Page 43 of A Vow of Embers

The last thing I wanted to do was put Quynh in danger. If there was even a small chance that he was telling the truth, I couldn’t take the risk of defying him. I had to listen to his instructions.

“When can I speak to her?” I asked quietly.

A look of surprise flitted across his face before he erased it. “I will arrange something.”

“Thank you.” I wondered if he knew what it cost me to express my gratitude. Especially because even now, he was continuing to keep us apart.

I watched my sister and realized that she was avoiding making eye contact with me. She was going along with Alexandros’s plan.

A servant dropped a tray of glasses near one of the doors, shattering all of them. When everyone turned to look, Quynh locked eyes with me. She smiled and then mouthed, “I love you.”

Hot tears blinded me, making it impossible for me to see. I couldn’t cry here. The court would never believe the prince and I were a happy couple if I sobbed through the wedding feast.

But if I had to continue sitting here and pretend like things were fine ... I didn’t know what I might do.

He stood up. “Thank you all for coming and celebrating this joyous occasion with us. If you’ll excuse us, my new wife and I are now going to retire to our room.”

“Already?” I said as my heart bruised itself against my ribs. I didn’t think anything was going to happen between us. Alexandros had made it clear he wasn’t the least bit interested in me. But being in a room full of people provided a certain amount of safety.

Being alone felt terrifying for so many reasons.

I’d had my own room most of my life. And when I had shared it, I’d done so with my sisters.

I had never shared a room or a bed with a man.

A man who was my husband.

Another thing I feared was never actually going to feel real, no matter how many times I said it. I had a husband. I was married.

We were going to bed together.

He offered me his hand. I wanted to ignore it like I had when climbing into his chariot, but I couldn’t.

This game had begun and it was time to play my part. I stood and slid my hand into his. His warm, strong, perfectly calloused hand.

Thrax repeated the announcement that we were retiring for the night, and the guests grabbed handfuls of dates and nuts to toss in our direction. We did that in Locris as well—it was supposed to grant the newlyweds happiness and fertility.

Neither one of those things would ever be part of this marriage.

Prince Alexandros rushed me out of the room but Thrax and a group of singers followed us. The tunes had changed from romantic and sweet wedding songs to bawdy tunes about being bedded for the first time. I was glad the hallways were mostly shadowed so that no one could see my reaction to the mental images their words were creating.

“This is our room,” Alexandros said, opening a door. He led me inside and then closed the door behind us, locking it.

There were candles along multiple surfaces and torches in several brackets. The first thing I noticed was the size of the room. I could have easily fit most of my family’s bedrooms in here. The ceilings soared above our heads.

The second thing that grabbed my attention was the massive bed. Gauzy material was draped from the ceiling over the mattress, and the entire bedframe was covered in pink and white roses, and what smelled like orange blossoms. Ivy had been intertwined with the frame, decorated with ribbons, and flower petals covered the blankets.

There was a fireplace in the wall opposite the bed, presumably for chilly nights. A dressing screen stood next to the fireplace, and beyond the screen was an open balcony that ran the length of the entire room. There were doors that could be shut but they were currently open and I could see the night sky. We were on the second floor of the palace, and just beyond the balcony, I spied a large courtyard.

“The washroom is this way,” he said, and I followed him. He opened a door and led me into a room that made me gasp.

I was shocked he had a private washroom and even more surprised when I saw the interior. This was nothing like the utilitarian washroom at the temple—this was breathtaking. It was as large as, if not larger than, his enormous bedroom. The floors were tiled into different patterns and colors that somehow all worked together. Brass sinks had faucets with running water, and the toilet had its own private room with a door.

But what impressed me the most was that there was no tub—just several pools that fed into one another, carved out of natural rock.Somehow the water lit up like the creatures I’d seen on the ocean—a strange turquoise color that was soothing.

“The springs are naturally heated,” Alexandros said.

Warm baths? That sounded appealing. I saw trays loaded with different kinds of soaps and shampoos. I wasn’t going to bathe tonight but I would do so soon.