Page 5 of A Tribute of Fire

I was familiar with the yearly tribute we paid to Ilion, and the reasons why, but was shocked at the discovery that Locrians had abandoned their entire belief system when we were cursed.

Stories of the greatness and power of the earth goddess, how she had blessed our lands for millennia, before everything was destroyed by the actions of one man.

My ancestor.

“Not even your father knows about this book,” my grandmother had said.

“Why did you give it to me?” I asked, not understanding why she would take such a risk. My father would be forced to destroy the book and punish his own mother if he ever found out.

A chill ran down my back as I recalled the way her gaze had bored into mine—so clearly, so certainly. “You will be the one to carry this legacy forward. You will keep the word. Someone in Locris must remember the old ways, how we worshipped the goddess, and find a way to regain her favor to restore our lands. Your older sister will marry and leave. Your brother will be beholden to the law and his people. But you? You will have a choice about your life’s path. And you should choose to remember what was and what might be.”

What if I don’t want it?I wanted to ask but knew that I wouldn’t. I understood that this was too important to reject. This legacy was now mine, regardless of how I felt about it.

“You must always remember that all the answers you need are in the written word,” she continued. “In scrolls, in poems, in songs, in books. Find the right words and you will have your answer.”

She had turned out to be right. A single line in the book had caught my attention and changed the entire course of my life.

Only the eye of the goddess can restore Locris.

The sound of rocks falling down the stairs had me on my feet, my blade drawn, heart pounding in my chest.

Because I knew I would be executed if anyone found me with this book.

CHAPTER TWO

“Lia?”

I immediately relaxed and sighed. It was just my sister, Quynh.

“You scared me,” I told her when she peered down at me from the top of the stairs. She was always too frightened to come all the way down. I sheathed my dagger and then returned the book to its box, replacing the stone lid. “You’ll remember to take this to Kallisto if I don’t return?”

Someone in my family would have to carry on the legacy if I wasn’t here to do it.

“Yes, I’ll remember.” She sounded so annoyed that it reminded me of Demaratus. “But you’re coming back.”

We both knew it was more likely that I wouldn’t. No other maiden ever had.

But she and I never spoke about that.

“Mother is looking for you. You need to get cleaned up and ready for dinner,” she said. Outside of Demaratus and my regiment, Quynh was the only other person who knew what I’d been doing the last year, and so she could always find me easily.

I nodded and took one final glance around the temple before I went upstairs to join her.

“Hurry!” she said, pushing against my back when I reached the top floor.

“Why are you in such a rush?” I asked.

“After dinner I have plans to meet with Andronicus,” she said with a secret smile.

I smiled back. “Will he finally ask for your hand?”

“He knows not to. Not until I know ...” Quynh’s voice trailed off.

“Not until you know my fate,” I finished for her. “I don’t want you to put your plans aside for me. You should marry if that’s what you want to do.”

She shrugged and we walked back to the palace. Somehow I attracted even more dirt, while she managed to remain pristine, like she was floating over the dusty, arid earth.

My stomach growled. “I’m starving.”

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