Chapter Seven
When we got back to the palace, Io decided to stay behind and work on her potions while the rest of us went to the temple.
She promised she would share her scheme to get Lysimache to talk later and that she’d spoken to her brother about having one of his phratry members watch over her so she wouldn’t be alone.
The current plan was for us to gather fountain water and to try out Zalira’s magic in the gymnasium. I asked my sisters if they wanted to practice riding and take horses there, but none of them needed the practice. They all knew how to ride.
But they humored me and we rode to the temple. While I still didn’t care much for horseback riding, it was nice that it took so much less time than walking would have.
Io had asked me earlier what I planned on naming my horse, and I decided on Eos. Like Themis’s granddaughter, named after the dawn, because of how she shimmered.
One of the stable hands had attached a small cart to Ahyana’s horse. It was filled with empty vases for the water.
When we arrived I was surprised to see a group of women gathered at the gate. We dismounted, which for me was basically falling off the horse, and tied their reins to a nearby column. We made our way through the crowd to the gate and Suri pushed it open.
Realizing that we meant to go in, someone asked, “Who are you?”
“We are acolytes,” Zalira said.
A woman stepped forward and asked, “When will we be able to return to the temple and worship? To ask the goddess for her help and her blessings?”
“Not yet,” Ahyana said, gently and kindly. “But we hope soon.”
“Where are all the other priestesses?” another woman asked. “We have heard so many different things.”
“It’s a long story,” Zalira said. “We will let you know when you can return to the temple to worship.”
Some of the women immediately left, while others stayed behind, as if we would change our minds within the next few minutes. I greeted the guards Xander had left to watch over the temple and told them that I was Princess Thalia and we were going to be coming every day to the temple.
“We were already informed,” one of the men said to me.
We went into the courtyard and Suri closed the gate behind us.
“You don’t think we should tell those women what happened to the servants of the temple?” Ahyana asked.
Zalira shook her head. “Not until it’s announced that we’re at war. We don’t want anyone panicking.”
It was exactly what Xander had said to me. I wondered how Zalira knew that. Or had she just come to that same conclusion on her own?
Ahyana and Suri were walking ahead of us, so I took advantage of the opportunity to tell Zalira, “I’m not sure if I should mention this, but I saw Stephanos this morning. He wanted me to tell you that he’s thinking of you.”
She smiled sadly and put a hand over her heart. “I’m glad you told me. It is so strange to miss and love someone so much and have them close at hand all the time.”
“I understand.”
“I’m sure you do. How are things with you and your husband?”
She was the only member of my adelphia that I felt like I could be open with about this.
“Strange. I want to be close to him, but I’m afraid that once he’s made king, he might send me away to find a new wife.
And Io is worried about the savior prophecy and that I might die.
And if I do live, I’m going back to Locris to reopen the temple there.
She’s afraid that either way I’ll hurt her brother.
She thinks he’s in love with me. So she made me promise that I would stay away from him and not hurt him. ”
“Which I’m guessing isn’t going so well.”
It was scary how Zalira could read me. “Yes. I want him physically, I want him emotionally. Every way that you can want someone, I want him. And it terrifies me. To let someone else have that much power over me . . .”
I didn’t want to be consumed.
And I knew that Xander could absolutely have that kind of effect on me.
Zalira let out a short laugh. “I know exactly what you mean.”
“I don’t know what to do.”
“That makes two of us,” she said with a sigh.
“I keep thinking about what Ahyana said. That the temple guards are dead and so there’s not anyone to punish us any longer.
But that’s not the reason that I’ve held back.
It’s because I made that promise to the goddess herself and I can’t go back on my word. ”
That felt like a thunderclap inside my chest. I certainly hadn’t wanted to get buried alive, but that was never the main reason why I had refrained—I had to keep my vows so that the goddess would help me restore Locris.
When I didn’t say anything, Zalira put her arm around my shoulders. “I’m sorry this is so hard for you.”
“And I’m sorry this is so hard for you,” I said. “It feels wrong to be worried about my relationship with him when so many terrible things are happening.”
“Terrible things are always happening, Lia. In times like this, we need to hold on to the things that bring us joy. The things that make life worth living. We should laugh when we can, love when we can. That’s a very human thing to do. Feeling that way doesn’t mean you’re wrong.”
We entered the gymnasium and my gaze darted over to the dais where I had fought Lysimache before I captured her. The wood was still stained with her blood.
Zalira walked into the center of the room and I ignored the shiver that passed through me.
It was eerie being back here. This room had once teemed with women training and sparring, and now it was just us, trying to see if we could control magic.
We came over to stand in front of her in a semicircle.
“You’ll be struck with a surge of power,” Ahyana told her older sister. “It feels like burning and freezing at the same time. It will drain you almost instantly and that’s when you pass out. Try to hold on for as long as you can.”
What if Zalira was like me and couldn’t do magic? Would she be disappointed? I knew that I was.
Zalira nodded. She shook her hands and jumped in place three times, like she was preparing to start fighting. She let out a deep breath and then said, “Dea Maimaktes.”
A booming clap of thunder shook the entire building and then rain started pouring down hard, like tiny missiles striking the roof.
Zalira held on. Ahyana and Io had collapsed by now, but Zalira was toughing it out.
Wind shrieked all around us and lightning flashed outside, so big and bright that it turned the sky purple.
She let out a groan of pain and dropped to her knees. “It . . . hurts.”
It hurt to do magic? No one else had said that. Maybe because they had passed out before this point.
Zalira lifted her head and I gasped. “Your eyes are green!”
