Chapter Eight....Monster In Law
Podes looked shocked and it made his eyes go wide in a familiar manner. He'd heard the prince mention seeing
his mother in law earlier but no one saw that - that witch if they had a choice in the matter. He knew what his father
had said about keeping the prince out of trouble but it was hardly his place to direct the General of the
Apollonians. He thought he was lucky to simply be able to follow him around and watch how he approached life.
Hope for an adventure of some sort maybe. Bearding a sorceress in her lair was hardly what he'd been thinking of
however.
Maybe the prince was joking. He knew his family's sense of humor didn't always mesh with outsiders. But he risked
sounding a dupe anyway and asked:
"Why would you want to see Athanasios' mother?"
Hector chuckled a bit. "Because she doesn't want to see me." Hector said. "And I want to see her before she sees
Andromache." His jaw set a bit and his eyes darkened. "No one upsets my wife and gets away with it, and her
shunning of the wedding was enough for me. I want this settled and done before we have children." He shrugged a
bit as he squared his shoulders.
"Besides, she doesn't frighten me." Hector said. "Takes more than a sharp tongued shrew to make me tremble,
and I think she should know that."
"Father won't like that." Podes stated seriously, pale face angular. "He leaves her alone because he can't kill her."
He stated it matter-of-factly. As if it were common knowledge. "And Andromache would like it even less." he truly
did look concerned now. "She and her mother - they fight on an even field. Like single combat. Andi doesn't like
people she loves upset." His lips pressed together and he looked older than he was. "But Triantifilla has always
hurt her. And she won't let any of us do anything about it." he sounded young. And frustrated. "First it was the
bruises and then later on it was with words and she'd hit her. Not the way you're supposed to hit a daughter either
but the way a man hits a man. And she used to brew - these terrible things. Until Andi wouldn't go near her rooms
anymore." His young hands were fists and he looked caught between a man's response and a child's. "Its not fair."
he protested. "And she won't let us do anything about it."
Hector's dark eyes darkened even more until they resembled a dark and turbulent sea at night. "Take me to
Triantifilla." He said, his eyes narrowing. "Right now." His own sister was an Oracle, so the strange and mysterious
didn't even frighten him. Perhaps not the smartest move in the world, but someone had hurt his wife, her own
mother! And Hector would not let Andromache live with that shadow over her.
"Trust me, she won't do anything obvious against me. That would be stupid." Just his position as crown prince
guaranteed that. "And if you don't tell Andi, then I won't." Not that he had any intention of it anyway.
Podes gave Hector a look that - for one second - indicated that trying to keep something like this from his oldest
sister would be harder than holding the tide back but then his thin jaw squared, a growing match to his older
brothers, and he took a side door. The passage was a simple one, stone lined with open arches that led off into
kitchens and smaller storage rooms and several of the servants noticed the passing of the princes with curious
interest. But no one even considered getting in their way. This was a place well used to determined looking men on
an unstoppable course.
The passage branched off and Podes took the one that wound, showing stones from the very mountain in its walls
as it climbed slightly before opening out into a tiny, forgotten looking side garden that was long overgrown and half
hidden in the shadows of the mountain. Podes’ footsteps lost some of their sharpness but they didn't hesitate as
he led the way through the overgrown runners along the worn path and to the tower set to the side, entirely apart
from the rest of the structure and only, marginally still within its walls.
There was a thick wooden door shut against the daylight and Podes hammered on it loudly. Hopefully, loudly
enough to cover over the sound of his own pounding heart he hoped. This wasn't at all how he'd thought his time
dogging the prince of Troy would go. But someone needed to do something. Triantifilla had said she'd poison
Andi, so that she'd never have babies, if she ever saw her daughter again. No one answered which meant her
maid must be out on one of her errands. But Podes could smell something noxious cooking inside and so, calling
up what little courage he had left, and mostly relying on the fact that he couldn't back down in front of the general
of Troy, he pulled the thick door open and endured the waft of incense and fouler smells that poured out into the
air.
Hector wrinkled his nose at the smell that came out of the opened door and turned to Podes, putting his hand on
the younger man's shoulder. "Stay out here." He said. "In fact, if you can run interference with Andromache, make
sure she stays occupied while I deal with this, I would be most appreciative."
He could tell Podes didn't want to go in, and he didn’t want to make the younger man. He also didn't want to
embarrass him, so he hoped by giving Podes an 'assignment' he could save face. Then he went in side and closed
the door behind him loudly and followed his nose to the source of the stench, opening and slamming doors as he
went before leaning against the door way, arms crossed over his chest as he looked at his mother in law.
"How sweet. Are you making dinner for me?" He asked. He already knew being polite to this woman would be a
waste of time.
