by Vela Roth
Lio took a step closer.
It was just a step. But she felt all too aware of the space between them and how it was one step smaller. Of Knight’s tension and stillness against her leg, which told her he accepted, however reluctantly, that she had issued Lio an invitation.
Lio pressed a finger to her hand again. His touch pricked her where one thorn grew from the rose. “The thorns are our most sacred duties, the five acts to which the Goddess calls us. You already know a great deal about those. We must show Mercy to those who suffer, give Solace to the lost, guard the sanctity of each person’s Will, strive to live in Union with all, and offer the Gift to any.”
Here it was, yet another perfect opportunity to return their rambling conversations to the subject that had prompted them all. The Mercy.
No, this was not the time, she told herself. She needed to wait a little longer. Know a little more. If he told her enough about Hesperines, the night might come when she found her own answers in his words, without ever having to ask.
If she were to succeed, she must spend her carefully accumulated opportunities wisely. Her own questions must come first, before she could consider the risk of any inquiry about the Summit for the mages of Kyria.
“And the petals?” Cassia asked.
Lio spread five fingers upon her hands, as if to part the folds of the flower captured forever in thread. “These represent what Hespera does for us, her greatest blessings. Ritual, through which she first gave us the Gift. The Gift, through which we overcome death. The Drink, through which we can thrive without the death of others. Sanctuary, the Goddess’s realm, where we go if death does find us, and which we strive to realize in the world. And Grace…through which we experience abundance. The center of the flower, here, represents Hespera herself, who binds us together, from whom everything grows.”
“I thought you said the Gift was a thorn, not a blessing.”
“It is both.” Lio’s touch lingered on the handkerchief for a moment before he withdrew his fingers.
Only to wrap both his hands around hers. Cassia stood very still.
Lio folded her fingers around the handkerchief. “No one in Tenebra would recognize this symbol, nor even a living rose.”
“No.”
“In that case, it will be no danger if you keep it.” His smile, never absent for long, now reappeared in full force. “The fabric resists moisture. It’s perfect to wrap soap in once the paper is torn off.”
Cassia withdrew her hands and busied them folding the handkerchief, buying time to think. Was there any polite way to refuse this second gift? No need for him to know she had yet to unwrap the soap. Besides, who would tear paper so fine and expensive? Surely it was not to be discarded.
Lio folded his hands behind his back. “Forgive me. Perhaps I am not sensitive enough to how different that flower’s meaning is here. I meant no offense.”
She glanced up at him quickly. “None taken. Why should your sacred symbol offend me?”
He relaxed, which seemed to bring him a little nearer to her again. “Why indeed? There is no shame in a kiss.”
Just the sort of thing a man would say. Usually when he was trying to get said kiss. It was a good thing Lio was a Hesperine, not a man, and that he had none of the seductive powers the tales claimed his kind possessed. “I would think the reference to harlots would offend you.”
“And why should it? Women are far more sacred to Hespera than flowers.”
Cassia focused her attention on her gardening satchel, tucking the handkerchief inside next to her spade. “You’d best not let anyone hear you say harlots are sacred to Hespera. That will hardly advance your cause, Initiate Ambassador.”
“I will tell anyone who will listen the Goddess cherishes all women. Harlots and queens. Concubines and their daughters.”
Now she had heard everything. A goddess who thought well of her and her mother. Cassia opened her mouth. But the retort did not come. She could not bring herself to aim it at the earnest eyes looking down at her.
“Thank you,” she said, resting her hand on her satchel. Then she pinned her gaze on her feet. The underbrush might trip her. She started walking again, and Knight heeled.
Lio fell into step with her, and for the first time, she walked beside him.
Affinity
Cassia could barely see the impressions in the underbrush that marked their path. The clouds had drawn near again, and the air felt wet with the rain they had yet to release. She clutched her skirts in both hands, wary of stumbling. In a moment, the muddy hem of her gardening dress became easier to make out against the darker ground. The wavering shape at the edge of her vision resolved into Lio’s black silk robe, bordered in thick red-and-white embroidery shot through with real silver. She blinked, but the colors only became clearer. She snapped her gaze up to see where the light was coming from.
She closed her lips on a gasp. A soft white glow spilled from between Lio’s fingers.
He gave her no chance to protest. “No one will see it, even if they do happen to wander out of their way, this far into the woods. Just like no one saw me talking to you in the great hall the night of the prince’s temple day.”
“I dare say you can make folk see or not see whatever you wish.” Cassia had witnessed plenty of ostentatious magery in the temple. But nothing like Lio’s simple spell. It looked as if he held a bit of the stars in his hand. “You’re a light mage.”
“That is in fact the magic that comprises one of my areas of study.”
“Not just conjuring bright baubles,” she said with certainty, “but also sophisticated illusions.”
“Very handy when I’m trying to have an uninterrupted conversation with a lady at a dance.”
He did not deny he possessed powers that could give a mortal cause to doubt the evidence of her senses. Such a revelation would have put Cassia on the alert if he were anyone but a Hesperine. Even when such power was used under the auspices of the Order of Hypnos, it frightened people. Folk usually gave a wide berth to mages devoted to the god of death and dreams, both the necromancers and the illusionists, but especially the most feared of all: thelemancers. Mind mages had the power to read and manipulate your innermost thoughts, to subdue your will and command you to do their bidding.
