“Xander,” I said gently. “Stop. We will find another way.”
For a moment he gripped his sword even tighter, but then he relented and finally put it back into its sheath. I let out a little sigh of relief that the party wasn’t about to become a bloodbath.
“If he works for Erisa, we still don’t know how she knew who I was,” I said. We had theorized that the witness had been involved, but we weren’t certain. I heard a bird call and looked up to see a raven fly overhead. It landed behind a column and then Rokh came out from behind it.
He was uncharacteristically grim as he walked to us. As if he knew what we’d been discussing, he said, “I did as requested and followed the witness from the tribute selection. His home was filled with books and I watched to make certain—I saw him both reading and writing.”
“Bring him here. We’ll give him the truth serum, too,” Xander responded.
Would that even work with someone who couldn’t speak?
“I’m afraid that won’t be possible. I just found him dead and came straight here to tell you.”
“Dead? By his own hand?” Xander asked.
Rokh shook his head. “Not unless he was flexible enough to stab himself in the back of his own skull.”
Whoever had done that must have been exceptionally strong.
“How did she know that you and Dolion were watching him?” Xander asked.
“I don’t know,” Rokh said. “We were so careful.”
“It’s not as if she still has an extensive spy network,” Xander said in frustration, his hand again going to his sword. “We eliminated her funds when we emptied out her safe house.”
“Perhaps Pelias is funding it,” Rokh countered.
The two men fell silent, considering.
I was trying to work out exactly how this had all happened. “So Erisa knew that your betrothed was chosen as one of the Locrianmaidens from the beginning. And that one of the maidens survived, but she wouldn’t have known which one.”
“It’s not as if your high priestess would have shared the name of which maiden lived within the city,” Xander said.
Yes, she’d been too busy plotting how to kill me. “The witness was at the Golden Lamb and saw me, so he knew that I was the one who had finished the race. He told Erisa that Princess Thalia lived, and then she sent the assassins to kill me at the temple to stop you and me from getting married.”
I had known Erisa was evil, but this ... I wanted to stab her myself.
While I was picturing doing that, Xander filled Rokh in on everything that had occurred that evening, pointing out the tall man working for the former queen.
Then a terrifying thought came into my mind.
“By the goddess,” I said, my heart racing in alarm. “What about Quynh? The witness would have known that she’s my sister. What if he came to the palace and saw her and told Erisa who she really was?”
“Quynh is safe. She’s no longer in the palace. No harm will come to her.” Now my husband was the one soothing me.
A short horn blast sounded and Xander swore.
“What is that?” I asked.
“You and I have to go out on the balcony overlooking the outer courtyard and wave to all the citizens who are out celebrating my birthday.”
No one had mentioned that to me. Another thing that seemed totally inconsequential, given what was happening.
“It’s important that you go,” Rokh said. “Not only to give the people what they want, but so that when Thrax and I kidnap Erisa’s man, you’ll have an alibi.”
Rokh went into the dining hall, presumably to find Thrax.
“This way,” Xander said. He led me back to the front hall and took me up a staircase that I hadn’t used before at the southern end of thehall. It led out to a large balcony, and when we stepped out, the sound of cheering was deafening.
