Chapter Twenty-Eight
We followed behind the leader and entered the city. It was strange—this wasn’t somewhere that I’d ever thought I would be.
Unless I had come to raze it all to the ground.
The streets just past the gate were empty. It wouldn’t be much of a parade to humiliate me if no one showed up for it.
About five minutes later we reached the agora. There were Epirians everywhere. I recoiled and instinctively reached for my sword, which wasn’t there. Every single person had the swirling black lines to indicate their successful thefts.
I watched them carefully but none of them seemed to notice us.
It was strange—I had never thought of them as people.
But they lived here the same way we did in Thrace.
Women chatted in the market while their children scampered around their feet.
Men were telling each other terrible jokes and laughing.
Merchants called out to potential buyers to come and see their wares.
“Not the monsters you imagined them to be?” Zain asked quietly.
I hated that he could tell what I was thinking. I tried to ignore him.
Then he asked, “Why did you save me?”
“Because I get to kill you first before anyone else.”
He actually smiled at my words, apparently not taking me seriously.
We passed the agora and went down a main street.
We had been walking for about ten minutes when I heard a feminine scream and people laughing.
A woman in a beautiful dress ran out into the road in front of us and halted, looking behind her.
A large man came and threw her over his shoulder while the onlookers cheered.
“That man is kidnapping her!” Why was no one stopping this?
Zain’s fingers wrapped around my arm, signaling me to stay put. “This is part of their marriage ceremony. He is ‘stealing’ her from her family. That’s why she stopped and waited for him to catch up to her. Look. She’s smiling.”
The woman was smiling, just as he’d said. It did look like a celebration. I jerked my arm away from him and tried to ignore the burning trails he had left behind.
“Barbarians,” I muttered as we walked forward. “It doesn’t surprise me this king hired Dracanians. Epirians are just the same.”
“Dracanians are without honor, without morals,” he said.
“So are Epirians.”
“That’s different.”
“How?” I asked.
“Dracanians steal and sell people, which is against the Epirian code.”
I understood the point he was making but I did not acknowledge it. Instead I thought about what I would do to him when I got my hands on a decent knife again.
Or a dull one. Either would work.
He launched into a tale about the history of the Dracanians, all things I’d heard before.
That they were descended from pirates whose ship had been wrecked.
When they found other people, instead of joining them, the pirates enslaved the men and took their women.
They repeated this pattern everywhere they went and then branched out into taking men, women, and children to be slaves.
The one good thing was that the Dracanians had never created their own nation. They were nomadic, always moving from one place to the next so that they would never get caught.
Never be held accountable for the crimes they and their ancestors had committed.
I had always wondered why they hadn’t returned to their homeland once they could afford to build new ships. I supposed they made too much money from their disgusting practices.
Perhaps I should create a list like Zain had for all the people I needed to kill after I had figured out a way to escape.
I thought about who would be on that list, which included all the men currently surrounding me.
We finally arrived at the palace, walking up a grand staircase to the front entrance. A servant waited for us there and ushered us inside.
A woman with only a few black lines on her skin and bright white hair stood in the front hall. “I am one of the stewards of the palace. Welcome, Queen Thalia. The king has asked that I escort you to your rooms so that you may wash after your long journey and join him for dinner this evening.”
What would she do if I refused? I wouldn’t. I needed to see this king for myself and find out what it was he wanted with Lia. Then I would escape and warn her.
The steward inclined her head slightly. “You Dracanians may go to the office of the high steward and he will see that you are compensated.”
I was glad to see them go.
“Queen Thalia, this is your . . .” The steward trailed off, her gaze pointed at Zain.
“My manservant. Theogenes.”
Her eyebrows lifted for a moment in a flash of emotion, but then her serene look returned. “I see. This way.”
She began walking, not even checking to see if we followed. Zain stayed a few steps behind me. I supposed he was trying hard to appear to be a servant.
I kept track of the twists and turns and where the doors and windows were. I was going to break out of this place and I needed to know the floor plan to do so.
