Chapter 4

That morning, Cassian was still sitting in his low chair, lost in thought, when Thales appeared from nowhere and slapped two scrolls of parchment down.

They were sealed with the emblem of Hera. At the top of each, names had been inscribed: Lyra Theron and Cassian Kallistrate.

"Is this a bridal oath, witnessed at Hera's altar?" Cassian's face lost all color. "When did you take my oath-token?"

Thales just smiled, said it was nothing, and told him the name had better be real. Otherwise, Cassian would never see the sun again.

Cassian took a sharp breath, and in a low voice, admitted it was his.

When I returned from gathering herbs and saw those two scrolls, I nearly tore the ruined sanctuary apart.

I screamed for Thales to come out, my voice rattling the wooden shutters and sending every bird in the forest scattering into the sky.

No one answered.

I stormed into his room. The place, usually a sty, had been swept clean and emptied. On his pillow lay a single letter and a stack of merchant notes.

The letter contained one word.

Leave.

I searched the hillside behind the sanctuary. The damp earth held a few bootprints, the soles stamped with the strange impression of a laurel wreath.

Thales, what in the name of the gods are you?

I seized one of the oath scrolls, ready to rip it to shreds, but Cassian was faster. He snatched it from my grasp.

He told me that once an oath has been witnessed by Hera, tearing the parchment changes nothing. Should we ever need to dissolve the bond, we would need these scrolls to do it.

I stared at him.

"If this bond is ever to be broken, it will be my hand that breaks it."

Cassian was quiet for a moment. Something I could not name flickered in his eyes.

But I had understood certain things long before this moment.

Being abandoned once in a lifetime is enough.

If there was ever to be a next time, I would be the one to decide it.

That night, I stood before him with a bag of herbs. I told him to gather his things. We were leaving at dawn.

Cassian asked where we were going.