CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE
Theano was sitting on the dais, flanked on either side by Daphne and Maia. She had a veil on, as she always did.
A priestess named Nysa was speaking. She was the mentor for Artemisia s adelphia, and she d always made me uncomfortable. She was standing on the dais, addressing the triumvirate of priestesses along with the entire body gathered there.
One priestess is dead, along with two acolytes, Nysa said. That s not even counting those who were seriously injured.
Those men had wreaked a lot of damage before they were caught and stopped. They had certainly utilized the element of surprise to catch so many unawares.
I had been repeatedly told since I d arrived how safe I was here in the temple, and now there was deadly evidence that it was entirely untrue.
Maybe they were thieves! someone called out.
The Locrian brought this tragedy upon us, Nysa said, ignoring the suggestion. While we have dealt with those who have dared to enter the courtyard, no man has breached the inner sanctums of the temple in a thousand years. Not until last night.
Some of the women nearby saw me standing there and began whispering to one another.
Was this only conjecture on Nysa s part? I hoped no one here knew that those men had been looking specifically for me. They already wanted to blame me-I wasn t going to add logs onto the fire of their indignation and accusations.
We should throw the Locrian out, Artemisia said from the center of the room. She doesn t belong here.
She has taken the same vows as the rest of you, Maia interjected, angrily. She has every right to serve.
Nysa spoke over the end of Maia s last sentence. We pray daily for a savior, and yet we have opened our temple doors to a destroyer.
Ha. Those doors hadn t been opened to me. I d had to fight my way in. I wondered if anyone else here knew that.
Why would anyone want to kill us? I couldn t see the priestess who was speaking, but her voice sounded familiar. Were they soldiers? Mercenaries? Assassins? People seeking vengeance?
The words made me think of the men who had chased the woman who d claimed sanctuary. My sisters had told me that women had asked for protection many times before-maybe someone was angry about the priestesses actions?
That wouldn t explain why they d been looking for me, though.
Were there really people in Ilion who hated Locris so much that they would intentionally seek me out, committing blasphemy just for their hatred? It seemed far-fetched.
Or what if it actually had been my fault? I was the one who had gone out into the city a couple of nights ago. I thought of the men I had fought near the hetaera houses. What if they had come here solely to find and punish me?
Maybe I was to blame. I put my right hand over my stomach. I felt like I was going to be sick.
They have no distinctive marks and do not bear the seals of any noble or royal families. Antiope sounded furious. I knew she would take each and every loss personally. Their pockets were empty. There is no way to identify them or where they came from.
Should we contact the government? someone else asked.
There is nothing they can do that we cannot do ourselves, Antiope said, immediately rejecting the notion. We do not need their assistance.
We should ask the Locrian. She is here, Nysa said, pointing at me. The women directly in front of me parted so that there was a clear opening between myself and the dais.
Maia looked concerned and Daphne just looked angry. The older woman stood. We cannot hold Lia responsible for the actions of those men. She was severely harmed as well. None of us know what happened, and we cannot conjecture otherwise. We cannot turn our backs on one of our sisters.
When Daphne sat back down, Theano got to her feet. The murmurs and whispers around me died completely. She announced, The Locrian will be questioned.
I ll do it, Maia immediately offered.
And I ll assist, Nysa said.
Theano nodded, her veil waving back and forth. Maia will interrogate the Locrian with Nysa s assistance. If any of you have any information that might prove useful, you must share it with us. The safety of this temple must be upheld at all times. We have lost too many of our sisters and will not lose any others.
The women began to disperse and Maia headed straight toward me, with Nysa right behind her. My pulse beat unsteadily in my throat. Would they see through me? Would they think I was lying?
And if they did, what would they do with me? Three women were dead. This was not a situation that would end with extra cleaning duties.
Maia told me to follow her and led us to the auditorium. Nysa walked behind me, staring holes into the back of my head. I thought of Demaratus s advice to control my emotions. It was especially important now. I was so close to accomplishing my goal. I hoped I wasn t responsible for the attack, directly or indirectly.
There couldn t be any real way to tell.
Even if those men had been hunting me, their actions were not my fault. I shouldn t have to pay for their sins.
When we got to the auditorium, we walked down the stairs so that we could sit on the center dais. Both Maia and Nysa took chairs across from me. Nysa crossed her arms, while Maia leaned toward me with a kind smile on her face.
What happened last night? she asked.
I hated having to lie to her. Part of me knew that Maia might have real answers to some of my questions, but this was too big of a risk. Especially with Nysa here. Perhaps if we d been alone I could have been more honest with her.
Io and I were up late, unable to sleep. We heard a noise and went out to investigate. A man attacked Io, and I lured him away to protect her. We ended up in one of the offices upstairs because I was looking for a weapon. The man stabbed me with a knife and Io saved my life by putting his sword through his neck. She cauterized my wound and then she helped me get to the infirmary.
