Page 68 of A Vow of Embers

And we had been choosing to have this conversation.

“Lia!” Parthenia ran into the room and I jumped, as if I had been caught doing something I shouldn’t have been. “You have to come with me. There is someone here to see you.”

The urgency in her voice had me running out after her. Who would be here to see me? My heart beat slow and thick in my chest as dread began to build. There had been too many bad things happening to me lately that I had no expectations that something good waited for me.

What if ... it was my parents? They had intended to be part of my wedding when the betrothal was first planned. There had been enough time from when the prince had sent his letter to now—they could have traveled here. If they had come ... I didn’t know what I would do. They couldn’t stay. It was bad enough that Quynh was caught up in this mess. I couldn’t risk my parents becoming pawns. I would have to convince them to immediately return to Locris.

And find a way to send Quynh with them.

I ran into the dining hall, still following my maid, saying a silent prayer to the goddess, begging for her help.

I came to an abrupt halt when I realized that it wasn’t my parents waiting for me.

It was my adelphia.

Zalira, Ahyana, Suri, and Io. All of them stood there grinning at me.

Chapter Twenty-Two

This couldn’t be real. “What ... what are you doing here?” I asked, afraid that I was dreaming. Staying completely still because I worried that if I moved it might break whatever spell I was under.

“We’ve come to be your attendants,” Zalira said.

“What?” I repeated, not able to understand what she was saying. It felt too good to be true.

“We made a vow,” Ahyana said. “Where one goes, so go the others. Io was the one who repeatedly reminded Maia and Theano of that fact. We are bound and that bond is sacred.”

Suri nodded and my heart raced as I realized what was happening. “You’re staying?”

“We will be here as long as you are. And we will return to the temple with you.” I’d never seen Zalira smile so big.

Io had stayed quiet, standing slightly behind Suri. I realized that I was the reason. She was worried about how I would respond to her being here. She had no idea how much I had missed her.

I ran across the room, throwing my arms around her. “Io, I’m so, so sorry that I was angry with you. Please forgive me.”

She hugged me back. “Only if you’ll forgive me first because I’m the one who is sorry,” she said, her voice catching from unshed happy tears.

I released her and took a step back, wanting to look into her eyes when I said, “I understand why you did it. I don’t agree with it but Iunderstand. I have been regretting so much that things weren’t right between us before I left.”

“Now we’re here and they soon will be. I love you.”

“I love you, too. I love all of you. You can’t begin to imagine how much I’ve missed you. How lonely and lost I’ve been without you.” I hugged the other three, with Suri embracing me fiercely, telling me with her hug the things she couldn’t say.

“Didn’t Kunguru come to visit you?” Ahyana asked.

“Not once.”

She frowned. “I specifically told him to come check on you. Naughty bird.”

“So you’re all staying,” I said, needing to confirm that it was true.

“We are,” Io said. “We’ll stay in my old room.”

Which meant they’d be right next door to me. It was such a relief to have them here that I could feel some of that constant tension I’d been carrying around dissipate. Until I thought about the position that Io had put herself in.

“I’ve had to stay away from Quynh because your brother thinks your stepmother will kill her to hurt me. Won’t she do the same thing to you? You have a connection to both me and the prince.”

“I’m not as helpless as I was the last time I was here,” Io said. “We’ve all been trained. And we won’t go anywhere alone. We’ll make sure we always stay in groups of at least two.”