Page 30 of This Divine Revelry

‘We’ll see!’

In the afternoon I lay traps with Myrto, Calybe and a few other maenads.

‘Olympus above, did you do this?’ Myrto asks, examining a patch on one of the nets. When I nod, she throws her arms about my neck. ‘You’re brilliant. It was on my list for our return.’

‘Is that what you do?’ I ask, amused. ‘Try to organize this chaos?’

‘Oh yes,’ she says, removing a wax tablet from an impossibly small pocket of her belt and presumably ticking mend nets off her list. ‘Fun is sort of our thing. And nothing is more fun than a meticulously curated schedule or a light bit of colour-coding.’

‘Have you tried dance? Music? Decapitation? All of which sound rather more fun,’ I tease.

‘Nope.’ She tilts her head to the air. ‘You will not take this from me, new girl –’

‘Oh, do not tell me that’s catching on.’

‘Sorry, it’s just – well, Dionysus has relayed a different name each time a new person asks after you. Areatha, Aratha, Esia, Arachne, Libera … I didn’t want to get it wrong.’

Oh, that bastard – clearly having fun poking at my obvious lie. Well, it’s not as though he knows what truth it’s covering, so I’m not particularly panicked, but right now I find I can’t give that lie again. Not to Myrto. Not after the kindness she’s shown me.

‘Call me new girl, then,’ I say, averting my gaze from her questioning look – knowing if she asks, I’ll tell her. I doubt anyone here will judge me for the things I’ve done. But the secret might leak or the people of Cabarnis might overhear, and if my father really has put a bounty on my head, it’s not just my reputation I risk.

‘We all have secrets,’ she says, a little too softly. ‘No one will push you to disclose them. Not here. But you can – when you’re ready. If you want to.’

I can only nod.

‘You two really must stop this,’ Calybe says, appearing behind us and swinging an arm around both our necks – which is actually quite painful because her wrists are stacked with seashell bracelets. ‘I’m fairly certain serious conversations are outlawed by Dionysus.’

‘I’m pretty sure nothing is outlawed by Dionysus,’ I grumble.

‘That’s the spirit!’ she calls, freeing me only so she can skip before me and plant her hands on my shoulders. ‘Now, on to important things. You are coming to tonight’s revelry, aren’t you?’

‘I …’

Cabarnis could be dangerous – my father might somehow have traced me there. Or someone might recognize me. And if it’s not, do I find work there? Build a home there? Or stay here, where things are considerably easier and where I am not alone. But if I do that, am I accepting all their customs? Am I becoming another follower of another man instead of fighting for something for myself?

‘Please?’ Myrto asks, twisting that fishing net in between her fingers like she truly cares what the answer might be.

And I relent. ‘I suppose I can’t very well stay here alone.’

‘Excellent!’ Calybe cries. ‘Now we just have to find you something incredibly inappropriate to wear.’

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

IDO NOT, IN FACT, wear something incredibly inappropriate – though I’m not sure anything is considered inappropriate here. Instead I wear a borrowed chiton – muted and plain, a similar sort of grey to my eyes and decidedly the sort of thing I can vanish into.

Dionysus’s boat looms nearly as tall as the cliff faces, with several masts and tightly bound sails – redundant, I suppose, when it’s apparently powered by dolphins.

He stands at the foot of the plank leading to its deck, helping maenads and satyrs board. When he sees me, his face cracks with an enormous grin.

‘Not a word,’ I scold before he can start, but that does little to deter him.

‘You’re coming with us!’

I move past him. ‘Perhaps I’ll stay there.’

‘Perhaps you won’t!’

Music has been an ever-present part of the camp. There’s always been someone playing some sort of instrument around the fires. But on the boat it hits its crescendo – which is probably the only thing distracting me from my surging nausea the moment we push away from the beach. The waves rocking beneath remind me of only one thing – Theseus and his steadying hands.