𝑪𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑪𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒅𝒐𝒓𝒔－ 𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐲 𝐉𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐬𝐨𝐧

𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒓𝒕𝒚 𝑻𝒉𝒓𝒆𝒆

[ Sadie Sink as Rachel Elizabeth Dare ]

I 033. I

𝑪𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑪𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒅𝒐𝒓𝒔

❝ guide ❞

   ARIADNE HAD ANOTHER DREAM THAT NIGHT. But it wasn't about her love life, but rather about a king and his three daughters.

She was in a king's courtroom—a big white chamber with marble columns and a wooden throne. Sitting on it was a plump guy with curly red hair and a crown of laurels. At his side stood three girls who looked like his daughters. They all had his red hair and were dressed in blue robes.

The doors freaked opened and a herald announced, "Minos, King of Crete!"

Ariadne tensed, but t he man on the throne just smiled at his daughters. "I can't wait to see the expression on his face."

Minos, the royal creep himself, swept into the room. He was so tall and serious he made the other king look silly. Minos's pointed beard had gone gray. He looked thinner than the last time she'd dreamed of him, and his sandals were splattered with mud, but the same cruel light shined in his eyes.

He bowed sticky to the man on the throne. "King Cocalus. I understand you have solved my little riddle."

Cocalus smiled. "Hardly little, Minos. Especially when you advertise across the world that you were willing to pay a thousand gold talents to the one who can solve it. Is the offer genuine?"

Minos clapped his hands. Two buff guards walked in, struggling with a big wooden crate. They set it at Cocalus's feet and opened it. Stacks of gold bars glittered. It had to be worth a lot of money.

Cocalus whistled appreciatively. "You must have bankrupted your kingdom for such a reward, my friend."

"That is not your concern."

Cocalus shrugged. "The riddle was quiet simple, really. One of my retainers solved it."

"Father," one of the girls warmed. She looked the oldest—a little taller than her sisters.

Cocalus ignored her. He took a spiral seashell from the folds of his robe. A silver string had been threaded through it: so it hung like a huge bead on a necklace.

Minos stepped forward and took the shell. "One of your retainers, you say? How did he thread the string through without breaking the shell?"

"He used an ant, of you can believe it. Tired a silk string to the little creature and coaxed it through the shell by putting honey at the fat end."

"Ingenious man," Minos said.

"Oh, indeed. My daughter's tutor. They are quite fond of him."

Minos's eyes turned cold. "I would be careful of that."