CHAPTER TWO
Lia?
I immediately relaxed and sighed. It was just my sister, Quynh.
You scared me, I told her when she peered down at me from the top of the stairs. She was always too frightened to come all the way down. I sheathed my dagger and then returned the book to its box, replacing the stone lid. You ll remember to take this to Kallisto if I don t return?
Someone in my family would have to carry on the legacy if I wasn t here to do it.
Yes, I ll remember. She sounded so annoyed that it reminded me of Demaratus. But you re coming back.
We both knew it was more likely that I wouldn t. No other maiden ever had.
But she and I never spoke about that.
Mother is looking for you. You need to get cleaned up and ready for dinner, she said. Outside of Demaratus and my regiment, Quynh was the only other person who knew what I d been doing the last year, and so she could always find me easily.
I nodded and took one final glance around the temple before I went upstairs to join her.
Hurry! she said, pushing against my back when I reached the top floor.
Why are you in such a rush? I asked.
After dinner I have plans to meet with Andronicus, she said with a secret smile.
I smiled back. Will he finally ask for your hand?
He knows not to. Not until I know . . . Quynh s voice trailed off.
Not until you know my fate, I finished for her. I don t want you to put your plans aside for me. You should marry if that s what you want to do.
She shrugged and we walked back to the palace. Somehow I attracted even more dirt, while she managed to remain pristine, like she was floating over the dusty, arid earth.
My stomach growled. I m starving.
The only good thing about the Ilionians coming was that they would bring an extravagant feast with them to celebrate the selection. There would be all kinds of rich and delicious meats and vegetables, fruits and grains that no one in Locris had the opportunity to eat any other time of the year, savory, flaky fish, and such a variety of sweet desserts that last year I d nearly wept when I saw them all.
We subsisted on so little here in our desert kingdom that it was difficult to remember that others routinely had access to so much more than we did.
And that the Ilionians were to blame for cutting off our trade access.
Here, Quynh said, reaching into her tunic pocket and pulling out a cloth that she had wrapped around-
Pasteli! I exclaimed as soon as I saw it. It was a thin bar made of honey and sesame. My mouth watered and I eagerly took the piece she offered to me. Where did you get this?
Had the Ilionians arrived early?
Andronicus bought some this morning at the docks and gave it to me.
Feeling guilty, I tried to hand it back to her. You should keep it. He intended for you to have it.
Half the men in the palace were in love with Quynh. Not only because she was beautiful physically, with her silky, black hair hanging to her waist, her unusual long and thin eyes, her high cheekbones that always seemed to be flushed pink, but because she was so beautiful inside, too. Kind and generous and selfless in a way that I could only aspire to.
I always felt gangly and awkward around Quynh, and wished I could be more like her. Not so short-tempered and judgmental or impatient. She had definitely been a good influence on me, something our mother noted often.
Quynh had joined the palace when we were six years old. Her ship had been destroyed and she had washed up on our beaches. Shipwrecks weren t unusual-the strange and high reef formation along our shores to the south had ruined many vessels. Thanks to the Ilionian blockade, we had become a nation of traders and scavengers, taking whatever the ocean offered since the earth had been denied to us.
My older brother and I had been searching for seashells when we found her. I stayed with her while he ran back to get help. Everyone was surprised that she had survived. She spoke a fair amount of the common tongue-she had been able to tell us her name and that her family were merchants who had traveled from a land called Goguryeo, far in the east. They had been blown off course by a storm that had torn their ship apart.
I had felt an instant kinship to her, as if we had been meant to know one another. My soul recognized hers. Orphans were usually taken by a couple unable to have their own children, but I had begged my parents to let her come home with us.
They had permitted it and she had stayed.
Quynh was family. My sister.
And my best friend.
Andronicus won t mind if I share the pasteli with you, she said, gently pushing my hand away.
He meant it as a token of his affection, I tried to insist, but somehow the pasteli made its way to my mouth. I tried not to moan when I took my first bite and the sweetness of the honey exploded across my tongue. It really had been a romantic gift-the honey was symbolic of love and passion, the sesame of fertility.
It was a treat often served at Locrian weddings. It spoke very clearly of Andronicus s intentions once his military service ended.
We went into my room and she shut the door behind us. He has shown me his affection in countless ways already. I m sure he plans to show me his affection again later tonight.
It was as if Quynh lived in a secret world that I d never even glimpsed, let alone entered.
I went behind my dressing curtain and washed my body quickly with a sea sponge and cold water, changing into the tunic she had left waiting for me.
Sit down, she said when I emerged. My clothes always felt voluminous after training and it took me a bit to readapt to them. I sat in the chair at my dressing table, positioned in front of my polished obsidian mirror. I looked at our reflections and again felt inadequate. I knew I was not beautiful. Not like Quynh or our sister, Kallisto. Kallisto resembled our mother with her dark hair, short stature, and generous curves. I looked more like our father and brother-too tall for a woman, with lighter brown hair and eyes that couldn t decide whether they wanted to be green or brown.
