Page 69 of A Tribute of Fire

Then I reached up to run my fingers along my scalp.

There was just stubble, rough against my fingertips. They’d made sure to finish the job even though I’d fainted.

“Good morning,” an entirely too happy voice said to me.

Again I found myself reaching for my sword. A girl stood at the foot of my bed. She was short and wore her dark hair pinned up. She had light brown eyes, light brown skin, and pink cheeks. She wore a pale green tunic.

Even though her physical resemblance to Quynh was only slight, there was something that reminded me of my sister. Something that felt familiar and right, as if I’d met this girl before.

As if my sister had sent her to me.

Which was confirmed when I heard a voice inside me whisper,You need to trust her, and it sounded just like Quynh.

My heart clenched in response.

“I’m Iolanthe,” the girl said. “But everyone calls me Io.”

“Lia,” I offered.

“Welcome to the temple. Is there anything I can get for you?”

My instinct was to accept what the voice had said and believe that she was a nice person who wanted to help, but the wary nature Demaratus had nurtured inside me hadn’t gone anywhere. Just a short time ago, the priestesses had been ready to kick me out, and when they’d been forced to accept me, they had done their best to make sure that I knew I wouldn’t be one of them.

Why was this Io being so kind to me?

“Water.” My throat felt like it was on fire.

She hurried over to a table, where I saw a pitcher and cups. She filled one for me and brought it over.

I took it eagerly, the cool liquid slipping past my lips, but then I immediately spat it out.

“What is that?” I asked. There had been a strange metallic taste that I didn’t recognize.

Io looked confused. “What do you mean?”

“Is this poisoned?” Was that the way the priestesses had decided to deal with me? Using subterfuge to kill me?

“No. May I?” She reached for my cup and I gave it back to her. She took a big drink before returning it to me. She waited for a few beats and then held up both of her hands. “See? Not poisoned.”

“Why does it taste like that?”

“We get our water from a special fountain and that’s just the taste. You’ll get used to it,” she said, pulling a chair over to the side of my bed. “I understand your suspicion, though.”

“You do?”

“It’s a long and complicated story that isn’t worth sharing,” she said with a nod, leaving me to wonder what circumstances she had been in where being poisoned was an actual possibility. Io paused, looking down at her hands. As if it were difficult for her to make eye contact. “I heard that you weren’t exactly welcomed when you arrived.”

Ha. She was definitely understating it. “They weren’t friendly, no.”

“And they ...” Her words trailed off as she pointed at my head.

I touched my scalp, self-conscious. “They did. Did they do this to you, too?”

“No.”

So it was special treatment reserved only for Locrian maidens, then.

“I’ve been here for a few months,” she added, and it seemed like she was trying to change the course of our conversation.

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