Page 178 of A Vow of Embers

While also realizing the risk that he had taken. Just from the expressions on the faces of those around us, I saw that there were people in this room who would think less of him for listening to me and giving me credit. That they might perceive him as weak.

Would the council? I didn’t think Themis or Heliodora would, but what of the men? They had the majority.

Pelias confirmed my fear a moment later. “Your wife? Do you follow her around all day asking for her counsel, begging for her scraps of wisdom?”

There were some chuckles.

Xander turned to me and took my hand, bringing it up to his mouth for a kiss. My lungs sealed themselves shut as I thought of what that gesture meant to us.

“I would count myself the most fortunate of men if I were allowed to do just that.”

Blood rushed hotly through me at his words. This time I heard sighs. This man knew how to perform for a room.

I knew better and he still sounded completely earnest and sincere to me. His gaze held mine and I didn’t have to act.

It was becoming concerning how much of this felt real to me now. I turned my head back toward the council.

Themis nodded at me with a small smile before she said, “I propose that we add a clause to protect women.”

Heliodora seconded the motion and I saw several scribes adding it to the documents they were working on.

“Then all we have left to do is vote,” Pelias said. “Those in favor of using the surplus to fund education for girls and to introduce laws protecting women, say aye, nay if you are against it. I vote nay.”

That was not a surprise. Erisa and Zethus voted nay, while Themis and Heliodora called out their ayes loudly. Xander added his aye, leaving the council tied.

Which left only Stolos.

The man sat there quietly for several moments, and my heart began to sink. I squeezed Xander’s hand, worried. He squeezed back in a reassuring way.

Then Stolos said, “Aye.”

Pelias looked utterly stunned.

“The motion passes,” Themis announced, and there were some cheers mixed with boos and mutinous stares.

It might have been safer for Xander to vote with the others. He might have just put his throne in a precarious position. My heart lodged itself in my throat. Had he done this for me? Because he knew how important it was to me?

We stood, and I said to him, “You deserve the kingship.” I threw my arms around him and felt compelled to explain. “This is how we thank people in Locris.”

It had been an impulse, and given how rigid he had gone, it seemed to have been the wrong one. I was about to release him when his arms went around my waist and he pulled me in tighter.

“Thank you,” I said. This didn’t affect me directly, but it was important. I was glad things would change.

“You’re welcome,” he said.

We stood there holding each other, and with every second that passed, my limbs felt heavier, the blood in my veins thicker. My breathing had quickened. He was going to notice.

But when I tried to pull away, he didn’t let me go far. I looked up at him.

“That’s not how we thank each other in Ilion,” he said.

“Oh?”

“A kiss is always a better way to show gratitude.”

I had missed him teasing me this way, and that shadow of Jason in his eyes made me melt.

He’s back,my heart whispered.