Page 115 of House of Dusk
You don’t have a relationship. You have a job.She curled her empty fingers, and forced herself to listen. She couldn’t risk drawing the prince’s attention. He already suspected her.
Yeneris angled her eye along a gap in the curtained door. Sinoe stood at the window, her back to the room. Ichos must still be on the bed.
“Do you remember when we rode out to the cataracts for the Fish Moon Festival?” he asked.
Sinoe’s shoulders hunched.
Ichos went on. “It was the first time Mother let us ride our own horses. And we roasted apples over the fire.”
“And you were a greedy-gut who got sick eating all the milk candy,” accused Sinoe. But her voice gentled as she added, “Mother taught us the fishtail braid, but yours kept slipping out—”
“—because my hair was too short,” finished Ichos.
Sinoe lifted a hand, touching her carefully bound curls. “We found that cave behind the waterfall, and I was convinced there must be hidden treasure in it and refused to leave, until you found that funny blue stone and told me it was a sapphire.” She gave a wistful sigh. “I still have that, you know.”
This time the silence between them was softer.
“I don’t want it to be this way,” said Ichos, finally. “I hate it.”
“But not enough to do anything about it.”
“What do you expect me to do?” Ichos burst out. “Father doesn’t listen to me. I’m nothing. I’m not touched by the Fates. I’m not some great hero reborn.”
Sinoe spun to face him, fists clenched, color burning bright in her cheeks. “Neither is Father!”
Yeneris held her breath. But Sinoe did not back down. If anything, she only blazed brighter with suppressed fury. “Well? You came here for answers. Now you have them. The ashdancer was right. It’s all a lie.”
“I thought your visions were bound,” said Ichos, warily. “How do you know?”
“I know because I’m paying attention. If you opened your eyes and looked around, you’d know too.”
“Sinoe, this is dangerous,” Ichos began. “If Father suspects you’re—”
“I should have stood up to Father a long time ago,” snapped Sinoe, unrepentant. “But if you’re too scared, then you should go. He’s probably waiting for your report. You wouldn’t want to make him angry, would you?”
Silence.
“Well?” said Sinoe. “Aren’t you going?”
“No,” Ichos released a breath. He sounded surprised. “No, I’m not.” He rose from the bed and went to stand before Sinoe, arms loose at his side. “I’m with you. I swear it. By the Fates.”
Sinoe quivered. Then gave a small cry, and flung her arms around him. Then punched him on the shoulder. Then embraced him again.
“So you might as well ask your bodyguard to stop plotting how best to murder me and bring the tea,” Ichos added. “I suspect we’re all going to need several cups while you fill me in on everything I’ve missed.”
• • •
It was midnight by the time they finished filling in Ichos on Lacheron’s manipulations of Sinoe’s prophecies and the conversations they had overheard in his workshop. It had taken three carafes of tea, one jug of wine, a platter of fruit, and two baskets of pastries, one of which Sinoe had dumped over her brother’s head to stop him swearing too vociferously after she described Lacheron’s private stash of corpses.
“You took her into a dungeon full of skotoi?” He dusted the crumbs from his tunic, still glowering at Yeneris. “You’re supposed to be her bodyguard.”
“Only one skotos. The rest were just skotoi-in-waiting,” said Sinoe, ignoring her brother’s dubious huff. “And it was my choice. We needed to get the key.”
“Which you still haven’t used. Why wait to break the bangle? You said yourself that Lacheron needs Agia Beroe here to complete his plan. We should act now, before she arrives.”
“It’s a risk either way,” said Sinoe. “If we accuse him now, we have no proof. Do you really think Father will believe that he’s not truly the Ember King? After everything he’s done in service to that lie?” She looked to her brother, who nodded grudgingly.
“Still, I don’t see what we gain in waiting. You said you need proof, but what proof is there?”
