‘So. Sister. What more could you possibly take from me that would bring you here?’

Theodora looked up at the sound of Olympia’s voice, the words hitting her like a punch to the stomach. Was that really what she thought? That Theodora was somehow responsible for Stephanos and Olympia’s fall from grace? Her initial reaction was hurt and anger—how could Pia ever think such a thing of her? When had she ever in their lives given the younger woman cause to doubt her? Then again, from an outsider’s perspective… maybe she was right to think that. After all, Theodora now wore the crown that had once been Olympia’s, and she bore the titles and responsibilities that came with it. Why shouldn’t Pia think that was her goal all along?

Gods, but she couldn’t be more wrong. Had she even read any of the letters Theo sent?

Swallowing hard, she turned to face her sister, squaring her shoulders, folding her hands in front of her, and releasing a long breath. “It hurts that you would think such a thing of me,” was her quiet response, proud that her voice didn’t even shake, though her throat was quickly tightening with the emotion that threatened to overwhelm her. “I’ve never sought to take anything from you, Olympia, even if it doesn’t seem that way.”

For a moment, she thought about closing the distance between them, of taking her sister’s hands and forcing her to see she wasn’t here for a fight. However, she had a feeling such an action would not be well-received, and she would rather not be on the other end of a stinging slap. Though, she’d let Pia slap her around all she wanted if that meant they could put all this behind them.

“You can hate me if you want, but I didn’t ask for this any more than you did.”

She fell quiet as she stared at her sister, the silence that dominated the hall almost deafening. There was a pressure in the room, like something waiting to pop, and Theodora only hoped it wasn’t her. “I tried to reach out to you I don’t even know how many times, tried to explain, but I never heard back from you. Not once. Pia, I was scared you were dead! It was only through Achilleas that I knew you weren’t. Why was it you felt you could speak to him and not to me?” There was pain in her face then, in spite of her attempts to hide it. If she was angry with Theodora for usurping her position, was she not just as angry with Achilleas? And she didn’t share blood with him.

Her jaw hardened as Olympia responded, teeth clenched painfully tight at the suggestion that she somehow knew all of this would happen ahead of time. Really? She thought Theodora and Achilleas were complicit in all of this? How could her opinion have sunk so low to believe that she or her husband would do such a thing to people they held in such high regard?

Theodora’s face did flash with anger then, questioning her resolve not to lose her temper. When she’d first walked in, she’d been afraid of Olympia smacking her around, but now she was starting to wonder if the opposite might be the bigger worry. How could she possibly believe she would plot against her? Did she really think her own sister would seek to betray her in such a way? For as long as Olympia had been alive, Theodora had been there for her. Was it too much to ask for the benefit of the doubt, to think that perhaps not everything was as it seemed?

“I had nothing to do with anything Irakles was a part of,” was her sharp interruption, dark eyes glinting as she stared Olympia down. “I was not part of any scheming, nor any nefarious plots, and I can’t believe you would even suspect that! When I swore to help you, I meant it, Olympia. But how was I supposed to turn my husband against his own father, hm? Do you really think I didn’t even try?” She shook her head. “I had no idea what to do, with no clue of who to trust. And then when you wouldn’t answer any of my letters, I…”

She trailed off as Pia continued to speak, looking away as she questioned her motivation in marrying Achilleas in the first place. As if it had been some sort of power grab, as if she possibly could have predicted Irakles dropping dead on her godsdamn wedding day and unexpectedly thrusting the whole kingdom into her and her husband’s unprepared hands. As if she hadn’t pleaded against it. “Because that’s not who—”

Wisely cutting herself off at the approach of the maid and the sound of the baby’s cry, Theodora didn’t speak again until the woman was out of sight. Her gaze then lingered instead on the child in her sister’s arms, the niece she had still only seen from a distance. There was a wistfulness on her face as she looked at the babe, her heart constricting as she glanced between her and her sister. The first baby among them, and she hadn’t even gotten the chance to hold her…

