“Have you had sex with the prince?”
Chapter Sixteen
Her question surprised me so much that I couldn’t formulate a response.
“I would guess you haven’t,” Lysimache said. “And if he hasn’t bedded you, then you’re physically connected. His pain is yours. Someone only has to kill one of you to get to the other, and my guess is that will happen sooner rather than later.”
Of course she would know about my physical link with Xander. Another reason she’d been willing to let the wedding go through instead of killing me outright as she had planned. She had gambled that someone else would do the job for her. I glanced down at my bandaged hand. “I’ll go home and have sex with him today.”
This seemed to amuse her. “And break your vow? I know you think you can save Locris. Do you really think you can access the goddess’s power if you do not do what you promised her?”
My worst fear laid bare. I did my best to not react.
She added, “He doesn’t trust you. He never will. You don’t know the royal family. I’m certain he keeps things from you.”
Why was she saying this? How had she figured out that Xander had become a weak spot for me? Enough. It was time to get at the bigger questions.
“Where is Artemisia really from? Who is she working for?”
“As I’ve already told you, I don’t know.”
It seemed she really didn’t care who destroyed Ilion and Locris, only that it was done. “Why didn’t you go with her?”
“When I initially consulted with the oracle, I asked her how I could stay alive to defeat the savior. She told me that I could ingest the eye in micro amounts, but that by doing so, I would never be able to leave Ilion again or else I would instantly die. I must be connected to the lands where the goddess’s power lies. It’s become my prison.”
Which was another reason why she hated Ilion so much. “You told Artemisia to kill everyone in the temple because they all had the potential to tap into their goddess aspects and could have stopped her.”
“Yes, and it’s why they went looking for the rest of you in the palace. If I’d known that you five had already figured the magic out, I would have paid for assassins myself.”
“Where is the final eye of the goddess?”
“I gave it to Artemisia.” If she was surprised that I’d figured out there was another eye, despite her implying at the temple that she had destroyed the last one, she didn’t show it.
“And where is she now?”
“I don’t know.”
It was incomprehensible to me that she hadn’t asked Artemisia any questions about her background at all. “Why did you give her the eye? Why not just destroy it like you did with the other one?”
“Because it has power and she can use it.”
“And in exchange she will obliterate Ilion and Locris off the map for you.”
Lysimache nodded.
A thought occurred to me as I remembered the prophecy. What if the eye was the greatest weapon? It was worth asking about. “What is the greatest weapon that I’m supposed to wield?” I asked.
“I know it’s part of the prophecy, but I don’t know what it is. I would assume the eye.”
If that was true, then I didn’t currently have a way to use it to protect Ilion. “What is the red dirt?”
“I don’t know,” she said with a sigh, as if she were bored.
“What is the hammer of Arion?”
At that she frowned. “I’m not sure, but if I had to wager a guess, I would say the weapon Artemisia was using.”
Now we were making progress. “What or who is Arion?”
