Page 72 of A Vow of Embers

“Are all those men your brothers?” Ahyana asked.

“Three of the five,” she said. “My father spread his seed far and wide before he married my mother.”

Like father, like son.I muttered the words under my breath so that Io wouldn’t hear me.

She was explaining what a phratry was and that, while her own father had kept a personal guard of a hundred men, her brother had elected to have a true phratry with only four. “One to guard each side of him,” she said, sounding proud.

Much as I would have hated to admit it, he probably didn’t even need them. He was more than capable of taking care of himself.

As we got closer to where the men trained, Zalira asked, “What are they wearing?”

“Pants. It’s the Sasanian style that Rokh brought with him, and they wear them when they’re sparring and training.”

The pants fit snugly and went midcalf. And everyone but Dolion was bare chested.

My eye was drawn to Alexandros. The pants molded to his strong legs, outlining every muscle clearly. I inhaled a shaky breath. I had seen his bare legs many times—even been intertwined with them—so why were his covered legs having this kind of effect on me?

“Is that ...” Ahyana’s voice trailed off as Zalira loudly gasped. A clap of thunder sounded overhead despite there not being a cloud in the sky.

Then Zalira turned and ran back to the palace with Ahyana in close pursuit.

“What just happened?” I asked, but Io and Suri looked just as bewildered as I felt.

Suri motioned that she would follow them and then pointed toward the gymnasium, telling us to continue on without her.

“Do you think Zalira is all right?” I asked, worried that we should go with Suri.

“We will check on her as soon as we’re done here. Other than trying to fight him, tell me truly how things have been between you and Xander.”

I shook my head. “You and I just made things right between us again. I don’t want to ruin that.”

“You know you can be honest with me,” she said.

There were things I couldn’t tell her, so I supposed that I could at least give her this. “I hate him and want to kill him.”

I expected her to be dismayed or disappointed. Instead she blinked once and said, “And?”

“And?” I repeated. “I thought you’d say something besides ‘and.’”

“You have siblings. Haven’t you hated them and wanted to hurt them? I understand how you feel.”

“This isn’t the same thing,” I said. “When I felt that way about my brother or sisters, it wasn’t real. And I really do want to stab your brother repeatedly.”

She turned her gaze back toward the gymnasium. “I don’t think your feelings in this situation are real, either.”

Io was very mistaken. I said, “I would be happy to prove you wrong but he won’t let me. He’s too fast.”

She patted my arm as if she didn’t believe me. “He is fast. He’s about to prove it.”

The prince and Thrax had picked up massive broadswords and were circling one another. They seemed to be trading insults but theywere both smiling. I wasn’t sure which one I wanted to see bleed more. I hoped they both slipped and fell on one another’s weapons.

The predatory gleam in Alexandros’s eyes did something to my gut and I put my hand over my stomach to calm it. I forced myself to look elsewhere, to think about something else.

There was a sound off to my left and I saw a small group of women approaching, also watching the fight.

When they were a few feet away from us, I heard one of the women say, “It’s a shame he’s married to a Locrian.”

Another responded, “Once he gets her with child, I’m sure he’ll be looking for someone with an actual pulse to warm his bed.”