Sighing in resignation, she fixed her gaze back on Olympia’s. “If you want to know the truth, the real truth, I will tell you, but not here in the middle of the house where anyone can overhear us. Unless all you want is to keep flinging accusations at me until one sticks.” She lifted a brow at her sister. “Can you give me that, Pia? Just the chance to explain. By the time I’m done, if you don’t believe me, you can throw me out, spread all the hateful lies about me that you want, and I won’t come back.” Her lip trembled for a moment, but she stilled it, reminding herself she was mad too. “But I think you’ll believe me by the end. Just this one chance.”

Theodora’s shoulders sagged in relief when it seemed Olympia was willing to hear her out, glancing at her niece as she pierced the air with another cry. Could the babe sense the tension in the air, the clogged-up dam of emotions both sisters seemed to be holding back? For a moment, her hand brushed over her own stomach, wondering if the life growing within her could sense it, as well.

Following her sister up the stairs and into a more private area of the house, she double checked behind them that they hadn’t been trailed before closing the door. Even after looking to see that no one was listening, she kept her voice quiet. Gods knew what she had to say did not need to be spread around, and one could never fully trust what ears might be listening. Blackmail was a powerful thing in a family like theirs.

While Pia sat, Theo remained standing, nervously pacing the floor in front of her sister and niece. Where should she even begin? She’d promised the whole truth, but how much should she really tell? What she planned to tell Olympia could easily be used to destroy her, and if Pia really believed Theo had stolen everything from her, what was to say she wouldn’t use it to do just that?

She just had to hope the other woman would believe her, and that familial loyalty would win out in the end.

“When I say I had nothing to do with any of this, I really do mean it. I…” She took a deep, steadying breath, nervously wringing her hands. How did she explain that her whole marriage literally stemmed from a misunderstanding? “I married Achilleas because I had to, Olympia. When the proposal came from the Mikaelidas House, that’s… not who I thought was asking.”

Biting her lip, she walked over to stand by the nearby window, staring out at the sunlight courtyard below. “Do you remember the festival to Aphrodite in Maliania last year?” She didn’t wait for answer; she was sure she had seen a glimpse of her sister disappearing into the wood before she did so herself. “I… I lay with Emilios there. And many, many nights since.”

Swallowing hard, she dared a quick glance at her sister, unsure she wanted to see what expression might rest on her face. “We carried on in secret for a year, and before I received that proposal, we had spoken of it. That he would ask his father to seek my hand. When I received word of a marriage proposal coming from the Mikaelidas, of course I assumed it was Emilios, and I accepted without even thinking twice.”

She paused for a moment, blinking the sheen of tears from her eyes. “When I found out it wasn’t, I tried to back out. I told Papa and Uncle Fotios everything, but they wouldn’t hear it. They told me I had to go through with it, and I begged them to reconsider. But at that point, the choice was out of my hands. I resigned myself to it, and I have been trying to make the best of it since. I thought I was going to be a baroness, Pia. I never thought this would lead to me becoming Queen. It all… it just happened so fast, and I had no idea what to do except go along with it.”

Theo’s voice was small as she faced her sister again, her expression anxious, yet earnest. “I tried, Pia, I really did. I told Achilleas what you told me, and he and I got into more than one argument over it. It was not so easy for him to believe me as it was for me to believe you. I even tried to ask you what I should do, but if you say you never received the letters…” She shook her head. “As soon as I leave here, I’m going to have a word with the ones I gave them to. I need to know where they went.”

Pausing, her voice dropped nearly to a whisper, hesitant yet hopeful as she asked, “Do you believe me?”

‘I want to believe you. About everything.’

Theodora allowed herself to hope that she had gotten through to her sister—she wasn’t throwing her from the room, in any case, so that seemed a good sign. At her question, however, she paused. It was a question she had even asked herself on many occasions, one she had toyed with since the betrothal had been announced. Why hadn’t she just told Achilleas from the beginning?

