knowing Father, Jason will be dead before he can so much as flirt with me, sister,” I hazarded, watching her face drop in disappointment.

“You’re always so worried. You need to calm yourself a little, Medea,” she disclosed, raising her eyebrows imperiously. “And you also need to wear something that accentuates your figure.” She disappeared into my closet, humming to herself as I rolled my eyes. I supposed I had time to entertain her at least for a little while.

She reemerged with a bloodred gown, complete with an intricately embroidered corset. It was bright and gaudy, one of Chalciope’s old ones that had made its way into my possession.

“You jest, sister.”

“Just try it on. Humor me.”

I slid the dress on over my head, not bothering to fix my hair as it tangled in the corset strings. As Chalciope offered me her mirror, and I saw myself arranged in her skirts, I realized with a pang of fondness that we did not look so unalike now.

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