Page 41 of A Crown of Hopes and Sorrows

“Yes, Your Highness.” He gestured to three others who joined us, and we ambled towards the house, which sat demure and bland in the sunlight, all brown, grainy siding topped with a thatched roof. It looked nothing like the foreboding and magical villa it had appeared under the moonlight and in the glow of a hundred torches. We reached a doorway where Sappho’s sentries bobbed their heads to us before we stepped into a hall.

Silks lined the walls, but in the light of day, it seemed empty and austere. The space stretched vacant of furnishings or other decorations. Morning sunshine splashed its way around, brightening the passage. Theos turned down another hall and stopped outside a doorway. I knocked.

“Who is it?”

“It’s me,” I said.

“Come in.”

I inclined my head to Theos and then entered the room, letting the door close behind me. Temi rose in the bed—the only piece of furniture in the suite. Her blankets fell with the motion and draped down over her lap. She pulled a silk scarf off her head, and her braids dropped against her shoulders with the gesture. “Epiphany,” she breathed out my name. “You’re okay.”

She patted the space beside her, and I eased into it. “I’m fine. Though distract me quickly before I start to actually think about what happened last night. I’ll be so embarrassed, I’ll die.”

Temi chuckled but pulled me into a hug. “Well, then, I’ll tell you why I’m here instead of in the stables with you.”

“Why’s that?”

“Because Val was guarding you like a mother lioness. I think if I’d stayed another moment, we might have come to blows.”

“You’re kidding.”

She smiled, the ivory of her teeth glinting in the sun. “Of course, I am. Well, about the fighting part. Not about Valerian acting like some sort of overprotective creature. I was stressing him out by being there.”

I dropped my head back against the wall, and silk fabrics on it grazed over my neck. “It was foolish of me last night to drink that wine. I know better than that. Even with my father approving of me coming, I should have had my guard up.”

Temi nodded and shifted towards the window where sunlight flooded its way in and landed in a bright puddle on the bed that warmed my legs.

“Val told me you have some goddess you’re going to meet with that may have answers for you.”

“Oh, so you’re speaking to him again.”

The feeling of his lips against mine swept through me, and I scrunched my fingers into my dress. “Maybe. I don’t know. You’re getting off topic, though.”

Temi shook her head, and her braids rattled over her shoulders. “Sappho has a connection that she swears has a method to find out who my father is, but she can only come at night.”

“Why didn’t you see her last night?”

Temi jerked towards me. “Are you serious? Sappho poisoned you, as far as I’m concerned. I spent the night with you, and fuck her.”

The heat behind her words shocked me. “You’re mad?”

“Are you kidding me? Yes. But,”—her voice lowered—“I guess, stupidly, I want answers badly enough that I’m still willing to stay here and find out.”

I dropped my head against her shoulder. “It’s not stupid. When will we meet this goddess?”

Her muscles tensed, and she didn’t speak for a moment. “Actually, I’d rather you didn’t come.” I sat back up, but the expression she wore—all heavy eyes and down-turned lips—stalled my words. “Last night reminded me you’re mortal. Humans have gotten hurt”—she swallowed hard and her voice came shaky—“killed, even, around Apollo and myself before. I don’t want you to get mixed up in it any more than necessary.”

I chewed the inside of my cheek, but what could I say? I’d already drank wine that could have poisoned me. She had a point. But everywhere I turned, walls trapped me in. And I was growing tired of it. “Would you tell me who the goddess is, at least?”

Temi fiddled her finger along the hem of the blanket which had missing stitches, the raw edge unfurling. “You know how it’s rumored that Sappho is a witch?”

“Yeah?”

“Apparently the goddess we’ll meet tonight is where that rumor came from.”

“Do you think it will be dangerous?”

She sighed and stretched her legs out. “What about this trip hasn’t been dangerous so far?”