Chapter Fourteen
My plan worked. When I woke up the next morning, I was in our bed but Xander was already gone. I had managed to avoid a conversation that probably would have destroyed all my good intentions.
I got ready for my day and went next door to Io’s room.
Ahyana was braiding Zalira’s hair while Io read a book.
When she saw me she held up a vial. “I’ve done it.
The truth serum mixed with a compulsion element.
Not only will Lysimache tell the truth, but she won’t be able to stay quiet and refuse to answer.
It should work immediately and she’s going to confess every vile and horrible thing that she’s done. ”
Furious Io was an unsettling thing. She poured it into a small vase filled with what I presumed was the fountain water.
“Where’s Suri?” I asked.
“She’s checking on Antiope,” Zalira told me. My stomach twisted with guilt. I needed to go visit her.
“How do you know it works?” I asked as I took the vase from Io.
“We tested it on Ahyana this morning,” Io responded.
“And let’s just say that she was a little too forthcoming, and we now know far too much about what she and Rokh have been up to,” Zalira added, sounding a bit disturbed.
Ahyana gave me a mischievous grin to let me know that she hadn’t minded in the least.
There was movement near the open door and I turned to see Xander walking by, heading to our room. My heart began to pound at just the sight of him.
“I’ve also been working on a formulation to break the physical link,” Io said. “Here. Drink this.”
I put down the vase she’d handed me earlier and did as she requested. I drank the bitter concoction down, struggling to not throw it back up. “That’s awful.”
“Taste wasn’t my primary concern. Give me your hand.”
I held it out and she swiped the end of a dagger across it, drawing blood. I hissed slightly and heard a loud “Ow!” coming from next door.
“It didn’t work.” She sounded so disappointed.
“Wouldn’t Xander have to drink it, too?” I asked.
“You’re right!” She shook her head, as if to help herself think more clearly. “I’ll go do that now.”
When she left I turned to Ahyana and Zalira. “She doesn’t seem like herself.”
“She didn’t sleep last night, either,” Zalira informed me. “She’s using her fortification potions to stay up all night.”
“That can’t be good for her.” I grunted as I felt the moment when Io dragged her dagger against Xander’s palm. “It didn’t work!” I called out. I went over to her worktable to grab a length of linen to wrap my hand up.
When she came back into her room, I said to Io, “You have to sleep.”
“I will. After I figure this out.” She went through her handwritten notes on the table and started muttering to herself.
“No, Io. Now.”
“She’s right,” Zalira said, while Ahyana nodded. “You are going to wear yourself out.”
“There’s just so much I need to do . . .”
I put my hand over hers. “It can all wait.”
“But I wanted to go with you to interrogate Lysimache.”
Ahyana and Zalira looked as concerned as I felt. I didn’t want her to come with me. “I don’t think that’s the best idea. You haven’t slept in two days. That means you’re not the most reliable person to interrogate an evil woman with. I’m worried that you might try to choke her to death.”
“I’ve imagined it,” Io admitted wearily as she sat down.
“That’s what worries me,” I said, crouching next to her so we could still be eye level. “I want you to remember who you are. You’re the acolyte of the goddess who is studying as a healer because you want to help save people.”
“Maybe the best way to save people is to kill those responsible for putting them in danger.”
“This isn’t you,” I reminded her. “Don’t get away from who you are, because we all love you just as you are. We will take care of this for you. We will stop Artemisia, and Lysimache is going to answer our questions. You’ve made sure of it.”
Io nodded. “I want you to ask her about Daphne.”
“Daphne?” Io’s former mentor had died suddenly not too long ago.
“When she died, Lysimache got sick at the same time. I think she’s responsible somehow.”
“I’ll ask her,” I promised, although I feared the outcome if the high priestess had killed Daphne. I might not be able to stop Io from doing something drastic. She had been so close to Daphne.
“You need to remember that Lysimache was a princess, probably in a court similar to mine. She’s used to trickery and maneuvering,” Io said.
“Start off by asking her easy questions. Things she wouldn’t mind answering, or things she would be happy to brag about because she thinks she’s so clever.
Then build up to the more serious ones—where the eye is, who Artemisia is pledged to.
You don’t want her to realize that she’s being compelled.
Let her think she’s answering because she wants to. ”
“Why would that matter? What could she do if she figured it out?” I asked.
“Attack you.”
“I’d take her easily.”
“She could cover her ears and yell loudly so that she can’t hear you.
Or beat her head against a stone wall to knock herself out.
My point is, she’s been alive for a very long time.
She would come up with something. We have this one chance.
Once she realizes what we’ve done, she’ll go back to refusing to drink any water. ”
Maybe I could get one of Xander’s phratry brothers to hold her down and pour water down her throat. But then she’d probably force herself to vomit it up.
Io was correct. We had this one opportunity to get it right. Lysimache was too wily to let us trick her a second time.
Zalira stood. “I’ll go with Lia, and Ahyana can stay here to make certain that Io sleeps and that she’s safe.”
Ahyana nodded to show she agreed with the plan.
“Fine,” Io said. “I’ll sleep if you promise you’ll tell me everything that happens.”
“Agreed,” I said.
Io lay down in her bed and then took a vial with a dark green liquid that I knew was her sleeping potion. Within a few moments she was fast asleep.
“Potions to stay awake, potions to sleep,” Ahyana said with a shake of her head. “Could they create some kind of dependency? Should we be worried?”
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “And I’m afraid that if we ask her about it, she’ll just lie.”