You know that I can style my own hair, I told her. I wouldn t do it as well, but I was capable.
She ignored my offer. While Quynh was usually the type of person who would go along with what others wanted, when it came to things that were important to her, she was obstinate and immovable. She would perform this task for me whether I liked it or not.
I m going to have to put some scented powder in your hair, she grumbled, more to herself. You ll have to wash it before the selection.
I would. I couldn t sail off to my death with dirty hair.
Especially since it was my one vanity. The color was plain, but it was thick and curled slightly at the ends. Like all Locrian women s hair, it hung down past my waist.
Quynh had just started to comb through my hair when she came to a sudden stop and I felt a snag. What is it? I asked.
My bracelet. My bracelet is caught. I heard the strong emotion in her voice.
Cut my hair, I said. It was the most serious offer I could make her. No woman of Locris ever cut her hair. But that bracelet was the one thing she had left from her parents, and I would never let it be ruined. Better my head be shaved than for Quynh to lose her bracelet.
I think I can work it free, she said. It took a couple of minutes, but she finally managed it. There!
She held her wrist out in triumph and I examined the bracelet carefully. It was constructed from green and white silk, with a large green gukwa knot in the center that resembled a flower. Smaller knots kept beads of jade and pearl in place.
I let out a sigh of relief. It was her most treasured possession. It was important to me that she still have it once . . .
Once I m gone.
So what exactly do you have planned with Andronicus tonight? I asked, wanting to redirect my thoughts.
Her cheeks reddened slightly and she ducked her head. This and that.
Kissing? I asked, and she flushed even harder.
I m surprised that nothing has happened with you and any of the men you train with. How did you miss how handsome Andronicus is?
Because I d never thought of him that way. Andronicus was my captain and the person who had given me a black eye on my second day of training. I d had to blame it on running into a door to shake off my mother s suspicion.
I d never considered any of the regiment as prospective romantic partners. They were my friends, my fellow trainees. I had been solely focused on my mission, and there hadn t been time for boys or kisses. And Demaratus would have killed any soldier who tried to kiss me.
Not to mention that I was betrothed to the Ilionian prince and probably shouldn t have been kissing other men.
But now I regretted my choices. Quynh had described how exciting kissing was, the way it made you feel warm and shivery all at once, how you lost track of time and your mind shut down-I wished more than anything that I had experienced it myself.
Maybe I should have gone off with Telamon so that I could have tried it.
I sighed. I didn t want to die without ever kissing someone.
Quynh finished brushing my hair, creating two braids in the front that she pulled back and tied together. There. At least you actually resemble the princess that you are.
There was no real way to tell now. My grandmother had described to me once what their lives had been like when she was young. How their tunics had been created from a linen so fine it was nearly see-through, soft and luxurious. The jewels they had worn on their ears, their necks, their wrists, the crowns on their heads.
But in order to survive the Ilionian tariffs, my family had sold off almost everything we d once owned.
The tunic I wore, although one of my finest, was indistinguishable from the ones worn by the servants in the palace.
Quynh and I left for the dining room, walking together down the stone hallways lit by torches.
Our relative poverty was one of the reasons why my betrothal to the Ilionian prince was so important to my parents. I was supposed to convince him to decrease the tariffs imposed by his blockade. It was rumored that the king of Ilion had fallen ill and the crown prince had increased the taxes, from his own people and the blockade, to waste on whoring and drinking.
When the goddess had cursed our lands, Locris had been a lush place full of flocks and grain, cheese and honey. But she had turned our once-rich soil to arid dust and now nothing would grow. Water wasn t a problem-we still had plenty of it, but the ground was barren no matter how much water was poured on it.
For a thousand years we had been able to import everything we needed, exporting salt and blocks of marble from our quarries.
But with the increased tariffs taken by the blockade, fewer merchants dared to travel here, and the ones who did had much higher prices, passing the cost along to us.
I d overheard my father in meetings with his advisers where he was told that the quarries were nearly empty.
The young people of Locris had forsaken their ancestral lands and homes and set out for other places to start over. They saw what I did.
My nation was dying. If things continued as they were, it wouldn t be long before there was no one left.
Which was probably the point. Ilion had always been our mortal enemy, and they had found a way to destroy us without shedding blood.
Well, besides the blood of the maidens they demanded as tribute.
We entered the dining room and everyone was waiting for us.
Quynh and Lia! There you are! We were about to send out the guard to search for you, our father, King Ephesus, called out from the head of the table. Our mother, Queen Hypatia, sat on the opposite end and beamed at us. Our elder sister, Kallisto, also smiled, pleased that we d arrived.
My heart twisted in my chest. This would be the last dinner I ever had alone with my family.
And they didn t even know it.