Chapter Thirty-One
I ushered her into the room, hoping the guards down the hall hadn’t heard her, and shut the door.
“What did you just say?”
“Forgive me.” She walked to the center of the room, twisting the sleeve of her dress in her hand. “But you are not Queen Thalia.”
“What would make you say that?” Now my heart thundered for a completely different reason than it had moments ago. What would happen if she told the king?
“I was sent to Ilion as the king’s representative when Queen Thalia and King Alexandros celebrated the birth of their first child. I spoke to them both, gave them a gift.”
My eyes went wide and I looked at Zain over her head. What did we do now?
“I am not here to threaten or blackmail you,” she said. “I want to help you in whatever way I can. I want you to include me in the plans you are making.”
Clearing my throat, I said, “I don’t mean to offend you, but so far all my interactions with Epirians have been terrible.”
“We don’t seem trustworthy, but once we pledge ourselves to someone, that is set in stone. It never changes. And I do that now.”
She pulled out a knife and cut her hand, letting the blood drip to the floor. She got down on one knee, her head bowed.
“I swear, by the name of Eramis, that I pledge myself to you . . .” She looked at me to finish her sentence.
“Basileia.”
“I pledge myself to you, Basileia, and offer this blood as a symbol of that pledge. My loyalty will be to you. I will bleed for you. If I break that vow, may Eramis take the rest of my blood and consign me to an eternity of torment.”
I stood there, uncertain of what to say. She hadn’t even known my real name and she’d still pledged herself to me in an unbreakable vow.
And I didn’t understand why.
“Accept,” Zain said softly.
“I accept.”
Dione smiled and got to her feet. Zain gave her a cloth to wrap around her hand.
“Basileia is a Thracian name,” she said.
I took off the ring Zain had put on me and saw how big her eyes got when all my tattoos reappeared. I put the ring back on.
“But Thracians . . .”
“Are horrible, evil people that only care about the destruction of Epirius?” I offered. She nodded. “We have the same story in Thrace.”
The thought occurred to me that perhaps I should have told her I was Thracian before she made her pledge.
It was too late now.
She said, “I heard that the king wishes for you to find Eramis’s caduceus.”
“You heard.”
She nodded. “The only way to stay alive in a place like this is to have as much information as you can, no matter the cost.”
How had she come by that information? Had she bribed one of the concubines? The servants who had waited on us?
The hidden assassins?
I supposed it didn’t matter.
“You can’t give Actos the caduceus.”
The idea of handing him a god-weapon didn’t thrill me either, but I knew that god-weapons were not always easy to use. Perhaps he wouldn’t be able to figure out how to properly wield it. “Why does he want it?”
“Because he is a false king.” Her entire body shook with her anger.
“You hate him.”
“If I could strangle him to death with my bare hands, I would!” She almost shouted the words and I glanced again at the door, hoping no one had heard that. Realizing what she had done, she took in several deep breaths as if to calm herself.
“My uncle was a good and just king, and Actos killed him. He wanted to steal his throne and he succeeded, and according to our code, my uncle should have been banished. Instead Actos ordered his death, which goes against everything we believe in. Then he had my parents killed and took me to be his servant. Our nation has been cursed ever since he went against our code. He destroyed the heart of us.”
“Weak men cause hard times,” Zain said from across the room, where he stood with his arms crossed, listening.
Dione wiped away an angry tear. “If he holds the caduceus, he thinks it will give him the right to rule until the end of his days; that having it will prevent someone else from stealing his throne.”
“Why wouldn’t an Epirian just steal the caduceus from Actos?”
“Actos controls the military,” Dione said. “And the legislators. He knows all their secrets and blackmails them into behaving. There is no way to steal the throne without those two groups.”
“But if I don’t bring him the caduceus, he won’t let the Thracian concubines go. And I can’t leave them here. That’s a vow I’ve taken.”
We all fell silent. How could I do this and make everyone happy? I asked, “Could I tell him I’m going for the caduceus but then circle back and free the concubines?”
Dione shook her head. “The palace is impossible to break into, by design. And Actos has been collecting dishonored Daemonians to be the palace guards for years. They keep him safe, and he will have some of them secretly follow you to the cave to make sure you do what he commanded.”
“No one has better guards than thieves do,” Zain said.
I supposed that made sense, but . . . “Daemonians! We can reason with them.”
“Didn’t you hear the part about them being dishonored?” he asked. “These are not the kind of Daemonians who shoot someone for cheating. They’re the kind that cheat.”
Lia had a former priestess from her temple who was goddess-blessed and she barely held her own against one Daemonian. That was how good they were at fighting.
A palace full of them, all intent on killing me?
That would not end well.
“I am sorry for the concubines,” Dione said. “But you can’t sacrifice an entire nation for a few lives. Actos is destroying Epirius. He takes everything for himself and leaves his people with nothing.”
“I will find a way to do both,” I said, shocking myself. I had just offered to help save Epirius.
My mother would disown me.
