Page 169 of A Vow of Embers

“I’m glad you didn’t.” We didn’t need to add blasphemy to the list of ways I was currently wronging the goddess.

He called out to his men, telling them it was time to go. There was a cart and he asked Io if she wanted to ride in it. She said yes and the rest of the adelphia went with her. I stayed behind so that I could speak to him about what I had just learned.

Once my sisters had climbed into the cart, I told him, “My enemy knows that we are married.”

He didn’t react.

“Aren’t you surprised?” I asked. He’d wanted it to stay secret.

“That you have an enemy? No. I’d be more surprised if you’d told me you had a friend.”

That was so rude. “If I had a vase right now, I would throw it at you.”

He chuckled and then said, “I also wouldn’t be surprised if you told me everyone at the temple was your enemy.”

“They’re not!” I said indignantly, although it wasn’t far from the truth. “But the woman I mentioned, Artemisia? It’s a problem for you that she knows I’m married.”

“Why?”

“Because she would very happily tell someone, like your stepmother, that I did take my vows, and then it would undo your lies about it.”

“The only people who could verify what vows you did or did not take swore an oath not to share my plan, which means they can’t tell anyone what you did or didn’t agree to. And without proof from the people in charge, it’s just idle gossip.”

This surprised me. He had been thinking several moves ahead. For not being much of a planner, he was doing a good job.

Much better than me.

“You aren’t worried?” I asked.

“Not in the least. But I do have some news for you: Thrax found my stepmother’s safe house, if you’d like to come investigate it with me.”

Chapter Fifty-Five

“But you can’t tell Io,” Xander said.

“That’s not your decision to make.” I glanced over at the cart my adelphia were riding in.

“I’ll leave you behind.”

I wasn’t going to miss out on the chance to find the wealth his stepmother had taken from Locris. “Then I’ll sneak out. And I’m sure Rokh knows where you’re going, and he’ll tell Ahyana.”

From the way that muscle in his jaw flickered, I figured out that I was correct.

“Wife, I don’t have the time to argue this with you. I will take you with me, but only if your sisters return to the palace.”

He might have a point. Maybe it would be better to leave my adelphia. More likely than not, they would agree to come with us, but if they didn’t? What if they tried to talk me out of it? Or attempted to convince me to let the prince go on his own? I didn’t have time for a debate. This was something he and I could do by ourselves.

And we wouldn’t be putting anyone else at risk.

“Fine. I’ll come alone.”

Surprise flashed in his eyes but then he looked annoyingly satisfied. “Linger back here with me. We’ll let the group get ahead of us and then we’ll head off.”

The other times that he and I had been in Troas alone together, it was because I had snuck out and he was following me around. This timewe were deciding to go together, and my chest tightened at the idea that he and I would be working as a team.

When the soldiers and my sisters turned onto the main road, Xander took me by the hand and led me behind a building. We went down an alleyway and along a street that took us into the labyrinth.

When we were in the maze, I asked, “How did you find where she was keeping the money?”