Excerpt from Clytemnestra by Costanza Casati, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

She walked around the village, eager to find her siblings. Helen and Polydeuces were gone, but she found Castor sitting alone in the orchard, a small smile on his lips. She lay down next to him, her head on his lap, bright fruit hanging above her like small suns. The familiar feel of Castor's hand on her head soothed her. She slept curled up next to her brother, until dawn came and the villagers woke them.

* * *

She wakes in the darkness of a room she doesn't immediately recognize. No tapers are lit, and the thin curtains dance with the gusts of wind. She lifts herself onto her arm, and a lock of her hair falls onto Tantalus's face. He smiles without opening his eyes. Still, Clytemnestra feels he can see her.

"You don't sleep much," he says.

"I like to think."

"You like to observe."

Clytemnestra wonders how to reply. She is usually good at answering, but he seems to be even better. It must be because he talks about me and not about himself. She looks at his dark eyelashes, even thicker than her own. He opens his eyes, and they gleam like the ocean under the moonlight.

"So, tell me," he says, smiling. "What do you see?"

She lies down again and stares at the bare ceiling. "A stranger who doesn't feel like one, and a Spartan who feels like a stranger in her own palace."

Tantalus laughs and kisses her neck, her cheeks, her collarbones.

A king is always a king, even when far from home, thinks Clytemnestra. What about a queen? What makes a girl a queen? Surely she is a woman who can protect herself and her people, who gives justice to those who deserve it and punishes those who betray her.

Her head is heavy with sleep. Tantalus smells of spiced wine and tastes like mint, the one used in the kitchen to add flavor to insipid food. His head resting on her shoulder, she feels as if she is flying, a bird diving in the dark blue sky.

For a moment she thinks about Helen, alone in their room. Of all those nights they have lain awake together, wondering about being with a king.

She pushes away the thought and presses closer to Tantalus.

Excerpted from Clytemnestra by Costanza Casati. Copyright © 2023 by Costanza Casati. Excerpted by permission of Sourcebooks. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.