A strange smile curved Persephoné's lips.
"To the Groves of Enchantment," she replied. "You are the guest of the Lady Theodora."
Hellayne brushed back the silken hair from her brow as if she were waking from a troubled dream.
She gave a swift glance to her companion, another to the winding road and, suddenly rising from her seat, started to leap from the chariot.
Ere she could carry out her intent, she was caught in the Circassian's arms.
A silent, but terrible struggle ensued. Notwithstanding her harrowing experiences of the past days, despair had given back to Hellayne the strength of youth. But in the lithe Circassian she found her match and, after a few moments, she sank back exhausted, Persephoné's arms encircling her like coils of steel, while her smiling eyes sank into her own.
The palace of Theodora rose phantom-like from among its environing groves in the moonlight, and the chariots dashed through the portals of the outer court, which closed upon the fantastic procession.
[CHAPTER V]
BITTER WATERS
