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

The Tales of Tantalus

It is early morning, and Clytemnestra is sitting next to her father's throne in the megaron. The room feels hot and the frescoes seem to be melting. She can smell Tyndareus's sweat while her brothers argue over a Spartan warrior who claimed a fellow comrade's wife as his own. Soon people will flood the megaron with their daily requests, and she will have to listen, but all she can think of is the feel of Tantalus's hand on her neck. It was like being touched by a star.

"The warrior needs to pay," Polydeuces is saying, his voice raised.

Clytemnestra rubs her eyes and tries to focus.

"You are always too vengeful, my son," Tyndareus says. He is eating some grapes out of a bowl, juice staining his beard. "Terror doesn't rule alone."

"We are talking about a man who stole another's woman!" Polydeuces replies sharply.

"Maybe she went with him willingly," Castor smirks. "Make sure he pays the other comrade in gold. Then let the men be."

"If it is just money that the man has to give as punishment, what will stop him the next time he wants to fuck someone else's woman?" Polydeuces asks. "But if you take his child, his wife, show him that he, too, can lose the ones he loves, he will obey. He won't ask for forgiveness, he will beg."

"The man has no wife," Castor points out. "He's a widower."

Tyndareus sighs. "What do you suggest, Clytemnestra?"

She sits up. "Summon the woman. Ask her what she did and why."

Her brothers turn to her quickly. "And then?"

"Then act accordingly." When no one says anything, she continues, "Are we in Sparta or in Athens? Do we not take pride in our strong, free-willed women, or do we lock them into the house so they grow fragile and useless?"

Castor frowns. "And if the woman claims she went with another man willingly?"

"Then she will have to ask for her husband's forgiveness with the man. If he raped her, he will apologize to her, not to her husband."

Tyndareus nods, and Clytemnestra's face grows warm with pride. Her father rarely listens to anyone else.

"See this woman, then," Tyndareus orders Castor and Polydeuces. Clytemnestra moves to stand, but her father stops her. "Stay."

When her brothers have disappeared, Tyndareus offers her some grapes. His hands are large, calloused. "I want to ask you about the King of Maeonia, Clytemnestra."

She takes the ripest grapes and swallows them, keeping her face as expressionless as she can. "What about him?"

"The agreement for which he has come here has been discussed. He can return home. But he tells me he likes spending time with you." He stops, then continues. "What do you want?"

Clytemnestra looks at her own hands, long fingers covered with tiny cuts, palms smoother than her father's. What do I want?

"Many men of Sparta will soon ask for your hand," Tyndareus says. "You are loved and respected."

"I know."

Because she doesn't speak further, Tyndareus asks, "And yet you wish Tantalus to stay?" He waits for her answer patiently, popping grapes into his mouth until the bowl is emptied.

"Yes, Father," she says finally. "I want him to stay a little longer."

* * *

She becomes obsessed with Tantalus. She aches for contact when he is around, and when he is not, her mind drifts, and she finds herself thinking about his eyes and lean body as she has never done with anyone else.

Helen doesn't understand, but how could she? Clytemnestra knows very well that she herself is her sister's greatest obsession. To Helen, all men are the same—strong, violent, excited by her beauty, but nothing more. They feel no challenge to conquer her heart; they see her only as a prize, the most precious one, but a prize still, as a cow or a sword might be. Tantalus, though, has seen something in Clytemnestra that he loves and wants, and he seems willing to do anything to have it.

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.