Page 50 of A Vow of Embers

I sat for a few more minutes, luxuriating in the warm water, until I remembered that the prince probably needed to come in here as well.

So I dunked my head, getting my hair wet, and began to lather in shampoo. I used the pitcher to rinse it out, and when I’d finished, I began to scrub my body with soap.

I supposed that last night could have gone a lot worse. Alexandros could have ignored me and refused to speak to me. I could have done the same. We could have fought more. He didn’t have to help me with my girdle. I could have stabbed him.

All in all we had both been on our best behavior.

Until this morning.

What had just happened a few minutes ago ... I had no intention of thinking about that. I had clearly taken leave of my senses and it would not happen again.

The door suddenly opened and the prince entered the room, wearing some kind of short linen wrapped around his waist. I grabbed my sheet and used it to cover my breasts. He gave me a withering look, as if such a thing were unnecessary, and went into the toilet, closing the door.

I quickly got out, wrapping the now soaking-wet sheet around me. I would have preferred something to dry off with but there wasn’t anything else. Because I’d pulled the sheet into the water to cover myself, it now clung tightly to me, clearly outlining every part. I might as well have been standing there naked.

Just as I’d decided to return to the bedroom and find something to wear, he reemerged.

Alexandros stopped short when he saw me, the knot in his throat bobbing up and down, as if he were swallowing, hard.

A heated energy sparked in the space between us and the resolve I’d just rediscovered quickly fled.

Alexandros’s eyes darkened and he took a step toward me.

Chapter Seventeen

I was struck with the bizarre urge to drop the sheet and close the gap between us, to throw myself into his arms and put my mouth on his. I had clearly gone mad. I had to regain control.

“When will I see Quynh?” I asked, and my words brought him to a halt.

There. That should be enough to remind me why I was so upset with him.

Now I wasn’t the only one upset. “When it’s safe.”

“And when will that be?”

He didn’t answer and went back into the bedroom. I followed him and went over to the bed to grab one of the thicker blankets, winding it around myself. He dropped the linen he’d been using and I quickly averted my gaze. I heard him opening a trunk and then the sounds of him getting dressed.

“You should be thanking me,” he muttered, as if he had been having an argument with me in his head and hadn’t meant to say that part out loud.

“Thanking you?” That drew my attention and I didn’t know whether I was relieved or disappointed that he wore a gray tunic. “For what?”

“Protecting your sister. Saving her life. I am the one who restored her to you. I’m the reason she’s still alive. You would think you’d at least have gratitude for that.”

“Gratitude?” I clenched the blanket tightly around me. “You’re the one who took her from me! Do you know how I’ve suffered the last few weeks? How I’ve cried? The way my heart was destroyed, shattered beyond repair? I couldn’t even allow myself to think about Quynh because my grief was so overwhelming!”

He took a step back, as if my words were assaulting him.

“You did that to me,” I went on. “It was within your power to tell me that she was alive and safe and you chose not to. Every time you saw me and spoke to me, you made that choice, over and over again, and I willneverforgive you for that!” Now I was yelling. I wondered if there was anyone outside our room who could hear us.

“Like the choice you made, hiding who you were? Over and over again?”

“Those two things are not the same!” If he couldn’t see that, I didn’t know how to make him understand. And why would my lie matter when he had always known exactly who I was?

“You’re right. We’re different. While I was protecting your sister and keeping her safe, you were putting mine in danger, and I will never forgiveyoufor that.” There was so much venom and spite in his voice that now I was the one taking a few steps back. “You are only concerned with yourself and your precious family. Did it ever occur to you that you aren’t the only person in the world that matters?”

“I didn’t put Io in danger.” What was he talking about?

“I’m not having this discussion with you,” he said in a curt tone, ending our conversation. He grabbed his broadsword and started for the door.