“I wasn’t sure, and I was perfectly fine.”
“Wife, I don’t ever want you to put yourself in danger, and now it’s worse because—”
He was cut off by someone calling out to us. “King Alexandros! Queen Thalia! This way!”
The guards at the northern gate had opened it slightly for us to enter.
My overprotective husband gave me his hand and we walked back into Troas, ready to face what came next.
As my husband had predicted, most of the Carians either surrendered or fled. Those who surrendered were sent back to Caria as a show of good faith from Ilion. That we wanted our fight to be over and to find a way to work together in the future.
There wouldn’t be a good deal of trust on either side in the beginning, but I was living proof that enemies could be turned into something else.
The first thing we had to do was gather the wounded Ilionians and bring them to the healers to be cared for. Then it was on to the dead bodies. Suri created a mass grave, and both the Ilionians and Carians were buried in there together.
Someone had suggested burning the Carians, but if we hoped to make peace with them, we couldn’t treat their dead so disrespectfully. It would have been blasphemous to them—they worshipped an earth god and needed to be reunited with the earth when they died.
But we made an exception for Artemisia. My adelphia and I burned her together. I used the flame from the goddess’s sword to accomplish it, and we all bore witness.
Both the Thracians and the Daemonians decided to depart immediately. With the fighting over, they didn’t see a reason to stay.
Basileia told me she was going back with the Thracians, as she missed her home.
“Thank you for protecting Quynh,” I told her. “You are welcome here anytime.”
“It has grown quite boring here with no one trying to kill anyone else. Thrace at least knows how to maintain their enemies,” she said with a wink, and we hugged.
Reuniting Haemon and Quynh was my favorite thing that had happened since the battle ended. They were beyond thrilled to see one another and couldn’t stop talking. My family was coming back together.
And I was going to create a new one to add to that love.
The cleanup for the city would take months, if not years. We would have to reinforce and, in some instances, rebuild walls. The docks had been almost completely destroyed, and the harbor was littered with ship wreckage. Cleaning the sea was the priority because we needed the traders and merchants to return.
The citizens left the cavern and returned to their homes. Xander used the soldiers to set up a system to distribute the supplies from the cavern to make certain that everyone had enough food to tide them over.
Once the markets reopened and the traders returned, things would start to go back to normal.
We tried to carve out our own bit of normal by attending Quynh and Thrax’s wedding. They married quietly in a simple ceremony, with only Xander, me, Rokh, Io, and Haemon as witnesses.
When I hugged her after, I said, “I have a present for you.”
“You do?” she asked. I understood her surprise. Things were still so chaotic in the city that many traditions and niceties were being ignored.
I leaned in and said, “I think I’m pregnant, too.”
“Lia!” She sounded so delighted and hugged me again. “That is the most incredible gift! Our babies will grow up together and be the best of friends!”
I wouldn’t let the smile fall off my face. I was still trying to find a way to make that possible.
Several weeks later, we celebrated Zalira and Ahyana’s double wedding to Stephanos and Rokh. As a gift, Xander gave them homes close to the palace, just as he had for Quynh and Thrax.
We watched them at the hearth of the palace, each woman accepting an apple from her new husband to finalize the ceremony.
“I got you a present today,” Xander said.
“It’s not my wedding,” I said in amusement.
“Pelias and his family were asked to leave Troas.”
