Page 159 of A Vow of Embers

“Are you all right?”

“I’m fine,” I told him. “Where are we?”

I hadn’t been paying attention to our surroundings as we had walked together. At some point he must have grabbed a torch, as he currently held one in his hand.

“We’re in the caverns beneath the palace,” he said.

Io had told me about them. It was colder down here, although I hadn’t noticed initially because my own imagination was heating me up. I forced myself to pay attention. And given where my mind was, I ended up saying something inane. “Io said your father kept stores down here. Like his truth serum.”

I cringed. Why had I brought up the serum? What if he was embarrassed by what he had admitted to me?

“He did.”

When he didn’t elaborate, I found myself trying to make conversation. “If your father dosed everyone in the palace, why didn’t it work on your stepmother?”

“Maybe she only pretended to eat or drink at events. Or she believed her own lies and thinks they’re truth.”

Somehow she had managed to evade his father’s built-in protections. “It must be frustrating that you can’t stop her.”

His hand tightened around mine. “I will stop her by any means necessary. It would be best for the council to choose me, but if I have to go to war to depose her, I will. And I don’t want it to come to that. Innocent lives would be lost.”

A shiver passed through me. I knew he meant it, and that kind of internal war for the crown would be horrible.

It also explained why Erisa wanted to kill me, and why she was probably looking for a way to kill Xander. If he wasn’t eliminated, he would rise up against her—and he had the army on his side. She had to know that.

“My adelphia and I have been invited to return to the temple to watch the tribute race,” I said. Given what he had just told me about his stepmother and her plans, he might not be willing to let me go, notpermit me to put myself at risk in order to protect himself. “I would like to go with my sisters.”

He was quiet for a while and I assumed that he would refuse me. I would be upset about it but I would understand why. There was so much at stake here.

“I’ll make sure you have a security detail,” he said.

My mouth dropped slightly. That was the last answer I’d expected him to give. I wanted to ask him why he had agreed to it but didn’t want to press my luck or upset him and have him change his mind.

He knew exactly which way to turn, and these caverns and passageways felt like another labyrinth to me. I had no idea where we were or how to get back out. But his steps never faltered. “This place is so confusing.”

“Io and I spent a lot of time down here when we were younger,” he said. “I think we know it better than anyone else.”

He tugged me into a tunnel where we both had to duck. He sat down on the cold stone ground and I sat next to him. We stayed there for a minute. “What are we doing?” I asked.

“Waiting and listening to make sure we weren’t followed.” He whispered the words into my ear and I scrunched up my shoulders against the sensation of his mouth so close to my sensitive skin.

After a few minutes he stood, still silent, still holding my hand. I followed him until he stopped in front of a wall.

He picked a particular spot and pressed against it. There was the sound of rocks groaning and a piece of the wall moved inward.

A door.

“Before we go in, you need to make me a promise,” he said, his expression serious. “You must promise me that you won’t destroy anything in here.”

“Why would I—”

“Wife, promise me.”

“I promise I won’t destroy anything.”

He nodded, accepting my pledge. “This is my mother’s library. I moved it down here years ago because I was afraid my stepmother would try to destroy it. This is all I have left of her.”

All he would have had to do was tell me that. He hadn’t needed to secure an oath first.

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