“I wanted to,” she answered quietly, her gaze dropping to the floor. “I almost did a couple times. But ultimately I didn’t because I… I was scared.” She glanced back up and shook her head. “Fotios and Papa were so adamant. I was afraid if I told Achilleas and he broke off the engagement that I would be ruined. That I wouldn’t be permitted to marry Emilios either, or… anyone, really. That I would just be sullied goods, doomed to some backwater province as the family embarrassment. As it was, I knew Achilleas was a good match, one of the best I could hope for. I thought I was doing the right thing.” Sighing, she glanced out the window, her face drawing into a more melancholy and introspective expression. “Trust me, I have wondered more than once now if that was not a mistake.”

To think of how different everything would be now…

Turning back from the window, she was alarmed to see Olympia jump up from the bed and retch into a nearby bucket, reflexively rushing over and blocking the edge of the bed with her hands to ensure Tisiphone did not roll to the floor. “My gods, are you all right?” she asked, brows drawing into a concerned frown when her sister finished vomiting and took up the goblet of water instead. “Do you need me to call for a healer?”

Her frown only deepened at the next words her sister spoke, glancing between the woman’s haggard face and the cherubic features of her little niece. “Of course. I would never allow her to grow up without her family. You have my word.” Gently, she ran a fingertip along the girl’s downy cheek before turning back to Olympia. “But nothing is going to happen to either of you, you hear me? We’re going to figure out what happened, and we’re going to make this right. Just as I promised you before.”

‘Do you believe there is any chance that the lords will overturn the verdict on Stephanos?’

Theodora thought for a moment before she answered, considering her words. “I don’t think it’s an impossibility. I believe many of the lords voted the way they did because of Irakles. I think without him… it will be easier.” She hoped so, anyway. It was no simple task, regardless, but at least it would be one less obstacle. “I don’t know how many of them truly believe Stephanos would do anything so horrific as what he was accused of. Most of them have known him since birth.”

It was quiet for a moment as she gazed longingly at the baby on the bed, the little girl cooing and grabbing at her feet. “Can I… Can I hold her?” she asked softly, her face softening at the child’s antics. “Just for a minute?”

‘Theo, I was made queen. I would never have allowed that to happen, to you or any of our sisters.’

If only she had thought of that then, of going to Stephanos and Olympia, rather than her father. But she had been so convinced Papa would listen to her, so sure he would never foist her off on the highest bidder to come calling—not without her consent, at least. After all, Selene still remained unwed, and it wasn’t as if she hadn’t had her own fair share of suitors. She knew it had to be Fotios’s influence, his pressure that made Georgios cave, and it was something for which she would never forgive her uncle. She cared for Achilleas, she truly did, but he was not the brother she ached for.

Before she could say anything else, however, Olympia was hurling herself away from her, throwing up her entire day’s meals into the nearby bucket. Her melancholy over her own fate forgotten in the face of her sister’s distress, she let the subject drop as she watched the woman with concern. Her frown deepened as Pia refused her offer of a healer, claiming she didn’t want anyone she didn’t know near her. Opening her mouth to ask why, to tell her she knew that at the least, the palati healer could be trusted, her mouth quickly shut again as she went on to explain why.

The queen’s face paled as she stared down at the bloodied rattle, glancing between it and the innocent babe Olympia took into her arms. Who would threaten a baby?! “What the fuck?” she asked in a trembling whisper, her hand hovering as if she meant to pick it up and examine it closer before wisely deciding against it and letting her hand drop back to her side. “Who would do something like this? Do you have any idea where it might have come from? Have you told anyone else?” She assumed not, considering her reluctance to be around others, and she couldn’t really blame her. Idly, her hand rested on her stomach, and more than ever, she was happy she had decided to keep her own pregnancy secret for now. If someone was out to harm Pia’s baby, what might they do to her?

