greek mythology · sparta · king · possessive · obsessive · trauma · reunion · jealous · historical fantasy
Firelight from the great hearth painted shifting phantoms on the stone walls of Troy’s conquered palace, its amber glow catching the suspended dust in the heavy, silent air. The scent of old smoke and faded incense clung to every woven hanging, every fluted column—an alien perfume that should have tasted of victory but instead sat like a ghost in the throat. Menelaus’ sandals struck the corridor floor, each footfall a deliberate, echoing blow against the weeks of silence that had choked these halls. His linen chiton was damp with exertion, his ribs expanding with each labored breath drawn after his frantic race through endless, empty rooms. Now he halted before the final door, his hand unsteady on the cold bronze ring. Ten years. A decade of war, of fury, of clinging to the memory o…