We arrived at our room and the steward opened the door. The room was large and simple. One massive bed, two trunks, a table and chairs. A couch, a mirror, and a fireplace.
“I hope this is to your liking,” the steward said.
It didn’t smell like death like the back of that cart had, so it was already a thousand times better. But what would Lia say? “This will do.”
Her lips tightened. “And obviously your manservant will stay in here with you.”
“Obviously,” I agreed. What? Why weren’t they putting him in the servants’ quarters?
“Should you require anything, you can send your manservant to retrieve us.”
What would a queen say next? I settled on, “Thank you.”
She nodded and left the room.
Zain chuckled to himself as he set Dagger down. Dagger ran under the bed and hid. I told myself not to ask why he had laughed, that I didn’t care, but it didn’t stop the words from coming out of my mouth. “What’s so funny?”
“You keep telling everyone that I’m your manservant.”
“So?”
“That means something different here. It means I service you,” he said.
“Yes, I understand what a servant does.”
“No,” he said, stifling another bark of laughter. “It means my one job is to fulfill your sexual needs.”
I blinked at him repeatedly. I had just been announcing to the entire world that Zain was only here to have sex with me when I demanded it. Epirians were the worst. Goddess, this whole ordeal was terrible.
“Would you like to use the washroom first?” he asked, and the tone he used, the sound of his voice, took me back to before I knew what he really was. It was the kind of question he might have asked me when we’d shared a room during the tournament.
An innocuous and harmless one that now felt like a double-edged sword.
I shook my head and sat on the edge of the bed. He went into the washroom and closed the door. There was a sound and I had to strain to listen. Was he . . . singing?
We were prisoners in a foreign land and he was singing.
Resolving to put him out of my mind, I focused on my surroundings. The bed was very soft and comfortable, nicer than almost any other I’d ever used.
And everything in this room was here because someone had stolen it.
I took the laurel crown off my head and placed it on a table. Then I stood up and began walking around, investigating. I checked the windows but they were sealed shut and did not open. No escape route there.
Once I had ascertained the only way out was through the door, I tried to find something else to do.
I did not sit in rooms like this. I had no patience for it.
I didn’t have a weapon to train with. There were some ugly murals on the wall that did not interest me.
I saw books on the shelves near the fireplace but that didn’t do me any good.
All I had were my thoughts. How had I gotten into this situation?
I was here because Zain had drugged me and stolen from me.
The Dracanians were already looking for you. They would have found you eventually.
That voice sounded suspiciously like Lia’s. And I dismissed her assertion. I would never know if that was true.
At least he’s here with you and you’re not alone.
I would rather he weren’t here. If he hadn’t been with me and the Dracanians had found me, I wouldn’t have gone with them. I would have fought until I couldn’t fight any longer. This felt cowardly and I didn’t like it.
So . . . you’re saying that Zain saved your life.
I growled. I needed this Lia voice out of my head.
Especially since Zain had chosen that moment to come out of the washroom with his hair still damp and a linen wrapped around his hips and the voice had a great deal of inappropriate things to say about it. I averted my gaze and marched past him, closing the door behind me.
The water coming out of the faucet was warm, just as it had been in Sagaris. I filled up the marble tub and took off the silk dress, flinging it to one side. Had it really just been a few days ago that I had decided to keep it so I would have good memories of my time with Zain?
I spotted a comb and soap on a tray near the tub. A brief image flashed in my mind of Zain lathering himself up and I immediately banished it. He had already used my body against me once. I wouldn’t allow him to do it again.
I had just finished rinsing my hair when there was a knock at my door. “Go away!”
“Queen Thalia, may I speak to you?” It was a woman’s voice, but not that of the steward who had shown us to our rooms.
“Just one moment.”
I hadn’t brought a tunic with me to change into. And I was not going to put Zain’s dress back on ever again. So I grabbed a dry linen and wrapped it around myself. “You may enter.”
Did that sound regal enough?
