Page 160 of A Tribute of Fire

“How are you feeling?” she asked.

“Slightly better.”

“Good. Now why aren’t you sleeping? I would have thought that you’d sleep for a few more hours.”

“I have to go clean the temple.” I didn’t imagine that my responsibilities were to be ignored just because I’d been stabbed.

“Not today you don’t,” she said. “The goddess can do without you. And it’s a good thing you’re an early riser. Especially since I think you will be needed elsewhere this morning.”

“Where?”

An evasive look passed over her features. “There is a meeting that is going to take place in a few minutes in the gymnasium. All of the uninjured priestesses and acolytes will be gathered together to discuss last night’s events. And I think you might want to attend.”

That unsettled feeling returned, causing a pit in my stomach. Daphne didn’t say anything else and left the infirmary. Io wasn’t here, either. Several of the patients from last night were also gone.

It took me a bit longer than I would have liked to make my way over to the gymnasium. All of my limbs felt too stiff, unresponsive. I saw women entering the building and tried to quicken my steps, but I could only go so fast.

When I finally reached the gymnasium, I realized why Daphne had thought I should come.

I was being held responsible for the attack.

CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE

Theano was sitting on the dais, flanked on either side by Daphne and Maia. She had a veil on, as she always did.

A priestess named Nysa was speaking. She was the mentor for Artemisia’s adelphia, and she’d always made me uncomfortable. She was standing on the dais, addressing the triumvirate of priestesses along with the entire body gathered there.

“One priestess is dead, along with two acolytes,” Nysa said. “That’s not even counting those who were seriously injured.”

Those men had wreaked a lot of damage before they were caught and stopped. They had certainly utilized the element of surprise to catch so many unawares.

I had been repeatedly told since I’d arrived how safe I was here in the temple, and now there was deadly evidence that it was entirely untrue.

“Maybe they were thieves!” someone called out.

“The Locrian brought this tragedy upon us,” Nysa said, ignoring the suggestion. “While we have dealt with those who have dared to enter the courtyard, no man has breached the inner sanctums of the temple in a thousand years. Not until last night.”

Some of the women nearby saw me standing there and began whispering to one another.

Was this only conjecture on Nysa’s part? I hoped no one here knew that those men had been looking specifically for me. They already wanted to blame me—I wasn’t going to add logs onto the fire of their indignation and accusations.

“We should throw the Locrian out,” Artemisia said from the center of the room. “She doesn’t belong here.”

“She has taken the same vows as the rest of you,” Maia interjected, angrily. “She has every right to serve.”

Nysa spoke over the end of Maia’s last sentence. “We pray daily for a savior, and yet we have opened our temple doors to a destroyer.”

Ha. Those doors hadn’t been opened to me. I’d had to fight my way in. I wondered if anyone else here knew that.

“Why would anyone want to kill us?” I couldn’t see the priestess who was speaking, but her voice sounded familiar. “Were they soldiers? Mercenaries? Assassins? People seeking vengeance?”

The words made me think of the men who had chased the woman who’d claimed sanctuary. My sisters had told me that women had asked for protection many times before—maybe someone was angry about the priestesses’ actions?

That wouldn’t explain why they’d been looking for me, though.

Were there really people in Ilion who hated Locris so much that they would intentionally seek me out, committing blasphemy just for their hatred? It seemed far-fetched.

Or what if it actually had been my fault? I was the one who had gone out into the city a couple of nights ago. I thought of the men I had fought near the hetaera houses. What if they had come here solely to find and punish me?

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