Page 39 of A Vow of Embers

“Do you have any younger sisters?” he asked.

“No, I am the youngest.” My heart raced, as if I were being sized up by a predator and needed to prepare to flee. Which was ridiculous, given that he was so much younger and smaller than I was.

“That’s too bad,” he said. He reached out for the bowl of salt sitting near us and upended it, scattering the contents everywhere. “Mother says I need to marry a princess when I’m older. Perhaps I’ll grow up and marry you after Alexandros is gone.”

What? His voice was eerie. Calm yet threatening, and it made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

“Kyros!” Erisa called out, gesturing for him to join her.

That had been utterly bizarre. I tried my best to gather up the salt and put it back into the bowl. We never wasted salt in Locris. Thetiny grains reminded me of my grandmother. I could hear her voice in my head.

Salt lasts. We seal bargains with it because of how it endures. It symbolizes long-lasting relationships because it is incorruptible and permanent. It never loses its savor or worth unless it is contaminated. We have it at weddings to remind us that those vows are perpetual and unbroken.

I felt like the worst kind of hypocrite. I was glad she wasn’t here to see this.

“She’s the Locrian maiden who survived, is she not?” I heard a male voice ask from somewhere behind me. Did he know I could hear him?

“Yes,” a different man replied. “Pretty little thing, isn’t she? Although she is no longer Locrian and very soon will no longer be a maiden!”

The amount of disrespect was shocking. Should I respond? I couldn’t imagine that Prince Alexandros would want me to. It was probably best for me to sit here and pretend as if I’d heard nothing.

I glanced at the utensils that had been put on the table for my use. That knife looked sharp enough to puncture a lung. Perhaps if I stabbed someone with it, I could claim it had been accidental.

The prince returned and put a plate down in front of me. He must have looked like a devoted groom to everyone else. It had a little bit of everything, as if he hadn’t known what to get me.

But about one-third of the plate was covered in pasteli.

It was usually served at weddings, as it symbolized love, passion, sweetness, and fertility. He knew how much I loved it.

He’d also once told me that it was a food that commoners and soldiers ate.

A kindness or an insult? Given what I’d just overheard, the insult seemed more likely. I knew I should thank him but I didn’t want to.

The prince seated himself on my left and Thrax took the chair on my right. I felt boxed in. They both began to eat and I found that I had no stomach for it. I couldn’t believe that I didn’t want to eat. Two months ago I never would have imagined such a thing possible, that I would ever refuse such a wide array of presumably delicious food.

Especially pasteli.

“Eat something,” Alexandros said, wiping his fingers on a linen napkin. “You’re embarrassing me.”

Which I wasn’t supposed to do. I could feel that chunk of the apple still wedged in my esophagus and it was making me nauseous. “Isn’t this part of being the blushing bride? Being too nervous to eat?”

“You’re insulting my table,” he said. “Which might not be so bad if you had bothered to wear the jewels I sent to you. If you haven’t noticed, the women of the court drape themselves in them.”

A quick glance told me he was right. Every woman in the room sparkled with gems. “So?”

“So you draw attention to yourself by not wearing them.”

“Perhaps I’m starting a new fashion.”

“We will both be mocked. You for rejecting my gifts or me for being too miserly to offer.”

“In Locris—”

He threw his napkin on the table. “This is not Locris. I’ve seen your father’s court, and nothing there could prepare you for what you’re going to face here. The gossip, the fighting, the threats and attempts on your life. You’re going to have to play a game whether you like it or not. You are being thrust into battle and the best way to walk onto a battlefield is covered in armor.”

I understood his point. I wished I didn’t, but he was right. I had been ridiculous and childish for refusing to wear the other jewelry he’d sent for the wedding. I did need that armor. I thought of the two men who had just openly mocked me. I couldn’t give these people a way to look down on me. I needed to feel the equal of every person in this room.

“Careful, brother. Your bride has as much bite as she does bark.” Thrax had entered our conversation, which was the last thing I wanted.