Page 197 of A Tribute of Fire

Jason had correctly predicted my reaction last night.

Thinking of him only made my head hurt worse. When he’d told me in that house that my judgment was compromised, I had been angry with him. I hadn’t thought that I was drunk. But considering what I’d confessed to Io last night, I clearly hadn’t had my wits about me.

I glanced over at her bed but it was empty. She was already awake. I hoped she wouldn’t remember what I’d told her.

Even if she did, would it matter? I knew her secret as well. She couldn’t afford for it to get out, either. They would expel her from the temple for being a member of the royal family.

Mutually assured destruction.

All this time I’d pictured Prince Alexandros as being some kind of monster, but if Io was his sister, he couldn’t have been all bad.

Or maybe that was the leftover wine in my body talking.

Thinking about drinking immediately turned my thoughts back to Jason and our last in-person encounter and I wondered if things would have gone differently if I’d been sober. I was fairly certain that I still would have made the same choice. I’d wanted him so badly—even now I ached for him.

It would have been the wrong decision. I understood that logically. I knew the promises I’d made. I could not do those kinds of things with him. Especially not if I wanted to find the eye and restore Locris to the way I’d seen it in my dream last night. I imagined that the goddess would not be interested in helping an acolyte who had blasphemed one of her basic laws.

But I now understood why those other priestesses had risked being buried alive. From what I had experienced, it might have even been a little bit worth it.

I let out a deep sigh as I realized how close I’d come to throwing everything away for Jason. For a man who made me no promises, a man who didn’t want marriage or a relationship, a man who would happily move on to the next woman as soon as he tired of me.

I was such a fool. I’d never felt this kind of humiliation before. Without the spiked wine to alter my perceptions and thinking, I could see everything clearly. It would have been a huge mistake if I’d stayed.

And I had no idea how to interpret what had happened with him in my dreams. Him saying he was actually there and that everything was real?

How could that even be possible?

It had to have been my own psyche, trying to convince me that I hadn’t come so close to wrecking everything for a worthless man who didn’t actually care about me. To paint him as a devoted lover, willing to die for me.

That wasn’t who he was.

Then why did he send you away?a little voice asked me. If he didn’t care about you, he could have taken advantage of you last night and you would have welcomed it.

I didn’t want to think of him as being an honorable man, just a selfish one. It made things easier. Maybe he didn’t really want me. Maybe he’d only felt sorry for me and let things go too far. Who was to say?

Disgusted with myself I went into the washroom and found Io there, happily scrubbing her face and whistling a tune to herself.

“Too loud,” I muttered. “How are you not hungover?”

“When you’re skilled with herbs and medicines, you have a hangover cure. Here’s one for you. Add it to some water and drink it,” she said, putting a small vial in my hand.

“You are my favorite person,” I told her, truly meaning it.

“You’re not the first sister to say that to me,” she said with a wink.

“Io, about last night ...” I let my voice trail off, not sure how to broach the subject with her. I certainly didn’t want to bring it up if she had been so drunk that she no longer remembered.

“What about it? It’s all one giant blur,” she said. “I think there was dancing, maybe music. Iknowthere was wine.”

I smiled. It sounded like my secret was safe. “Nothing. It just seemed like you were having a good time.”

She nodded. “I was. And everything has been so hard lately that I really needed a night like that.”

“I’m glad you had it.” I waited a moment and then said, “What are you doing up so early?”

“Tryphosa, the new lead healer, the one who took over for Daphne?” I heard her voice catch on Daphne’s name, but she pressed forward. “There is a farm nearby that has requested our help with their olive tree grove and we’re going out to assist. It should only be for a few days.”

She had mentioned this trip when she’d found out that Daphne had died. “Do you think that’s safe?”

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