Chapter 5
Chapter 5
Leandros and Issa find a stolen hour together in the gardens, then the library, then the harbor wall at sunset. They piece together what the old texts truly say about Vesuvius and what their families' secret evacuation means. Issa reveals a final, troubling detail from Thalia's letters, and they make a private vow to each other before the night closes in.
The morning after the ash plume, the villa felt hollow. Slaves moved with soft steps, and the atrium fountain seemed too loud. Leandros found Issa in the peristyle garden, sitting on the edge of the marble basin, her fingers trailing in the water. She did not look up when he sat beside her.
"My father is in the boathouse," she said quietly. "Yours is in the curia, answering questions about the map. The envoy from Rome watches from the portico like a hawk."
"I know." Leandros picked a loose pebble from the path and turned it over in his palm. "Thalia gave me the letters before dawn. One for Athens, one for Alexandria. She said the horses are ready."
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