Page 212 of A Vow of Embers

But Ahyana had just summoned an army of bees.

My sisters and I all exchanged glances. We were shocked, all of us thinking the same thing.

All wondering what this meant for us.

Rokh rushed over, the fear in his eyes evident. “What happened?”

“She will be fine,” Io assured him. “We just need to let her rest.”

How would Ahyana explain this to him when she woke up? Would she tell him the truth? Zalira put a bedroll inside one of the tents and Rokh picked up Ahyana, tenderly carrying her over to lay her down. The loving expression in his eyes, the way he kissed her forehead when he settled her onto the bedroll ... I had to look away.

It was too much.

Then I was confronted with Zalira and Stephanos’s heavy sadness and the way they missed each other. They pretended to ignore one another but kept stealing glances when they thought the other wasn’t looking. Io read aloud from her book as a way to distract us but it didn’t seem to be working.

We ate a quick dinner from the food we carried in our knapsacks around a fire that Thrax had built. Rokh offered to hunt and Xander told him not to. I wondered if he had intended to hunt as Kunguru.

And when he planned to tell Ahyana about who he really was.

Darkness descended and the aether stars twinkled down at us. This reminded me of when my sisters and I had attempted to camp overnight after fixing the spring that fed into the temple fountain.

When we had been chased by terawolves. Were they out there now? Io had said they never gave up the hunt once they had started. Did they still search for me? What would they do if they caught my scent?

I glanced over at my husband. It would be to their detriment if they tried anything. Xander would slaughter the entire pack by himself.

Thrax called out good night and collapsed into the phratry’s tent. Dolion was appointed to take the first watch. Everyone else drifted toward their respective tents.

I glanced over at Xander as he went to the tent he would share with his brothers. We had no need for pretense here, but it seemed some part of me had hoped we wouldn’t be apart.

A feeling I had to suppress because I wasn’t keen to remember what had happened the last night we’d spent together.

When I climbed into my tent, I discovered that Ahyana was awake. “Already?” I asked.

Io said, “Perhaps it’s because she’s stronger than me.”

Ahyana described her experience, likening it to Io’s. “There has to be a way to not pass out after using it.”

“Maybe it’s like training,” Zalira suggested. “Like how it’s difficult and exhausting at first, but after you do it on a regular basis, it becomes easier. You build muscle and endurance.”

It made as much sense to me as anything else. We talked for a while longer, making plans for how Zalira would test to see if she had powers next, and I listened as they each fell asleep.

But sleep eluded me. I tossed and turned restlessly for what felt like hours. There were too many things in my head that I couldn’t stop thinking about.

The flap of my tent was suddenly thrown open and I pointed my xiphos at the intruder, realizing a moment too late how foolish that was.

There was only one person it could be.

“Come here, wife.”

I was right.

If I had not been so churned up, I might have told him no. But I knew that he would make a scene and I didn’t want to wake my sisters. We all had enough to deal with at the moment and they needed to rest.

He led me over to a bedroll that had been set up next to the fire.

“We’re sleeping here,” he said.

Now that we were far enough away from my tent, I could argue with him. “That doesn’t sound like a request.”