Page 73 of A Tribute of Fire

“The Chosen are the five acolytes who are performing best at the temple, and they’re given specific responsibilities. Water bearer, key bearer, washing the statue of the goddess, creating sacred clothes for her, that sort of thing.”

There would be so much for me to learn. There was no way I could break into Theano’s office or the treasury, given how terrible I was with locks. Demaratus had known what I’d be up against and my dismissing lock picking as not important had again come back to bite me. I sighed. I’d have to get the keys, to find a way to steal them without anyone noticing.

I didn’t know how possible that would be. So if that plan didn’t work out, I would have to become one of these Chosen so that I might just be handed the keys I needed. I wondered how much time that would take.

We walked past the front courtyard, the one I’d dashed across to reach the steps of the temple. It was full of women, but they were wearing more neutral colors—no green.

“Are those all priestesses, too?” I asked.

“No, those are the women of the city who have come to beg the goddess for favors or to honor her with a sacrifice. It’s mostly younger women who wish to be married or to become pregnant, as the goddess oversees both of those things.”

I nodded, watching the women as they knelt in prayer and supplication, laying sacrifices of fruits and vegetables at a small stone altar that I hadn’t noticed before.

“Only priestesses and acolytes may go into the temple proper, but women can enter the courtyard and temple grounds,” she said. “Men are completely forbidden from all of it.”

I opened my mouth to ask why but shut it quickly. I knew why.

My ancestor, Ajax, and what he had done to a temple priestess.

That was also why all the men hunting me had not gone past the archway.

“You’ve seen all the important buildings, but there’s something special I wanted to show you,” she said. “Come with me.”

I trailed along behind her and reached up to brush my fingers across the leaves of the closest tree. I’d never felt a leaf before—it was softer than I’d imagined, with veins underneath that looked a bit like the ones in my wrists.

And for the briefest of moments, it felt like the leaves were responding to my touch. Calling to me.

Euthalia.

I dropped my hand and put the thought out of my mind, drawing in a shaky breath as I hurried to catch up to Io.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

We walked around a building and I saw a fenced-off area, the stone wall coming up as high as my head. Io pushed at an iron gate that opened easily and waved me inside. “Here we are. The flower garden.”

I took a step in and then came to a complete halt. Stretched out in front of me was the most unbelievable sight. As if a master artist had painted it. Like a giant hand had pulled a rainbow from the sky and shattered it into a thousand pieces.

The garden was a cascade of flowers in every size and color. I had seen illustrations of flowers before. Life mages made a single flower bloom in front of us every year. My brother had brought me back a pressed flower from one of his trips, and for a long time it had been my most prized possession.

That faded, flat, dried-up flower was nothing compared to this. I’d had no idea that this kind of vibrant beauty existed in the world.

And the fragrance? It was otherworldly and it was everywhere, surrounding me. I’d never smelled anything so good.

I reached out to touch the petals of the nearest flower and the texture was unbelievable. Soft as silk.

My heart lodged itself in my throat. More than anything I wished that Quynh were here to see this. She would have loved it.

Io stood nearby, watching me. “I’ve heard that you don’t have flowers in Locris.”

I nodded.

“That’s called a rose.”

Something gently flew up into the air, surprising me. “What is that?”

“A butterfly. They like to land on flowers. Daphne says they help things to grow. There are a lot of birds and insects that do so.”

Butterfly.That wasn’t something I’d ever heard of before. It was blue and delicate looking, flitting around in the air near my head. Like it was dancing.

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