Page 66 of A Vow of Embers

“Is Demaratus the one who gave you the xiphos?” Alexandros asked. “Or did you cut off his hand to take it from him? Because that seems like something you would do.” Instead of it being a biting remark, he made it sound as if he were teasing. And that he would admire me if I had. Like the night in Troas when he had told me he liked women who dealt a little death when crossed.

Or when he said he found my murderous impulses “adorable.”

Then he smiled a real smile at me and it was like an arrow straight to my heart, piercing through the scales of hurt and anger, and I remembered how truly handsome Alexandros was. I didn’t want to think of him this way, but it was still happening.

As desire began to bloom low in my stomach, I tried to distract myself. “Why would you assume that I could only get my weapon through force?”

“You did behand that man in the tribute race,” he pointed out helpfully.

“Because he was touching my sister. Your nobleman from dinner should be grateful he still has both of his. If he, or anyone else, touches her again, they will wind up handless.”

“I’m fairly certain Thrax would beat you to it.”

A glimmer of anger yelled from the far reaches of my mind, but I ignored it. “Why was he so upset tonight?”

“I asked him to watch over Quynh and keep her safe.”

There was a reason that was ironic but I couldn’t recall what that was. “He doesn’t have to do that.”

“You can’t be the one because the lives of a kitchen maid and a princess don’t often intersect.”

“I miss her so much,” I confessed.

He nodded and after a long beat admitted, “I know. I miss my sister, too.”

Our situations weren’t the same but I didn’t tell him that. Instead I asked, my voice breaking, “Why did you take her from me? Why did you let me believe she was dead?” They were questions I had wanted answered ever since I’d discovered what he had done.

His eyes were serious and he took a step toward me. “Lia, I wasn’t trying to take her from you. I was trying to—”

My dream ended abruptly as I sat straight up. I hit the bed in frustration. He had been about to tell me something important and I wasn’t sure why I had woken up so suddenly before I could hear the end of it.

I contemplated reaching over and shaking him awake, demanding he finish his answer, but that wouldn’t do me any good. I knew that he wouldn’t speak to me. Whatever had just happened in that dream had been against our wills. Neither one of us liked being out of control as we just had been. If our situations were reversed, I knew I would refuse to give him any answers just to spite him.

Sighing, I threw off my blanket. I needed a walk to clear my head. I put on a cloak and headed down to the courtyard just below our balcony. It was a large rectangle, surrounded by columns and filled with trees and flowers. I had considered it to be a peaceful place previously, but I wasn’t finding that this morning. Instead my gaze was repeatedly drawn to our balcony.

What had just happened? Why had we both been compelled to speak to one another? I tried to think of the reasons he might have done it, why he might have tried to trick me, but couldn’t come up with anything rational. I wanted to blame the prince but he had appeared to be as much an unwilling participant as I had been.

Why had the dreams returned? It was odd to have gone so many days without them and for them to be back.

A raven flew overhead and I wondered if it was Kunguru. Ahyana had promised to send him to me and I hadn’t seen him yet. I’d been so lonely that it would have been a relief to have him visit. It would have been like a tiny piece of my adelphia had been returned to me.

As the sun continued to rise, I knew I had to go back to my room and dress for the day. It wasn’t as if I had anything planned. Rokh had mentioned a horse—maybe I would go to the stables and visit her. It would give me something to do.

I went back into the palace and climbed up the winding stairs. As I approached my room, I noticed an open door. It was the bedroom next to mine and it had always been locked. I had checked repeatedly. I had wondered so many times what was in here, why it would be locked, that I found myself entering to get answers.

It was a bedroom. There was a large bed and several trunks. There were tall windows with empty shelves, as if plants had once been there that would have happily soaked up the sunlight. There was a strange smell that I couldn’t quite place.

As I walked farther into the room, my heart nearly burst out of my chest when a voice said, “This was Io’s room.”

I turned to see Alexandros holding a strange skinny, furry animal with a sweet face. It studied me and I was unsure how to respond.

“This is Chara. She’s a ferret,” he said.

“A what?”

A smile hovered behind his mouth, like the sun being blocked by clouds. I forced my gaze away, ignoring the knot tugging in my gut, urging me to move closer to him. I held still and paid attention to what was in front of me. I saw many small pens and enclosures with different kinds of animals in each one.

Something furry brushed against my legs and it was ... rumbling. It was a lanky creature with a long tail.