Page 226 of A Vow of Embers

We had to stay here and couldn’t keep Lysimache with us. There was much to be done, and we wouldn’t be able to guard her.

Xander waited just beyond the gate and I was surprised to see him, my heart fluttering in my chest at the sight of him. With all that was happening, I had expected him to return to the palace to deal with the attack on the city.

I should have known that he would stay.

“Are you all right?” he demanded, ignoring everyone else. His hands went to my shoulders and I winced, but he took in all of my wounds, the same ones he now bore. He must have felt every cut, every bruise, when they had happened, and I wondered what it had cost him to stay beyond the walls of the temple and not run in and help me in my fight.

“I am fine,” I assured him. His fingers tightened around my shoulders, as if he intended to pull me to him, but he stopped and released me.

“This is the high priestess,” I told him, seeing the shock flare in his eyes. “She is part of this and has to be questioned. I need her taken somewhere and locked up.”

“Is she the one who did this to you?”

I didn’t like the tone in his voice. “She must be kept alive at all costs.”

Not only did I worry about a family member of one of the women killed trying to take their vengeance on Lysimache, but I knew that Xander did not do well with people who threatened me. He was too overprotective.

I would happily turn her over to those who wanted her head later, after I had my answers. I pushed her through the archway toward Xander, who took her by the upper arm.

“I swear to keep her alive until you can speak to her,” he said begrudgingly. He waved Thrax over. “Take her to the same place we kept Quynh. Bring Stephanos with you.”

Thrax nodded as Xander handed Lysimache over. Stephanos took her other arm and they marched her off.

It struck me then that he and I were standing in the same exact spots that we had when he had demanded that I come out and marry him. I had vowed to kill him then, and now I was relying on his help.

Now I wanted to make sure that he lived, no matter what.

I cared about him.

I never would have expected this a few weeks ago. It felt as if we had come full circle.

When they were gone, Xander asked me, “You don’t plan on questioning her now?”

“No.” I looked at my adelphia. “We have to bury the women who were murdered. They all deserve the honor of being reunited with the earth.”

My sisters nodded to show that they agreed with my plan.

“You need to see a healer,” he insisted.

He might have been pushing me away yesterday, but his words and actions now told me what I needed to know. He cared about me, too.

My wounds were superficial. I’d hardly even bled. “Io is here. I will be fine.”

He tried a different tactic. “It will take you days to dig a hole big enough. We’ll come in and help you.” He took a step forward but I held out my hands.

“No. It’s forbidden.”

He furrowed his eyebrows. “The ground has already been desecrated.”

There was no way to explain to him that it would be wrong. This was still a sacred place, even if others had broken the rules. “Not by us. We still follow the goddess and we will find a way to reconsecrate it. And we will give these women the respect they deserve.”

It felt like the least we could do.

Xander regarded me for a few moments and then finally nodded. “I will leave a guard to watch over you. Come home when you’re done.”

As he walked away, I registered the fact that he had referred to the palace as my home, too. It warmed me in a way I didn’t know was possible.

And given what I currently stood in the midst of, I needed that strength.