“We should tell the palati guard, at least,” she said, turning her horrified gaze from the rattle back to her sister. “Not all of them, of course. But before he left, Achilleas had Krysto appoint men he knew he could trust to watch over me. I could spare a few of them for you, Nana, and Imma, replace a few of the Leventi guard. I won’t have my family harmed, not when I can do something about it.” Of course, Theodora was concerned for her own safety, as well, but she wasn’t the one that had been so directly and obviously threatened. There had been precious little she could do for Olympia when she was in Colchis, but here in Taengea? Here, she would do whatever was within her grasp. Including sacrificing a few of her own guard to ensure her sister and niece’s security.

Though this visit had sparked a certain amount of terror and wishful thinking, Theodora certainly couldn’t bring herself to regret it, particularly not when Olympia held Tisiphone out to her in apparent truce. A trembling smile was her response, carefully taking her niece and tucking her into her grasp with a hand gently cupping her head.

“Hello, Tisiphone,” she murmured down to the babe, blinking away the tears that threatened to fall. Having seen the little girl for weeks now and unable to hardly get near her or Pia, she was a little overwhelmed, filled with relief that perhaps their situation was not so irreparable, after all. “I’m your Aunt Theo. And you’re going to be the most spoiled little girl that ever was.” Grinning down at her, she was rewarded with a toothless smile in return, and she thought her heart might melt.

“She’s beautiful, Pia,” Theo told her sister, turning the smile on her instead. “Everyone will be saying she’s blessed too, soon enough. Just wait.”

A cold shiver of dread traced a finger down Theodora’s spine at Olympia’s words as she remembered that night following the circus where she and Emilios had been cornered and attacked by the Creed here, behind these very walls. Looking down into little Tisi’s face, she shook her head. No, it couldn’t be that, could it? Like Olympia said, they’d been beaten back, they were gone. She didn’t even want to give voice to such a worry, less such suspicions be made reality. The last thing Taengea needed was a resurgence of the mysterious group of black-clad assassins.

But who else would threaten a baby? No matter how some of the courtiers might feel about Olympia and Stephanos, surely none of them would stoop so low as to send such an ominous message for an infant? There had to be more dignity left to them than that. Why not threaten Olympia herself?

Whoever it was, this was low, and it needed to be addressed. Olympia was right, though; the number of people that could be trusted was limited. Even Achilleas had said as much before he left, and never was it more obvious than now. Where could they even begin without drawing undue suspicion? All she knew was that something had to be done. Actions like this could not be allowed to stand.

Her frown turned back to a smile, however, when her niece grabbed a chunk of her hair and tugged. “She’s got a grip on her,” Theo commented with a laugh as she gently pried a tiny hand from her locks, letting them wrap around one of her fingers instead. “No surprise, with such parents.” How many scratching/hair pulling/scratching bouts had she and her sisters gotten into over the years? Too many to count, for sure, and she laughed at the thought of how Tisiphone would be whenever she had other siblings to push around. She looked forward to seeing it.

Sitting down on the bed next to Olympia, she carefully balanced the babe in her lap, gently bouncing her to the girl’s open-mouthed delight. It was hard not to remember doing such things with Imma, gazing down at the tiny mop of gold covering Tisiphone’s head. Those were simpler times, happier times, and it was moments like these that made her ache for them so fiercely.

The concern returned to her face as she looked back at her sister, shaking her head as the woman described how poorly she had felt in recent days. “You really ought to see a physician,” she repeated her assertion from earlier, lips drawn into a frown. “I know you are wary, but… what if something’s really wrong? You said yourself you want to ensure your daughter’s safety. You need to stay healthy to do that.”

The thought of anything else happening to Pia made her stomach clench, gaze shimmering with worry. “Is it anything beyond nausea? Have you eaten anything recently that might be making you sick?”