“Be careful,” Ahyana said, and to his clear surprise, she kissed him gently.
He couldn’t stop himself from smiling before he shape-shifted and flew off.
Stephanos was winding the rope up, and I noticed how despondent he looked.
“Are you all right?” I asked him. It was probably a silly question, given that none of us were.
“Dolion was my best friend,” he said. “I shared so much with him. He was the one I talked to about Zalira. How could I have not known?”
“Because he made sure you didn’t.”
Everyone had been tricked, including Xander. And now he was paying the price for trusting someone who didn’t deserve it.
“He told me how he felt about you,” Stephanos confessed, and I could tell that it wasn’t easy for him to say. That even after what Dolion had done, he still felt like he was betraying a friend. “I should have told Xander. But I thought I was keeping my best friend’s confidences.”
“Dolion kissed me,” I said, not wanting him to feel so alone. “And I didn’t tell Xander, either. I didn’t want to cause a problem in theirrelationship. Because I thought that if he felt about you all the way I feel about my adelphia, I didn’t want to take that from him.”
“I suppose Dolion took care of that all on his own.”
It made me wonder whether any of what Dolion had said to me was real. Or if it had simply been part of his plan. Was he trying to drive a wedge between Xander and me?
And if he was, why? What was his end goal? It didn’t make any sense.
Ahyana called on her aspect, and I went over to see what she was doing.
“I’m going to find Artemisia,” she said, before I even asked. “They know to look for ravens, but I found a peregrine falcon. She flies so fast and sees so well.”
She fell silent. I supposed she was watching through the falcon’s eyes as she had with the bats.
Rokh flew into camp and shifted. “I found the horses. They’re not far from here.”
“We’ll go as soon as Ahyana’s done,” Zalira said.
I saw the concern on Rokh’s face and he went and sat next to her. She reached out and took his hand so that he could help power her.
Io approached and asked me, “Can I speak with you?”
I didn’t feel ready to talk, especially not about her brother. I could feel him moving farther and farther away from me, a tiny light that grew dimmer with each passing moment.
“I’m sorry, but I would prefer not to hear a lecture right now.” It was probably unkind, but I felt like a bowstring pulled too tight—I might snap if she applied more pressure.
“No, Lia. I want to apologize to you. I shouldn’t have asked you to stay away from Xander. Or had you promise that you wouldn’t hurt him. That was wrong of me.”
I was so surprised that at first I couldn’t formulate a response. But I did feel bad that I hadn’t been able to do what she’d asked me. “I’m sorry that I couldn’t stay away from him.”
“Don’t apologize. It was like trying to stop a waterfall from flowing,” she said as she took my hand. “There was no way to prevent you and Xander from loving each other. I know better than anyone that we can’t protect against pain. The price of humanity, of loving, is grief and hurt. We don’t get to have one without the other.”
I had to clear the lump in my throat before I could speak. “I know you did it because you were worried. You love your brother.”
“So do you,” she said.
And I didn’t correct her.
“I found the Carians!” Ahyana called out. She turned off her aspect and stood, her limbs shaking. “But they aren’t coming from the south. They’re going around the mountain range. They’re going to attack from the north!”
All of Ilion’s defenses were being put up south of Troas.
Which meant that the city wouldn’t be ready.
