Page 125 of A Vow of Embers

I heard a commotion below us. Someone had discovered the guards. I kept my pace steady, not wanting to draw attention. The man who’d passed us hurried down to see what was happening. I heard voices calling out, saying that there were intruders.

Suri and I exchanged glances and began to run. Xander was going to find out. Someone was going to tell him right away. I didn’t know how long I had.

And as I crossed through the main part of the palace, I saw a guard running through and Xander standing with his phratry. The guard was telling them. I didn’t know if Xander and his men would go down to the treasury. My gut told me that the prince was going to seek me out. I was the only person who wanted to get in the treasury.

I didn’t know what he would do to punish me if he discovered the truth, but I suspected that I wouldn’t like it.

“I need you to stall him!” I hissed to Suri.

Her eyes went wide. It was an impossible ask and I knew it. She wouldn’t be able to talk to him or ask him a question. But I only needed a couple of minutes to get back to our room.

We ran in opposite directions. I sprinted toward my sheet rope and jumped and then pulled myself up. It was another thing that Demaratus had made me do over and over again, but I was finding it more difficult than I had in the past. I needed to start training again. I was going soft.

Or the water really did make us strong and I should have listened to Io and kept taking it. Hand over hand, straining, I pulled myself up. I was out of breath by the time I finally heaved myself over the railing, and undid the sheet as quickly as I could. My fingers felt too thick and it was all taking too long. I finally got it free and ran into the room, shoving it into one of my trunks. I hoped he wouldn’t look there.

Then I took the key and slid it back onto the ring, in the same spot that Suri had pulled it from. I slammed the drawer shut, yanked the scarf from my head, and jumped onto the bed, grabbing a book.

My heart was thundering, my breathing was ragged, and my bedroom door flew open.

Xander stalked into the room, slamming the door shut. I sent up a prayer of thanks to the goddess and decided I would give Suri whatever boon she asked for. I didn’t know how she’d accomplished it, but she’d given me enough time to not get caught.

“Good evening, husband,” I said, not lifting my gaze from the pages. The words swam in front of my eyes. “Did you enjoy your dinner?”

“You broke into the treasury.” He crossed the room and went out to the balcony, probably looking for evidence of what he somehow knew I’d just done. I stayed on the bed, pretending to read, trying not to be furious about the fact that he really was far too clever.

Then he came back into the room and yanked his drawer open. “Did you steal my key?”

I gripped the book tightly so that my hands would go nowhere near my mouth. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I had considered leaving his keys alone and just stealing the keys from the guards once they were passed out, but I worried that it would take too much time for Suri to find the right one and then slip it off. This way had been faster.

He threw the keys back into the drawer and left our room. That surprised me, until I heard him yelling in Io’s room, asking her if she had helped me. She yelled back, having no idea what he was talking about. I was glad that I hadn’t made her lie to her brother. I knew she would have but I also knew that she was a terrible liar and he would have seen right through her.

A few minutes later he was back and slammed the door again. I refused to meet his gaze.

“What were you doing in the treasury?” he asked, coming closer to me.

I stayed silent.

“It was clever of you to pick an accomplice who can’t talk and can’t be questioned.”

That wasn’t the reason I’d needed Suri with me but I wasn’t going to share that with him.

“Not involving my sister so that she is being truthful when she says she didn’t help you.” He moved a step closer. “Using a kitchen maid who is completely loyal to you. I wonder if Quynh could bepersuadedto speak to me.”

My heart pounded painfully at that. He wouldn’t hurt her. I might have hated Thrax, but at least now he was going to be useful to me. “If you touch her or hurt her, Thrax will kill you.”

It had been a shot in the dark but I saw that I’d hit my target. He was totally silent, which meant that I was right. He would not be questioning or torturing my sister. Someone must have woken those guards up quickly if he already knew that Quynh had been part of it.

“What did you take?” he demanded.

“I’ve been here in my room, just as you ordered me to be.” I turned a page. “Given that it’s your treasury, shouldn’t you know if anything is missing?”

I was so glad that I hadn’t given in to my impulse to steal something just to be petty. He could tear our room apart and never find anything from his treasury. And Suri would keep that scroll safe.

The knotted sheets might be difficult to explain.

His angry gaze was on me and I forced myself not to squirm. “I know that it was you. That despite me ordering you not to, you broke in. What are you trying to find?”

I wanted to swallow down my worry but forced myself to remain serene. I turned another page. “How could a simpleminded woman ever break into your treasury? Or out of this room?”