Page 35 of A Vow of Embers

He had a leather bag attached to his belt and undid the drawstrings. He began throwing out coins to the crowd, which delighted them. It was certainly a clever way to win the people to his side as he tried to be chosen as king.

We moved so slowly. The song and music remained the same, endlessly repeated. The crowd began to follow the chariot, creating the wedding processional. It was the same in Locris, only without the religious symbols. Every street we went down was lit up. If Maia hadn’t known the way to go, it would have been easy for her to figure it out.

The procession moved in and out of neighborhoods, through the labyrinth passageways, and back into the city itself. I alternated between numbness and seething anger. There didn’t seem to be any middle ground. I felt either nothing or too much.

The passivity of this, having to stay put and let all this happen to me, was excruciating.

We had gone a little over halfway. Alexandros continued tossing coins into the crowd and I watched as a small squabble broke out on the right.

People were fighting over the coins that had hit the ground, accusing each other of stealing. I saw an elderly woman be pushed into the street and no one even seemed to care.

I felt the urge to help her. If my life was just happening to me, this small thing was at least one action I could take. I hopped out of the chariot.

“What are you doing?” the prince demanded, getting Thrax to come to a halt.

I rushed over to the woman, pushing away some of the people around her. “Stop!” I told them and helped her get back to her feet.

“Are you all right?” I asked her.

“I’m fine, just fine. You are so sweet,” she said as I assisted her over to a bench where she could sit down and rest. She was breathing a bit hard, clutching some coins in her left hand. “And such a beautiful bride. What can I do to repay you?”

“Thank you, but I don’t need anything. I just wanted to help.”

She ignored me, dropping the coins into her bag. Then she began digging around the bottom of it. With a sound of triumph, she pulled out a rock covered in silver crystals that was the size of my palm. These types of rocks were found easily enough in any quarry. It probably didn’t have any monetary value, but the fact that she was carrying it around said it meant something to her.

“I can’t take that,” I said as she pressed it into my hands.

“Didn’t anyone ever teach you to listen to your elders? You can’t refuse me. It’s good luck to give a gift to a bride on her wedding day.”

The crowd was starting to gather around us. I looked over my shoulder and saw the prince’s impatient expression. Time to go. “Thank you,” I said. It seemed easier to accept than to keep arguing.

“Keep it safe,” she said.

“I will.” I walked back over to the chariot and once again climbed in without assistance.

The prince looked like he wanted to say something. I braced myself for a sarcastic comment but he only told Thrax to keep driving.

I was glad for the rock. It gave me something to hold on to and focus on during this slow ride that felt like it was taking an actual lifetime. It also kept me from punching either one of the men next to me. I was sick of watching Alexandros disburse money to this crowd because all I could think about was how much of it had been squeezed from Locris.

We were going through a narrow part of the labyrinth and I kept my gaze on Maia as she used her torch to lead us. The light created strange, elongated shadows on the walls that made me think of how she’d said marriages and funerals were alike.

Like I was headed to my doom.

She went through a large gate, and when we passed through it, the palace suddenly loomed over us.

I couldn’t hold back the gasp that escaped from my lips. I’d never seen the palace up close. It was easily five times the size of the one in Locris, and the entire thing was lit up with torches and fires.

It was intimidating. As dark and forbidding as the prince who lived in it.

A woman stood in the main doorway holding two torches aloft. Was that his stepmother? In Locris the mother-in-law would be waiting at the threshold to welcome her new daughter to their family.

The chariot stopped and I tucked my rock into my dress’s pocket before getting down. The prince hopped off and began walking toward Maia, who was a few feet away from the door. I followed him.

When he reached my mentor, she loudly said, “The goddess presents you with her daughter to take as your wife. If you accept this gift, you are swearing to love her and protect her and bring her happiness, giving yourself wholly to her as she is given to you. Will you take her?”

Alexandros said, “I swear it and will take her if she will have me.”

My heart was beating so hard I wondered if everyone around me could hear it. Or if I might pass out. They were all staring at me. I was supposed to answer but my mouth had gone completely dry.