When we reached the front gate, I asked, “Should we lock it up?”
“No,” Io said. “Close the gate but don’t lock it. I’m going to ask Xander to post a guard here to protect the grounds, and then I’ll arrange for someone to keep bringing us the fountain water.”
That was a good idea. I had the feeling we were going to need all the strength we could get for the days ahead.
We crossed through the archway and onto the street. Suri closed the gates behind us and I saw that Xander hadn’t left just a guard.
He had left what must have been half his army outside the temple walls, to keep us safe.
A warm thrill unfurled in my gut. I knew I shouldn’t want his actions to mean something more.
Zalira headed out and we followed, while the soldiers kept their distance behind us.
Io came over to me and tugged on my arm to get me to slow my pace a bit, to put some distance between us and the others. “You have to break the link you have with Xander.”
If I died, so would he. “Is this where you again encourage me to consummate my marriage?”
“No.”
Her response surprised me. She’d done nothing for the last few weeks but try and get Xander and me to have sex and had repeatedly endeavored to get me to admit that I loved him.
“Everything has changed, Lia,” she said. “I am going to find a way to break your physical bond with him. But I don’t want the two of you to get any closer.” Her voice wobbled while she spoke and I knew that it was hard for her to say this to me.
I didn’t understand. “Why?”
“Because of how it will destroy him if you die. Whatever it is that has happened between the two of you, it needs to end. When our mother died ... he was never the same. I’ve spent my whole life witnessing what that loss did to him. And if you survive what’s coming, you’re going back to Locris and Xander will become king here. There is no future for the two of you.”
I nodded, ignoring the hot, thick lump in my throat. I told myself for the thousandth time that I wasn’t going to die.
“Please don’t make this worse for him. No matter what he says or what you think, I know that he loves you. And when Xander loves, he loves completely. This might be unfair of me to ask, but for my sake, please promise me that you won’t hurt my brother. Keep your distance from him. Please don’t tell him that you love him.”
If either Xander or I said those words, it would bind our souls eternally to each other. It had happened to Zalira and Stephanos, and I knew she was in agony over that connection. Loving Stephanos but not being able to be with him because of the vows we’d made to the goddess ... I understood her pain all too well.
Something Io had apparently intuited even though I’d never admitted it to anyone. Not even myself.
And now I never could.
Because I saw how important this was to her. “I promise that I will do my best not to hurt him.”
It felt as if I’d just lost something important.
Her eyes were bright with unshed tears. “Thank you. I do worry that it’s too late already. For both of you.”
I tried to swallow that lump down and break the tension by attempting to joke with her. “If I really am the savior, then there’s no future for me with anyone.”
But my jest fell flat.
She only nodded and then quoted the prophecy: “After a trial of the elements, the savior will die, offered up as a worthy sacrifice to the goddess, and in return Ilion will be kept safe.”
Her words struck me as hard now as they had back when I’d first heard them. It was the main reason I didn’t want to accept that I was the savior.
I didn’t want to die.
Not when I had so much to live for.
“Have you had time to consider what a trial of the elements means?” I asked, needing to distract myself.
Io’s face crumpled. “I think you’ve already gone through the first one.”
