“...Even [Helen of Troy’s] obsession with Paris was compelled by a poisoned arrow—what’s romantic about that?”

“Passion,” Annabelle said, “Eros’s arrows are infused with passion.”

“Oh, passion, poison,” Hattie said, “either makes people addle-brained.”

She had a point. The ancient Greeks had considered passion a form of madness that infected the blood, and these days, it still inspired elopements and illegal duels and lurid novels. It could even lead a perfectly sensible vicar’s daughter astray.”