The woman standing next to the tripod that hung over the glowing coals turned slowly. And everything that was
regal and beautiful and dangerous about her daughter was in her form. She had Andromache's long, dark hair
which hung long and unbound to her waist and she had her daughter's frail bones and slim lines. She didn't look
as if her body had ever carried children. Or aged. In fact, she looked closer to being one of her daughter's sisters
than her mother. She took in the hulking man standing aggressively in her doorway with calm grey eyes and her
voice was even lower and throatier than her daughter's as she stated simply:
"Prince Hector. I was expecting you sooner."
"I had business to attend to." Hector said with a shrug and came into the room. "The rest of them made it seem like
you'd avoid me and just glare at me from a distance." He said, walking toward her and assessing her like one
would a fellow combatant.
"Why someone would deliberately insult me or hurt their own daughter is beyond me." Hector said. "I just don't
have the capacity to comprehend cruelty like that. But you did miss quite a wedding celebration, in case you care.
And I assume you'll miss the blessing of all my children also, so I won't bother inviting you."
It was unnerving how young this mother in law of his looked, and though she might resembled his wife, there was a
coldness to her that Andromache thankfully didn't have, a coldness that seemed to waft off her in waves.
"Did I hurt her? Dear little Andi?" Triantifilla asked, arching perfect brows in a way that Andromache had of doing.
Except her daughter's familiar gesture was usually indicative that she was amused and not sure she believed you.
Triantifilla's was simply a vague mockery. "I hope I did. I hope it pricked at the back of her heart the entire time. I
hope every time she saw how happy your mother or sisters were together she thought of me." The venom was
there but it was cold and pleased with itself. She looked at the prince in the doorway and her face, cold and so like
her daughter's was content. "You'll never be able to undo what I've done to her heart." The edges of her pale lips
smiled. "And you'll never have children. Not by her at least."
"Don't kid yourself. She was a beautiful beaming bride the day I married her." Hector said, as he sat himself down
in a chair like he and Triantifilla were old friends. "What exactly do you have against Andromache? It can't be me,
we just met. Or are you just jealous that your daughter made a better match than you could ever hope to have
made? She'll be queen of Troy. Her husband loves her, and oh yes, he will give her a house full of children. Don't
worry about that, and don't you dare threaten that. So what is your problem?"
"Don't speak to me of lost children." Triantifilla's voice snapped, bitting cold and bitter. "She owes me for that." The
hatred moved into those grey eyes like a snake striking and that sudden flash was directed entirely at the man in
the room with her. The flawless face shifted so that its bones were hard under the pale skin. And yet she was still
beautiful.
"You don't love her." she sneered it. Cool eyes recovering. "Men don't know the meaning of the word love. Or
loyalty. She'll lose her charm soon enough and return to nothing more than the awkward, gawky girl she's always
been. You'll have a dozen other wives in ten years time and she'll be expected to take care of them all.." One of
her long hands shifted, waved dismissively. "You're your father's son."
Hector got up and got right up in her face, looking down at her. She might be tall for a woman, like her daughter,
but he was still taller. "You don't know me, and you don’t know my father." He nearly snarled. "Don't speak of
things you have no comprehension of. Like my relationship with your daughter. For your daughter is not you."
"You're unhappy with your lot in life? Too bad. No one forced you to stay here, no one forced you to take care of
your husband's other wives." He said, invading her private personal space in big way. "And I love your daughter. I
will do whatever it takes to keep her happy. Even if it means disposing of you and arranging an...accident. Just try
me."
Triantifilla's eyes narrowed down to grey slits of fire as he loomed over her.
"You wouldn't dare." she hissed it. "And if I even let word of it leak to Andromache that you said such things, she'd
see you for the brute you are. You can't threaten her mother. You can't threaten me." Her face came closer to his
and she whispered: "Not when I can take everything you think you love away from you so easily."
"She knows exactly who she married." Hector said back with a cold ruthless smile of his own. "The bells ring
through Troy and she knows I ride off to end lives. Don't think for one moment that she thinks she married a
pacifist or someone who would not do whatever it took to protect what he loves and holds precious." He grabbed
her arm suddenly, moving her roughly as he pushed her into a chair.
"You get great pleasure over power here, I realize that. But you don't have any over me." Hector continued.
"Because Andromache loves me, and she knows I love her. You, on the other hand, are dispensable. And I'm
willing to say even your family considers you so. So I want you to think long and hard about who you're trying to
threaten."
"Beast." she hissed it at him, eyes slits of fire and rage as she glared up at him. Hands like claws on the arms of
the chair, tips of her nails discolored. "You can't touch me here. No one can. And you'll never leave Thebes whole.
I know your weakness and I can strike you long before you can touch me."