Page 172 of A Vow of Embers

I didn’t need her apologies. I was going to stop all of this from happening, with Xander’s help.

“I wonder if his father knows how his son is spending his money,” he said lowly. I could only hope that Lykaon’s activities would bankrupt his father. Pelias had thrown his lot in with Erisa, and I hoped he would pay the price for doing so.

It did please me to be doing this right under Lykaon’s nose, hopefully ruining the future he had planned for himself.

He would never be king of Locris.

The hetaera opened Mahtab’s room and ushered us inside. Mahtab smiled when she saw me and came over to greet me properly. “Lia, what can I do for you?”

I smiled back and said, “Tonight I’m here to tell you what I can do for you.”

Chapter Fifty-Six

Hours later it was finished. Mahtab had quickly organized different hetaerae from various houses, and hundreds of them showed up to empty Erisa’s safe house as quietly and efficiently as possible. Xander had Stephanos and Rokh distribute some of the wealth on the streets surrounding the safe house so that the residents would not be tempted to tell what they might have witnessed when they were inevitably questioned.

When Xander had told me that it was my choice what to do with the ill-gotten gains from Locris, I had realized that the only way to keep the money away from Erisa was to pass it out among as many people as possible. Mahtab promised me that she would make sure it was distributed to those in need. I couldn’t help but smile as Xander and I walked alone back to the palace, knowing that the money was making its way into the hands of those who needed it most.

And was now out of Erisa’s reach.

It had stung a little that I wasn’t able to return it where it belonged, but I wasn’t willing to risk her stopping it from reaching Locrian shores. And what was to prevent her from using the blockade and her network to retrieve it from Locris? She had already done it once. She could do it again.

And Xander had promised to restore all that was stolen to Locris, which made the decision even easier.

“So your stepmother can’t bribe the archons any longer. Is there a way that we can?” I asked.

“You would resort to her tactics?” he asked.

“What matters most is you becoming king.” Everything hinged on that.

“There has always been one tried-and-true way to get men to agree to vote the way you want them to.”

“Let’s do that,” I said.

He raised his eyebrows at me. “You have only three virgin acolyte attendants.”

Oh. That. I tried not to blush. “I have four.”

“Io doesn’t count. She is a princess of royal blood, not your servant.”

I hid my smile. He didn’t seem to like it when the shoe was on the other foot. “Other rulers sent in their attendants to, um,convincethe archons?”

He nodded.

My sisters certainly couldn’t do that. “Perhaps some of the hetaerae would be willing to help in that regard.”

“Or you just made them all independently wealthy, and so that won’t be a possibility.”

I was pleased with myself, gratified that I had finally accomplished something, had helped in a real and material way and that my nation would eventually benefit from what I had done. I had been so tired of feeling helpless and useless and this had made a big difference.

Xander seemed just as pleased, and for some reason, that made this victory even sweeter.

We went quietly through the palace and weren’t challenged at any point. Perhaps because the guards recognized us, or because security was as terrible as I’d told him it was.

When we got into our room, I was too tired to change.

He and I had made a good team. It was better when we worked together than against one another. I wasn’t going to tell Io that, though. It would make her insufferable.

“Dawn will be here in a few hours,” he said. “We should try to get some sleep.”