Page 63 of A Vow of Embers

“Oh, no, I believe you. Xander has told me what you’re capable of. Perhaps I should try to win your friendship so that I may keep my life.” He said everything in a joking tone and it just made me angrier.

While I sat there and tried to figure out the parameters of “not hurting, not harming, not killing” anyone under the prince’s protection and what I might get away with while still technically obeying the letter of the law, I heard a noise to my left and saw Quynh serving wine again.

I completely forgot about Thrax. My sister was here. It was torture to be in the same room as her and not speak with her.

It took everything in me not to run to her, grab her by the hand, and make our way to the docks. In this moment I wanted to forget about everything else. Maybe I wouldn’t ever find the eye and this had been a fool’s errand from the beginning and I should cut my losses and go.

“Steady,” the prince murmured to me, and surprisingly, it was what allowed me to regain control of my emotions.

I had to be strong.One for many.

Despite trying not to watch her, I couldn’t help myself. She was smiling and talking to the people she served. She didn’t seem unhappy or like she was being treated poorly.

But maybe she was putting on an act just like I was.

She moved to an older man whose hair had started to go gray. I couldn’t hear what he said to her but I watched the smile flee her face. She reached for his cup but he held it away so that she couldn’t get it.

With his free hand he stroked the side of her waist.

I gasped, but the sound was covered by Thrax calmly saying, “Do not touch her.”

All the conversation at the tables immediately died.

“What?” the man asked with a laugh. “She’s a kitchen maid. This is what she’s for.”

The man put out his hand, and Thrax said, “Do. Not. Touch. Her.”

He didn’t raise his voice but there was no mistaking his deadly intent.

The man laughed again and deliberately ran his hand over Quynh’s buttocks. I reached for my xiphos just as Thrax jumped over the table and ran to the man, grabbing him by his tunic front and hauling him to his feet.

“You were warned,” Thrax said, and then he punched the man so hard I could hear bones cracking, and the man slumped to the ground.

Quynh took her wine pitcher and calmly walked from the room, with Thrax following right behind her.

I couldn’t risk doing the same, but I needed to know that she was all right.

“Please excuse me,” I said to Erisa and Alexandros. “I am going to use the washroom. I will be right back.”

I didn’t wait for their response. It took all the willpower I possessed to stand up and walk normally to the exit. I had explored the palace enough that I knew exactly which passageway to take that led from where I was over to the hall that led to the kitchen.

Fortunately I was fast enough that I caught up to Quynh and Thrax. They were at the end of the hall. She had put her wine pitcher down and shoved with all her might against Thrax’s shoulders. I was about to interfere when she said, “What do you think you are doing? You can’t just hit someone in the face!”

“Can and did.”

“You overprotective, interfering ... pigheaded rat!”

“Pigheaded rat?” he repeated, amused. My sister also needed a better vocabulary of curse words.

He towered over her and they were standing so close together. I was going to tell him to back off but I realized that she wasn’t upset that he was near, only that he had hit someone while defending her.

I didn’t know why that would make her mad. It was the only thing Thrax had ever done that I didn’t want to kill him for.

“You can’t hit people just because they touch me. It’s expected,” she said, exasperated.

“Oh, yes I can.”

“No, Thrax, you can’t—”