Page 74 of A Vow of Embers

“Am I interrupting?” Alexandros’s voice was deceptively calm and uninterested, directed at his stepmother. I wondered if she heard his unspoken warning.

“I was only welcoming Iolanthe home. Does this mean we can proceed with arranging her marriage now?”

Io let out a small gasp.

“She has taken vows to the goddess,” the prince said. “She cannot marry.”

“So did your wife. And yet ...” Erisa let her gaze linger over me, as if she found me lacking.

“My wife had not been there long enough to take her vows.”

How easily and smoothly he lied! I even half believed him and I knew the truth.

“And I am the luckiest of men because of it,” he added, and again a part of me believed him.

“I don’t blame your bride for hiding in the temple to avoid marrying you.” Erisa’s voice was deceptively sweet. “Especially with that scar. She must have been terrified of you.”

She had brought that up deliberately. She was the reason for the scar on his face. I was irrationally irritated on his behalf. There were many horrible things about the prince—the scar he’d received in saving his sister’s life was not one of them. “I find his scar to be quite attractive. It says he is a man to be feared, who has survived terrible things and will do so again.”

I glanced up at him and something flickered briefly in his eyes—approval? Gratitude? But then it was gone. He reached down for one of my hands and pulled it to his lips. I didn’t flinch, didn’t recoil. He pressed a soft, warm kiss against my palm and I curled my fingers inward as I bit back a soft moan.

I might have wanted him dead but he had a fantastic mouth.

“My wife has greatly enjoyed mapping out all my scars.” He murmured the words against my skin, and I flushed at his implication that we were intimate. I heard men behind us chuckling as Alexandros pulled me in closer to him.

His lips brushed against my ear and shivers ran from my earlobe down to the base of my spine. “Not an actress?” he whispered. “They should cast you as the lead in the theater’s upcoming performance.”

The problem was, I wasn’t acting.

Which was concerning.

Erisa made a sound and it startled me—I had forgotten she was even there. The prince took a step back from me as his stepmother said, “Despite the fact that my permission wasn’t asked for Io to return, I have decided to be magnanimous and invite your bride and her new attendants to join me and my attendants for a private dinner this evening. I think the women of the palace should get to know one another.”

I wanted to tell her what she could do with her private dinner, but Io answered, “We would be delighted to attend.”

Erisa raised her chin slightly and then headed in the opposite direction with her attendants behind her.

His arm still around me, Alexandros said, “Io? Would you give me a moment alone with my wife?”

“I think I should stay.” I couldn’t see her face but I could easily picture her determined expression.

“This doesn’t concern you.”

“She’s my sister. Of course it concerns me.”

“Io?” His patience was wearing thin.

“Fine,” she said. “But you and I are going to have a conversation. I just wanted to talk to my brother, and instead I had to deal with that woman and her machinations.”

She stomped off, telling us with her feet how annoyed she was by his request. Rokh followed her and it made me realize that the prince had taken his own measures to keep my adelphia safe.

Alexandros released me slowly. I had two urges—one wanted me to throw my arms around him so that he couldn’t let go and the other was to push against him and run the opposite direction.

I didn’t do either one.

The prince crossed his arms. “You and I have something we need to discuss, wife.”

Chapter Twenty-Four