There was another knock at my door. Dione looked frightened. “They can’t know I’m here.”
“You’re our liaison,” I said.
“Not at this time of night.”
Zain took her into the washroom, and when he reemerged, I opened the door.
It was the same white-haired steward we’d met when we first arrived. “Please pardon the interruption, Queen Thalia, but I am looking for Dione. Have you seen her?”
“Not since this afternoon,” I said, the lie falling off my tongue far too easily.
And perhaps because I’d been telling them so often, another one occurred to me.
One that might help this situation. If I could have Dione meet the Thracian girls, maybe then she would see why it mattered to me.
“At dinner this evening, the king offered me two Thracian girls. I would like them brought to my room right away.”
The steward’s face didn’t move at all. “Of course, Your Majesty.”
She walked away and I felt ill for what I’d requested. As if Actos and I were alike.
“You won’t be able to make everyone happy,” Zain said as he came over. “Something will have to give.”
“Then I need you to come up with a solution so that I can save those girls and keep the caduceus out of Actos’s hands.” I might not have cared a great deal about Epirius’s future, but I cared very much about that man not having more power.
“The only thing I’ve thought of is that we retrieve the weapon, bring it to him, and then steal it after. Perhaps Dione could secretly let us into the palace. It’s not a great plan.”
It was better than nothing, which was what I currently had.
Because it sounded like my “kill all the guards in the hallways until we reach Actos’s room and then kill him, too” plan wouldn’t work.
“We grab the caduceus and then I could free the concubines who were still here after I get the Thracians out,” I said.
And once we did that, I would take the weapon to Ilion. If anyone knew how to deal with god-weapons, it would be them.
Then there was a very soft knock at the door.
“I’m the servant, I’ll open it,” he said.
“And I’m the one who requested them, so it might look off if I’m not there to collect my prize.” Again, I felt ill even saying it, but I pushed the sensation down.
I fixed a smile on my face before I opened the door. The steward stood behind the two Thracian girls. “As requested, Your Majesty.”
Both girls had their heads down and I started to feel my anger bubbling up. This was not how Thracians behaved. What had the Epirians done to them?
“Thank you,” I said, waving the girls inside.
“Enjoy yourself, Your Majesty.”
I kept the angry glare off my face. “I intend to.”
Then I shut the door and listened as the steward walked down the hall. When her footsteps were far enough away, I went over to the girls. “Please come and sit on the sofa. There is much for us to discuss. Z—Theogenes? Can you get Dione?”
“Dione?” The one on the right looked panicked. It was the same one who had told me they were Thracian. The girl on the left continued to keep her head down.
And I supposed it wasn’t surprising that they were worried about Dione. She told me that she had served as the king’s representative before. “She has pledged herself to me. I think she is trustworthy. We are all working toward the same goal. What are your names?”
The one on the right said, “I am Nesdahlia, and this is Cotys. We are twins, both ten and four years old.”
Bile rose up in the back of my throat. They had only seen fourteen summers? They were younger than I’d even thought. Still children. “I am Basileia, daughter of Leiva of Thrace.”
“Leiva?” Nesdahlia repeated. “Your mother is the leader of your clan.”
I heard Zain and Dione reenter the room and I took advantage of the opportunity to help Dione see why I needed to rescue these girls. I asked them, “How does the king treat you?”
Cotys’s head somehow went even lower.
“He treats us as if we are his slaves, like we belong to him,” Nesdahlia said.
“How did you come to be in Epirius?”
“We were in a hunting party to provide food for our village,” she responded.
“My two sisters, our cousin, and my mother. We were captured by Epirians and brought here. He locked our mother up and uses her against us. If we do not behave, if we do not do the things that we are told to, he will kill her.”
Older Thracian women might have just gutted him and accepted their death, but these girls were so young and frightened.
“Has he . . .” I couldn’t think of the right way to phrase it.
“We are untouched by him, and by any other,” Nesdahlia assured me.
Given how lascivious the king was, how long would that last?
“We heard what the king promised you,” she added. “That we would be free to go with you once you retrieve his weapon. What if he goes back on his word?”
“Then I will find a way to free you all. I promise you that.”
Cotys started to cry and Nesdahlia put her arms around her sister. I walked over to Dione and Zain. “You still think I should leave them?”
“No,” Dione said, unshed tears shimmering in her eyes.
“We will find a way to save them and help Epirius.”
She nodded. “I need to get back to my room. I’ve already been missed.” She let herself out.
I was watching the girls and asked Zain, “How long should we keep them here?” I didn’t want Actos to think they’d displeased me.
“Two hours at least.”
“Two hours?” I demanded over my shoulder. “I would get sore.”
He came up behind me, his hand going around my waist to rest on my stomach, and it fluttered in response. His mouth was next to my ear and I leaned back against him, his body hard, hot, and solid behind me. My breath stuttered inside my chest.
“Oh, illora, you can’t begin to imagine how much time I would spend savoring you.”