Page 25 of A Vow of Embers

I decided that I wasn’t going to let the prince drag me under. Nothing had changed as far as my mission went. I would have to play his game and help him get the throne, but I was still going to find the eye and take it home with me.

And Prince Alexandros wouldn’t be able to stop me.

Time sped by faster than it ever had before. I had a limited amount of it left with my adelphia and I wanted to soak it all in. Wanted to memorize everything about them.

Whenever I started to wonder whether I would ever see them again, I immediately forced myself to think about something else. It was too sad. I couldn’t let myself dwell on it.

When we went to the gymnasium to train, I was resigned but still looking forward to it. It would be my last session with them, my last chance to get wisdom from Antiope.

Plus, perhaps I’d get the chance to finally really and truly fight with Artemisia. I had held back in our early face-offs so that I wouldn’t expose my background, but now that they all knew I was a Locrian princess, there was nothing left to hide. It would be nice to leave on top, the best fighter in the temple.

But Antiope had decided that it was a day for running. We ran laps around the temple grounds. Poor Io looked like she was going to pass out and Suri stayed by her side, silently encouraging her. I kept an eye on Artemisia, who made sure to lead the pack. She wouldn’t let anyone pass her. When they tried, she would do something to make them stumble or trip.

It would have been gratifying to knock her down a few pegs before I left. When the army had laid siege at the temple and demanded I come out, Artemisia and her adelphia had attacked me and tried to turn me over to the prince’s men. If it hadn’t been for my sisters, she would have succeeded.

Although it would have been very different if it had just been one-on-one. I was sure I could beat her. I had been studying her for a long time. I knew her tricks and moves.

And as I’d told her, I wasn’t afraid of her.

Io had encouraged me to focus on the good and so I did—the fact that I was never going to have to deal with Artemisia again was a definite positive.

I just wished everything weren’t happening so fast.

But despite me wanting time to slow down, the day passed by too quickly. Even the run had seemed short. We got cleaned up, did our afternoon chores, had dinner, and the next thing I knew, it was time for bed. That night I had a deep, dreamless sleep and I was very grateful that Alexandros didn’t appear.

When I awoke, that feeling of gratitude continued for a few seconds ... until I remembered that when the sun went down today, I would be marrying the prince of Ilion.

Io shrieked and I grabbed my xiphos and sat straight up in bed. “What’s wrong?” I demanded, expecting to see some intruder.

She had a hand over her mouth and was pointing at me. “Your hair!”

“By the goddess, what color is it now?” I demanded. I couldn’t keep dealing with shocking and overwhelming things.

“It’s still red,” Zalira said. “But it’s long again.”

Everyone in the room stared at me as I reached up to stroke my hair, running my fingers from my scalp all the way down to my lap. It had grown this long overnight? That was impossible. It couldn’t be happening.

“This is a sign,” Io whispered.

“A sign of what?” I asked.

“It’s like the goddess is restoring what was lost, what was taken from you,” Ahyana offered. Suri nodded, as if she agreed.

Zalira said, “Maybe she is saying she approves of your marriage.”

“But how could she approve of it? We can’t marry.”

“I don’t know,” Zalira said with an apologetic shrug. “But she is the one who makes things grow and ...” Her voice trailed off as she gestured helplessly at my head.

“The magic is reawakening,” Io said softly, her gaze now bordering on reverential. “You are making it reawaken, Lia. I told you. You’re the one from the prophecy. The one we’ve been waiting for. The goddess has marked you as hers.”

“I’m not a savior. That’s not what’s happening. I’m not reawakening any magic.” Although it was hard to explain the hair.

Maia didn’t have an explanation, either. She seemed every bit as baffled by my hair as I was. She asked if she could cut a lock of it and keep it to study with some of the other priestesses. While that would have been unthinkable for me even a few weeks ago, after having had my head shaved, cutting off a lock no longer seemed like a major concern.

After she had taken the lock, she said, “The rest of your day will be spent getting ready for your wedding. I’ve already obtained Theano’s permission, and so if it’s all right with you, I would like to walk in the ceremony with you in your mother’s position.”

“I don’t know what you mean.”