That is the same story that Io and the rest of their adelphia told me, Maia said with a nod.
Yes, it is very, very similar, Nysa said. It was obvious she didn t believe me. It sounds rehearsed.
It was.
I wondered when they had questioned the other members of my adelphia. Late last night? Earlier this morning?
You are always so suspicious, Maia said. Turning back to face me, she said, You know how dangerous that was, don t you? You shouldn t have left your room. That s why we have guards. You aren t far enough along in your training to go against skilled warriors like that.
Zalira and Ahyana said the men came into our bedroom, too. While I understood that Maia wanted to lecture me out of concern, we would have been in the midst of the fight either way.
Yes, why is that? Nysa asked. Why would armed men enter your room specifically?
I don t know. When that man was stabbing me, he didn t confess his intentions to me. I knew I shouldn t be sarcastic, but as Daphne had pointed out, I wasn t responsible for other people s actions.
What had happened was a terrible tragedy, and I felt gutted that anyone had lost their lives. But I wasn t going to let Nysa or Artemisia eject me from the temple.
Not when so much was at stake.
And especially not now that I finally had the treasury key in my possession.
I m satisfied with her explanation, Maia said.
Before Nysa could object, Maia raised her hand. Daphne has already told me that she will vote the way that I do, that Lia is not to blame for what occurred. Regardless of how Theano votes, we will have the majority.
Nysa glared at both of us and got up so quickly that she knocked her chair over. I wasn t sure what I had done to earn her anger, other than being born in a different land from her. She had no reason to hate me but she seemed to anyway.
She stormed out of the auditorium, and once she was gone, Maia s whole demeanor changed. She was furious.
Do you have any idea how reckless you and Io were last night? Do you understand what could have happened? We have rules for a reason, Lia. You can t just disregard them out of curiosity!
While I wanted to interject that I hadn t, now did not seem like the right time to say so.
Maia lectured me for a good half hour but she seemed to accept my story about what had happened. She even commended me for protecting Io but was angry at me for putting myself at risk.
I nodded and it didn t take much for me to look repentant. I did feel bad about the whole situation. I didn t know why those men had been targeting me specifically and I didn t want to be the reason that harm was brought to the women in the temple.
It seemed like the best thing to do would be to attempt to enter the treasury as soon as possible. If I found the eye, I could be on my way and then there wouldn t be any more attacks.
I was just going to have to convince my sisters to join me-given the condition I was in, I didn t think I d be able to do it alone.
Maia finished and told me to go back to my room. I nodded meekly and did as she asked. Groups of varying sizes talked to one another as I exited the administrative building.
Their eyes were on me. It felt like the first day of being here all over again. Outcast and despised. Blamed for bringing death and destruction to the temple.
When I got back to my bedroom, my sisters weren t there. Were they at breakfast? Being questioned by somebody else?
The high priestess, maybe?
I let out a shaky breath. I wasn t sure that Io would be able to hold her own against Theano.
When I lay down on my bed, I turned to my side so that I could reach the edges of the book. Various, unspecified gems, I told myself.
But my fingers brushed against nothing. I stretched my hand out, thinking I must have pushed it back farther than I d realized.
It wasn t there.
Starting to feel panicked, I stood up and, with my right hand, pulled the bed away from the wall completely.
The book was gone.
Like I d never even had it.
Who had taken it?
My sisters would have told me if it had been them. I could see Zalira hiding it for safekeeping if she d come across it during the struggle last night, but she hadn t said anything.
I would ask them when they returned.
The hollowed-out feeling in my gut only worsened. Somehow I knew that my adelphia didn t have the book.
It had been stolen.
I thought of the guard on watch who d caught me reading it. I had assumed that she didn t notice it because she hadn t said anything, but what if I had been wrong? What if she had reported it to someone in charge?
Theano would want to keep that book a secret. She was the spokesperson for the goddess. She passed along the rules and regulations that we all followed. If there was proof that priestesses used to be married, that the temple had provided them dowries, she would be the first person who would want to destroy it.
It would go against what she was teaching us. What someone like Maia was so certain was true.
There were no written histories here in the temple that would contradict whatever Theano decided was doctrine. No religious texts that would say she was wrong. With a bitter taste in my mouth, I realized that she could make up any rule she wanted and there wouldn t be any way to countermand her.
She was the one the priestesses prayed to. The one treated like some living incarnation of the goddess. I couldn t imagine that she would want there to be anything out there that could undermine her authority.
But it couldn t have been someone from the temple who had found it. The book was a forbidden object, and I would already be out in the streets of Troas if someone here had found it. There were people just waiting for an excuse.
It must have been the men who had attacked us last night. Was this why they d done it? Maybe they had come here not specifically to kill me but to retrieve the book that I d stolen.
That seemed impossible, too. How would they even know?
My heart came to a complete halt as I realized that the only person who knew I had the book was Jason.