This was one of the reasons I hated lying. I was bad at it.
A beautiful dark-haired woman came into the room. She looked as if we were close in age. She had on an elaborate pale blue tunic, and black, swirling lines traveled up her arms like vines.
“My name is Dione and the king has selected me to act as your liaison while you’re here and to answer any questions you might have. As well as overseeing your care.” She glanced around the room. “Do you not have maidservants with you?”
Oh goddess, was that another sexual question?
When I didn’t answer, she added, “To do your hair and help you dress?”
“No, it is just me and my . . . Theogenes.” I needed to stop calling him my manservant.
“And you only have a few clothing items with you. I have already sent word for tunics and dresses to be brought for you tonight for your dinner with the king. Will you require anything else this evening?”
I couldn’t think of anything and started to say as much until Zain spoke.
“My queen enjoys drawing and will need papyrus and lead.”
Was he hoping that doing nice things for me would abate my anger? It did not. And it reminded me of something that I did want. “The Dracanians who brought us here—they took my armor and weapons. I want those back.”
Dione nodded. “I will see that it’s done.”
I pointed at the dress on the floor. “And can you take that and make sure that it’s burned?”
She went over and picked it up. “Of course. If you will wait here, I’ll have the maidservants join you.”
I was grateful for the reprieve she had just offered me. I could hide in here without looking like a coward.
Dione closed the door behind her and I heard the sound of voices, as if she and Zain were talking.
I went over to look at my reflection in the mirror. It was so strange to see myself without my tattoos. I hadn’t been this way since I was . . . thirteen years old. At fourteen I had bloodied my sword for the first time.
I’d killed an Epirian.
Sitting on the side of the tub, I waited for the maidservants to arrive. I heard Zain moving around in the room and found myself wondering what he was doing.
I grimaced, annoyed. I didn’t want to think or wonder about him. I wanted him to go away and for this to be over.
He stuck his head into the bathroom doorway and I jumped, not expecting him. I was about to yell at him when he said, “Whatever you do, don’t use my real name here.”
“What? Why?”
“Because I tend to infringe upon their business, and the Epirians don’t care for that.”
It seemed obvious to me that I couldn’t say anything about who he really was. If I told anyone that I had the king of thieves with me, then he could reveal I wasn’t Queen Thalia and this would all get a lot uglier. Mutually assured destruction.
Which would be easier to deal with if Dione could actually retrieve my weapons.
Fifteen minutes later two maidservants arrived. They only had a few black lines on their skin. When I tried to speak to them, they exchanged glances and didn’t respond.
As if they weren’t allowed to talk to me.
I stayed quiet while they dressed me and fixed my hair. I’d never been one to dress up. There had never been a need for it.
So I felt a bit silly when they were finished. Dione had returned to accompany me to the king’s dining room.
When I emerged from the washroom, I saw the look in Zain’s eyes as he took me in.
Desire.
Hunger.
Appreciation.
Then it was gone. Someone had brought him a tunic that matched what the maidservants were wearing.
“If you’ll both follow me,” Dione said.
Zain was coming as well? I couldn’t object because, considering what his position was supposed to be, it made sense that he would always be with me.
We walked down hallways and through grand rooms and I added the new places to the mental map I’d been making. When we reached the dining room, two guards flanked the doors and opened them when they saw us.
Dione stayed back as Zain and I walked in.
“The queen of Ilion,” one of the guards said.
The king of Epirius was not at all what I had expected. He was a lump of a man, not regal or distinguished looking. Very ordinary. He only had a few black lines on him, which I found surprising. I would have thought that he would have the most.
I didn’t know how royal protocol worked, but I had thought that King Actos would greet me.
Instead he had surrounded himself with women in diaphanous dresses, who sat on the floor near his feet, stood behind him massaging his shoulders, and flanked his sides, feeding him food.
Then he finally noticed that I had entered the dining room.
“Ah, Queen Thalia.” He pointed to a chair at the opposite end of the table from him. “Please have a seat. We have much to discuss.”