That was a relief. Maybe this would mean I could see my sister more often now that she was out of the palace. I wondered if I’d have to resort to subterfuge. Perhaps I could say I was going to the temple for some reason and then end up at her house.
Which reminded me ... “Io wants you to post a guard at the temple,” I said, not wanting to forget. Even if the ground had been desecrated, I couldn’t bear the thought of anyone going in there and making it worse.
“I already gave the orders. Some of the men watching over you stayed behind. I didn’t think anyone should be entering the temple.”
“We need to get water from the fountain.” The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them. I hadn’t meant to tell him that because of the implications.
“Why?”
If we were going to work together, he needed to know. “Do you remember when you had me pinned to the floor and I was able to push back against you? It was because the water from the fountain makes us strong like men.”
“How?”
“Magic.”
He considered this information and I was relieved that he didn’t ask for further details. I couldn’t tell him about the eye of the goddess.
Stupid girl, do you really think he would try to steal it from you?
I no longer thought he would take it from me out of spite or vindictiveness, but if he thought it would save Ilion? He wouldn’t hesitate.
And I didn’t know what all the eye could do. It obviously had multiple uses, and maybe it could be wielded like a weapon. I needed it for Locris, even if that was selfish.
I couldn’t share the whole truth.
“What happens if a man drinks it?” he asked.
“I don’t know.”
We sat in silence for a few moments and Luna grew heavy in my arms. I peered down at her and saw that she had gone to sleep. I carried her over to the enclosure Xander had made for her, and she barely fit in it. She had somehow grown again.
I hesitated, not sure what to do now. I reminded myself that Io wanted me to stay away from him, but all I wanted was to go over and sit next to him on our bed, talking and planning for the dark future that was barreling toward us.
So that was what I did.
“We will have to be cautious,” he said. For a moment I wasn’t sure what he was speaking about—did he mean that he and I would have to be cautious? “We need to be ready. Prepare. I’m going to have my phratry ride out to the surrounding villages and get them to move into the city. They’ll be safer behind Troas’s walls.”
I had always cursed the labyrinth walls but now I was grateful for them. Any sieging army would have an extremely difficult time against them.
Unless they were already inside. Hiding in plain sight, pretending to be Ilionian when they weren’t. Like Artemisia. “Do you think there are people still in the city that are working for the enemy?”
His expression somehow turned even grimmer. “I hope not, but we won’t have any way of knowing until it’s too late.”
That was ominous. “And your citizens will be unprepared if they attack again.”
He nodded. “People don’t want to believe that bad things are coming. They want to hang on to their normal lives and keep living them as they always have. It’s easier.”
“And more foolish,” I said.
“And more foolish,” he agreed. “But the people of Troas won’t be caught totally unaware again. I ordered the security to be increased and strengthened. I had let it be a bit lax intentionally.”
“Why?”
“Because I was hoping to catch Erisa in the act of attacking one of us. But trying to catch her is like trying to capture smoke.”
No wonder it had been so easy for me to sneak out of the palace. Xander had used us both as bait. Part of me thought I should be outraged, but I was too tired and too emotionally wrung out to do more than say, “Oh.”
“How ...” His voice trailed off and he looked uncomfortable. It wasn’t something I was used to seeing from him. “What happened at the temple?”
