Page 58 of A Vow of Embers

They sounded as if they were close. Even though their taste in friends was abysmal, it made me miss my adelphia all over again.

Dolion let go of my hand but did it slowly. That was definitely flirtatious. I glanced at Alexandros, and he didn’t seem to care. It felt nice to be appreciated, as if I were someone worth looking at. Dolion gave me a small smile before he went over to greet the prince.

Rokh approached me carefully and cocked his head to the side. “If you’d like, you can eat right away or you can start opening gifts.” He pointed to both the tables laden with food and the ones covered in presents. He seemed sincere and nice and I found myself responding to his overture.

“The Ilionian style of eating has always seemed strange to me.” Putting out food and expecting guests to serve themselves.

“This way we don’t have to worry about getting poisoned,” he said. “There are still tasters down in the kitchens. But the food is served this way because it’s difficult to poison someone when you don’t know what they might choose to eat.”

The prince was at the table, getting himself some food, and said, “Princess Thalia would be an easy target. She has a sweet tooth and loves pasteli.”

While I was panicking over the possibility that the pasteli he’d forced me to eat at our wedding feast might have been tainted somehow, an awkward silence filled the room. As if his phratry were surprised by him knowing something personal about me.

What had he told them?

“So, what would you like to do first?” Rokh asked me brightly.

“The gifts.” Perhaps I could take long enough that by the time I was finished with the presents, they would all be done eating and would leave me to eat in peace.

“Do you require any assistance?”

“I think I can open gifts by myself,” I said, and he laughed. The sound warmed my currently cold heart.

“You must allow me to accompany you,” he said with a bow, and now I wanted to smile.

“If you insist.”

He escorted me over to the tables and I picked the biggest present and unwrapped it. It was a large vase, covered in scenes that had been painted in black and shiny gold. They were images of a newlywed couple, going through a wedding ceremony and starting a happy life together. When I turned the vase slightly to follow the storyline, the images became pornographic, and alarmed, I took my hand away and moved on to the next gift.

It was a box filled with empty handblown perfume bottles in various shades. Some green, some pink, some purple. I’d never seen such fine artisan work before. I picked one up and held it to the light.

“Very beautiful,” Rokh said. “But not nearly as beautiful as the woman holding it.”

While Dolion’s attentions had bordered on flirtatious, Rokh’s did not. He said it matter-of-factly and I could tell it was meant as a kindness.

Perhaps he was trying to make me feel more at home. “Thank you.”

I put the perfume bottle back and opened another gift. It was a gold-plated mirror that I could hold in my hand. I glanced at myreflection and startled for a moment, given my long red hair. I wondered if I would ever become accustomed to it. I wouldn’t ever take mirrors for granted again.

Especially not when they were this unique. I’d never seen a handheld mirror before. The thing that struck me most about it was the cross guard on the handle, similar to my xiphos.

Almost as if the person who had crafted it were trying to say that beauty was also a weapon.

I opened a few more gifts with Rokh making comments about how nice everything was. There were silver combs, baskets loaded with fruits I’d never seen before, heavy candlesticks, bolts of silks and linens ... it was endless. Wedding gifts were usually practical items given to a couple to help them run a household. But since the palace was so well supplied, the gifts were expensive and extravagant and useless.

Something I must have accidentally said aloud, as Rokh said, “You are the prince and princess of Ilion. Your guests wanted to impress you, show off their own status, and win your favor.”

“I’m sure there are others in this city whose needs are greater than ours.” These gifts could have been used to help people.

“Perhaps.” Rokh looked at me thoughtfully and then said, “But not every gift was useless. There is a horse in the stables that is now yours.”

“A horse?” I hadn’t seen one of those up close in a very long time. I hadn’t had much interaction with them—our horses had been used for labor, not riding. Until my father had been forced to sell them, as we could no longer afford to keep them.

“The prince’s mother—her family sent you both horses as a wedding gift. A stallion and a mare. They’re golden.”

“Made of gold?”

“No, they have a golden sheen when you look at them. Very beautiful. Do you ride?”