“Why are you all surrounded in white light?” she asked right before she collapsed to the ground.
The storm dissipated immediately, as if it had never been.
We all stood there in shock. Zalira’s magic had been so powerful and had lasted for longer than anyone else’s. “None of us were watching when Ahyana and Io did magic. Do you think your eyes changed colors, too?” I asked.
“We can find out,” Ahyana said.
Before I could tell her not to, she said “Dea Karpophoroi,” and a group of leather-winged creatures flew in through one of the upper windows and landed in the rafters.
She made sure to look at us, and her eyes were indeed the same shade of emerald green that I’d seen on Zalira.
“What are those?” I asked, pointing up.
“Bats,” Ahyana said through clenched teeth as she dropped to her knees. “I thought about what animal I wanted to come and they did. Zalira’s right. This hurts.”
“Do you see lights around me and Suri?” I asked.
“Yes.” She breathed the word out and then fell next to her sister.
Suri and I exchanged glances. How were we going to get them both back to the palace? We didn’t have the room. She raised one eyebrow at me as if to ask—Now what?
“We’re going to need a bigger cart,” I said.
It only took a few hours for Zalira and Ahyana to wake up, and they both felt refreshed and invigorated. I had thought they might sleep longer, given how long they’d kept using the magic, but that didn’t seem to be the case.
When we got back to the palace, it was late—we had missed dinner.
I was hungry but I was also in a great deal of pain.
The others went off in search of food and I stumbled upstairs to my room.
I considered checking in on Io, but all I wanted to do was go and lie down.
My thighs and buttocks were sore, and my abdomen felt like I’d been punched.
I got into my room, patted Luna, and then lay in my bed, not wanting to move. This had to be from riding Eos.
Someone should have told me that riding a horse would hurt. This was worse than the day after my first training session with Demaratus.
Wanting to distract myself, I thought about all that had happened today.
Not just the way my adelphia had performed magic, but being back in the gymnasium had made me relive what Lysimache had said to me there.
She had repeatedly told me that she and I were the same.
That I would have made the same decisions she did.
Her aspect was fury.
If we truly were the same . . . what if that was mine as well?
I was so glad that Maia had made us memorize the list containing the names of the various aspects of the goddess.
“Dea Erinys.”
Power slammed into me, filling me with icy heat and fiery cold. I felt connected to everything around me, brimming with an energy that made me think I could do anything. Conquer the world. Vanquish every foe.
And it was all underlined by a throbbing beat of unimaginable anger.
Then the world went black.
“Lia?” I awoke to see Xander leaning over me, looking concerned. “What happened?”
I felt disoriented. “What?”
“Did you get yourself beat up today?” he asked, gesturing toward his legs. “I can feel your pain.”
That caused me to become aware again of the throbbing sensation that had been blocked while I’d been unconscious. “I think it’s from riding my horse.”
Understanding lit up his features. “Some people do get sore after riding for the first time. But you’ll get used to it. It’s often the same way with sex for women.”
He said it so matter-of-factly, but his words made my entire body flush with heat. Almost like I was performing magic again.
This was not something I could think about right now. “I think I have a power.”
“What is it?” he asked, interested. He sat down on the bed next to me. I moved into a sitting position.
“Fury.”
He blinked a couple of times but didn’t respond.
“You’re not going to say anything?” I finally asked.
“Were you expecting me to be surprised? It seems about right.”
I sighed. “I’m trying to not be vengeful and angry. To choose differently.” I didn’t want this to be my aspect.
“I understand, but remember that there is such a thing as righteous fury. You can be upset about the evils that people do and use your outrage to protect others. You don’t have to shy away from the parts of you that you think are dark. They can help you and drive you just as much as the others.”
“I don’t even know what it can do.” It could apparently curse a nation and turn it into a wasteland, but I didn’t know how else to utilize it.
“Fighting,” he said, like I was foolish for not immediately realizing it. “Come on. Get your xiphos.”
He pulled a dagger out from his belt and I realized that it was the one I’d given him on our wedding day. Why did that make my heart beat faster?
I stood up, ignoring the pain I felt. “I thought we weren’t going to fight anymore.”
“I’ll go easy on you,” he said with a grin.
“I’m going to pass out. Like life mages do.”
“Oh.” He grabbed the pillows from our bed and put them on the floor. “I’ll catch you before you hit the ground, but this is just a secondary precaution.”
“Are you ready?” I asked.
He nodded, looking excited.
“Dea Erinys.”
The power rushed into me again and I was ready for it this time. It was the same power I’d always felt humming in the ground at the temple, just out of reach. Now it was here and I could weaponize it. Use it to destroy.
A part of my brain registered that a white light surrounded his entire body; this was what Zalira and Ahyana had seen. But the rest of me just wanted to fight.
I lunged at Xander and was thrilled by the shock on his face when I nearly cut his chest. I was almost as fast as he was, almost as strong.
He blocked me with his dagger and then spun to the left to come at me from that direction, but I was ready.
I stopped his advance and went to elbow him in the face but he moved away at the last moment.
Now he wasn’t the only one who was goddess-blessed.
He tried to knock my sword loose but I wouldn’t permit it. I twisted out of his way, keeping my grip, and then sliced at him from his right side. He again moved at the last moment.
We had broken apart, studying one another, when the pain started. Not the aches I’d been feeling from horseback riding, but sharp, shooting barbs—as if I were repeatedly being stabbed in every part of my body.
I saw the concern in his eyes and heard him say, “Are you all—”
And as promised, he caught me before I hit the ground.