“We could always trick her into taking some of the truth serum,” Zalira suggested.
“Zalira!” I protested with a laugh, and she gave me her dazzling grin in return. I grabbed the vase Io had prepared for Lysimache. “We should go.”
I didn’t want to delay my chance to finally get answers to questions I’d had for so long.
Zalira and I rode side by side on our way to the house where they kept Lysimache. I felt like I was getting better at horseback riding, but I wasn’t as good as the others. I focused on what I wanted to ask the high priestess, trying to come up with a mental list.
“When we get to the safe house, I’m going to let you question her alone,” Zalira announced, interrupting my thoughts. “I’ll stay downstairs.”
“Why?”
“Because based on what you’ve told me and what I’ve seen, Lysimache has some kind of connection to you. Like you’re an opponent she plans on defeating. If you’re the only one talking to her, I think she’ll feel like she’s outsmarting you and it might make her more prone to answer.”
I considered what Zalira said and it did seem possible. “How are you always so insightful?”
“When you live on the streets like I had to, you start to understand what it is people want and what they’ll best respond to. Sometimes I can read people the way you read books.” She didn’t mention that time of her life very often, and I was glad she felt like she could share with me.
“You can read me? What is it I want?”
“I know what you want,” she said. But then she didn’t continue with her thought, leaving me waiting.
When I couldn’t take it any longer and was about to ask her to explain herself, she said, “I hope you know that I’m loyal to you.”
“Of course,” I responded. That wasn’t something I would ever doubt.
“And because of that, I want to hate him on your behalf. But I like your husband,” she confessed.
Since she understood my situation so well, it was easier to be honest with her. “I’ll tell you a secret. I like him, too.” That was the closest I’d ever come to admitting to all the contrary feelings I had about Xander.
“Oh, we all know.”
That made my heart freeze in my chest. “Do you think he knows?”
“He’s an intelligent man, so I’m thinking yes.”
Out of all my sisters, Zalira had always been the most straightforward, the one to say exactly what was on her mind. And I didn’t know how to deal with her guess.
“Then why doesn’t he say something? Or do something?” I asked.
“You have given him no indication that you want him.”
She was probably right about that, too. “I can’t want him.”
“Even if you can’t, you still do.” She sighed. “With everything happening, maybe giving in to those wants and severing the link is the best choice.”
Her words hit with the precision of an arrow.
And she didn’t help by adding, “And maybe Ahyana had a point. If this is the end, maybe we should be allowed to enjoy ourselves before it happens.”
“Do you really think that?”
“I might think it, but I won’t ever act on it,” she said with a note of sadness.
Letting out a deep breath, I said, “I wish I had your strength.”
“I don’t have to share a bed every night with Stephanos. Nor do I have to pretend to be in love with him for the sake of the court. Our situations are not the same. It is much easier for me. I can mostly avoid him.”
Whereas I could not. And the more time I spent with my husband, especially when he was the way he’d been last night . . . I suspected that my feelings grew with every encounter.
But I still wasn’t sure whether those feelings were reciprocated. “I wouldn’t even know how to go about any of this even if I could act on it.”
“I’m probably the last person you should ask. I’m obviously no good at it, either. You have a bunch of virgins leading other virgins and none of us know what we’re doing,” she said, and I nodded. She wasn’t wrong.
We rode in silence the rest of the way while I considered everything she had said.
Was that why Xander had been so playful last night?
Because he sensed that my feelings had changed, that I cared about him?
Was he responding to it? He had been so caring and supportive and helpful, and I needed him cold.
I needed him angry and distant, putting walls between us.
When we arrived at the house, Thrax opened the door with a smile as we tied up our horses.
“We weren’t expecting visitors,” he said. I hadn’t told Xander I was coming here, even though he’d been right next door in our room. I wasn’t ready to face him yet.
“I hope it’s all right that we’re here,” I said.
“Of course! Come in.” He ushered us inside.
“How is Quynh?” I asked.
Another grin. “Loved, adored, and being treated like the princess that she is.”
“Good.”
“I’m assuming that you plan on questioning your prisoner?” he asked.
“Yes,” I said.
“Then I’ll need your weapons before you go upstairs.” I set down the vase I’d brought and took off my weapons. As I handed them over, he said, “The last time I asked for your weapons, I thought you were going to stab me.”
That was when Xander and I’d had our marriage negotiations.
“I did consider it,” I told him, and he laughed as he took my xiphos and put it on the table.
He turned toward Zalira with an outstretched hand.
“I’m going to stay down here, if that’s all right,” she said.
“Perfect. Maybe you can tell me the secret to winning Lia over.”
“Be the crown prince of Ilion,” she said and then laughed, while he joined in. I hoped my cheeks weren’t turning red out of embarrassment. Thrax offered her a seat and I picked up the vase and headed upstairs, steeling myself for what I was about to do.
Dolion was keeping guard outside the top door. “Lia!”
“How are you?” I asked.
“A little bored,” he admitted with a smile. “But I’m happy to see you.”
“I’m glad to see you, too.” I nodded toward the door. “Is it all right if I go in?”
“Yes. What have you brought?”
“It’s water from the temple. Lysimache said she prefers the taste and I thought it might get her to open up.” I knew it was going to get her to open up.
He quickly looked in the vase and then nodded. “Be careful. I’m here if you need any help.”
“I’ll be fine,” I said.
Dolion opened the door and I readied myself and went inside to face Lysimache.