Page 21 of A Vow of Embers

“I have no desire to sleep at night.” The last thing I wanted was to be in a dream with him.

“Neither do I.”

Another lie. He was the architect of those shared dreams. He probably counted each grain of sand as it made its way down to the bottom half of the hourglass, waiting until he could have another chance to try and manipulate me.

Then it suddenly occurred to me that I didn’t have to stay here and listen to him. We were not married yet—I was not under any obligation to pretend to be obedient.

I stood so quickly that I knocked my chair over. But before I could move away, he wrapped his fingers around my right wrist and held me in place. Not too tightly, but firmly enough that I couldn’t shake him off.

“You didn’t ask me about my theory, princess.”

“Because I don’t care about your theory.”

“Oh, I think you do. I had to ask myself, what could you want bad enough that you would be willing to risk two lives for it? You would never let Quynh be in danger unless there was something to gain.”

“She was chosen randomly.” I pulled slightly but he didn’t let go.

His eyes searched my face. “You were obviously trained. You knew how to fight. You expected to survive. Which means that there is something at the temple that you want. Something you’re looking for.”

“What would I be looking for?” Could he hear the doubt and uncertainty in my voice? The fear that he had so easily discerned my plans? “Other than the sister you kidnapped from me.”

I should have known that he would figure it out. Io didn’t need to tell him that I was searching for something. I wanted the goddess to curse this man for his keen intellect.

“There is a reason you broke into the library. The administration building. You were searching for information to help you find whatever it is that you’re looking for.”

My heart was beating so erratically I was afraid I might black out. He knew too much. “My business is my own.”

“That might have been true in the past, but in two days you will become my wife. Your business affects me. Whatever it is that you haveplanned, if it threatens me or my family or my nation in any way, I will put a stop to it. I promise you that.”

This prince was so unlike the sailor I’d met, the guardian who had protected me from pirates, the temptation at the festival that had made me forget myself. Where was the man willing to impale himself on my sword just to kiss me? The coldness, the venom in his voice, the precision of his strikes against me ... they again reminded me that I did not know him.

Jason had been a figment of my imagination. Or more accurately, he had been a figment of Alexandros’s imagination. He was the one who had brought him into being just to fool me.

“Let go of me,” I said. “We are done.”

He stared at me for a beat longer and then finally released my wrist. I reminded myself that I couldn’t ever tell my adelphia about the eye. I couldn’t risk Io having that information. I had to make sure that the prince never found out. He had just said he would stop me.

I hurried over to the basket where my xiphos was stored, feeling relieved to have it back in my hand. I undid the lock and grabbed the door handle. Not able to help myself, I turned back to look at him.

“You can tell Thrax he was right. I made sure I was chosen for the lottery because I would have rather put my life at risk than be forced to become your wife.”

“Well, now you’ll get to do both.”

I tried to think of something bad enough to throw back at him but my mind wasn’t keeping pace. “You said you know when I’m lying. That I betray myself. You do the same thing. I can tell when you’re lying, too.”

“Oh?”

“Yes. It happens whenever your lips move.” It was a weak shot but it was all that I had.

“As I recall, you very much liked my lips moving on you.”

Furious at his implication, I threw the door open, ignoring the prince’s derisive laughter, and stepped out onto the porch.

Thrax was standing next to the door, watching me. “Is my brother still alive? I didn’t hear any dishes or pottery being broken and decided to take that as a good sign.”

Wrong place, wrong time. And I wasn’t bound by the contract yet. I reared back and punched Thrax in the face. He staggered backward, looking surprised. I had hit him much harder than he’d been expecting.

What I wanted to do was go back into the house and do the same to Alexandros, but it would never happen. He would outmaneuver and overpower me every time. Why would the goddess choose to bless such a man with so much magical fighting talent when he was such a beast?

---