Page 31 of A Vow of Embers

I assumed that she was talking about Quynh, but it also sounded like she wanted me to be careful where the prince was concerned. There was no chance of me falling in love with him. “I will be careful.”

She nodded. “I know you will. Make sure you keep your training up. May the goddess bless you until we meet again.” I highly doubted that it would be possible for me to keep training. I would probably have to spend my days weaving and embroidering in the queen’s chambers. I liked weaving as much as the next woman—I just didn’t want to spend all my time doing it.

“Thank you for everything,” I said. “You are one of the greatest warriors I have ever known and I’m grateful that I got to learn from you.”

Antiope patted me on the shoulder, leaving her hand there for a moment, and then released me. It reminded me so much of the kindof awkward goodbye Demaratus had given me that I felt a twinge of homesickness.

I watched her walk back toward the gymnasium. There was nothing left for me to do except go to Prince Alexandros’s den of iniquity and prepare myself to marry him.

With a sigh, I crossed the courtyard and left through the gate. It felt strange to do so—this had been forbidden to me for so long. I turned left at the alleyway and walked quickly to the house.

There was only one moment where I contemplated turning around and running for the docks. I would never do that to Quynh, though.

And I wasn’t selfish enough to doom all of Locris just because I hated Prince Alexandros.

I opened the door and was hit with a wave of iris. Like a thousand bundles of incense had been lit. My adelphia were all busy with various tasks. A large tub sat in the middle of the room, right next to a blazing fire.

Io saw me and waved me in. “Now that you’ve completed your sacrifice, it is time to wash! Every bride bathes in special water with special soap the day of her wedding in order to be clean and new. But first, we have to steam all the impurities and dirt out of you. We are getting rid of the past and looking forward to your future. I need you to disrobe, take this blanket, and make a tent with it over the fire.”

“That’s too many things at once,” I told her. I got the sense that she’d been speaking more than she usually did out of nervousness and that awkward tension that still existed between us.

“Just do it,” she said.

There was the Io I knew. I was going to miss her bossiness. I did as she asked and disrobed, even taking off my undergarments. I draped the blanket over my head above the small fire and the smell of iris was overwhelming. It felt like the scent was seeping into my pores.

“I’m sweating,” I announced.

“You’re supposed to sweat. That means it’s working,” Io said.

I wasn’t sure how long she made me stay under the blanket. I heard my adelphia coming and going and water being repeatedly poured into the bath.

“Long enough,” Io said. “Come and get in the tub.”

I wrapped the blanket around myself and did as she instructed. The water was tepid but it was actually nice after what I’d just experienced. I wondered if Prince Alexandros was somewhere hovering over a fire and sweating. I doubted it. I couldn’t imagine him putting up with it.

Io dunked my head under the water and began lathering shampoo into my hair. Real shampoo that also smelled like irises. “Most women pin their hair up for the wedding. It signifies that they are now adults. Would you like to do that?”

“No. I want to wear my hair down.” Having it pinned up would make me feel like it had been cut off again.

“We could put flowers in her hair,” Ahyana suggested. “Zalira and I could go pick some from the garden.”

“Good idea. And Suri? Would you go back to our room and get Lia’s new sandals? I think I forgot them.”

The other three left and Io and I were alone. She was working shampoo into my hair and it felt so luxurious that I let my eyes drift shut.

She said, “I know this isn’t a real marriage, but there is part of me that wants it to work. For you and my brother to find happiness together.”

Io’s words made my eyelids fly open. “That won’t be possible.” Not only because we despised one another, but because I couldn’t be in a real marriage with anyone. “It’s just a bargain for both of us to get what we want. Not an actual relationship.”

“I know. I think when you told me that Jason and Xander were the same person ...” Her voice trailed off. “I suppose I’m too much of a silly romantic. I wanted you to have a happy ending to your story.”

My happy ending would be Quynh and Kallisto safe, Locris restored, and for Ilion to be a distant memory.

“I know it’s not my place to say anything,” she went on. “Especially now. But it seems like there used to be a significant flame burning between you two.”

She had no idea. “The earth between us has been scorched and salted so badly that nothing else can grow. If at one point there was a flame, now there is nothing left but dying embers.”

Her hands stilled. “But embers mean that the fire is still there. It can be revived. You only have to breathe on them to bring them back to life. And the tiniest of embers can create the mightiest of flames.”