But Cassia was not most folk, and the illusionist beside her was anything but an Ordered mage. She continued down the path with Lio. “Amachos’s poor apprentice would be jealous of how your spell light puts his to shame.”
“Strange, isn’t it? He and I can achieve similar results, although our powers are of such different natures. This spell light is blood magic, the very heresy his Order despises.”
Cassia caught sight of the blood on the tip of Lio’s thumb. He must have pricked himself to work his magic. “Summoning light seems a very Hesperine sort of thing to be able to do.”
“Very few humans would arrive at that conclusion.” He smiled at her. “But light magic is an essential Hesperine affinity. It was one of the arcane paths taught long ago in the Great Temples of Hespera.”
“Affinity? Arcane? I’ve no idea what you mean. You mustn’t let my service in the Temple of Kyria fool you—I am very ignorant.”
“Of course. Just as you are not a philosopher.” He tossed his hand, and the light drifted up to hover over their heads. “An arcane path is what the Mage Orders refer to as a discipline of magic. They like to draw lines between things, but in truth, all varieties of spellwork are paths into the same whole—magic. Your affinity is simply the kind of magic you’re good at. It is the same as with any other skill. Anyone can learn to garden, but it may be an ordeal for them, and many of their plants may die before they see a single bloom. You, on the other hand, have a green thumb.”
“Well, Hypnos’s season has yet to wither my perennials beyond hope, if that’s what you mean. It’s nothing like your red thumb, I’m sure.”
A smear of light appeared on Lio’s thumb, and the blood was gone. “You take to it naturally, and you ex
cel at it intuitively, although study or experience will improve your results.”
“Not just anyone can learn any type of magic,” she protested. “You’re born with it, or you’re not.”
“Is that so?” he asked.
“Of course. That’s why the mages keep those with aptitude in the temples and forbid everyone else from using magic. It would be dangerous otherwise.”
“Dangerous for whom?”
“Well. That does fill my head with new and seditious thoughts.”
“Be careful, fair lady. I may yet corrupt you with my heretical ideas.”
“I fear there is no work left for you to do upon me. I was corrupted from the first moment I drew breath.”
“In that case, we are two of a kind.”
Hardly. His people had celebrated his birth under auspicious stars. “Not a fair comparison. You don’t have to breathe.”
He laughed. “But I enjoy breathing. How else would I speak with you?”
Cassia bent double to snatch up a branch at her feet, feeling the blood rush to her cheeks. Straightening, she tapped Knight on the shoulder, then hurled the stick ahead.
As he bounded between them, Lio slid out of his way. “I hope I am never the object of his chase.”
Actually, Lio was right. At least while they were both in Tenebra, a concubine’s bastard and a bloodborn Hesperine were on equal footing. “As I’ve said before, Knight will never go after you. He only hunts the enemy.”
“I rejoice to hear it.” Lio smiled down at her again. “I wouldn’t like to find out if I can outrun him.”
“You continue your habit of running here?” What must that look like, a Hesperine pushing his body to the limit, racing like the athletes before the war games?
“As time allows, yes.”
“I cannot help but wonder why you would require such pursuits. I doubt you even need to train to maintain your…” Cassia almost cast a glance up and down Lio’s body, but stopped herself from indulging the odd and inexplicable urge. He didn’t need her to remind him how the Gift benefited him. “…your skills.”
He gave her an amused glance she found even more inexplicable. “The Gift keeps a Hesperine’s body at his or her personal peak of health, but within that optimal range, our bodies do respond to our habits.”
“Are athletics popular among Hesperines, then?”
“There is no art my people do not love, and that includes the art of the body. Running is what I enjoy most. But it is my cousin Telemakhos and my dear friend Lysandros who spend every spare hour in the gymnasium.”
“How glad your cousin must be that the Gift has ensured his club foot is no longer an obstacle for him.”
“With proper care, such conditions need not be obstacles for anyone. Do you know, that’s why those of us who are Gifted as children are so much taller than humans or Hesperines who reached adulthood as mortals.”
“I thought that must have something to do with your magic.”
“No, only with proper nutrition and a safe, healthy upbringing. Tenebrans would be taller if they did not face such harsh conditions here.”
She tilted her head back so she could look into his face. “I find it hard to imagine any Tenebran man achieving your stature.”
The mysterious warmth appeared in his gaze again, something between humor and pleasure. It gave her the impression he took her statement as a compliment.
“It’s a side effect of being bloodborn. I’m even taller than usual for a Hesperine—the tallest among all our people, in fact. It’s a good thing, too, for I need all the advantage I can get against my much more athletic cousins.”
Cassia returned to the more manageable topic of Lio’s family. “I am curious why Telemakhos did not accompany his parents, as his sister Arkadia did.”
“He and Lyros are guarding Orthros’s borders.”
“They are guards?”
“Initiate Stewards in Hippolyta’s Stand. Aunt Lyta and her Stand serve as the Stewards of the Queen’s ward, the magic that protects our borders. Kadi is the Master Steward and her second-in-command.”
“That explains Master Arkadia’s military bearing.”
“I see you are not one to let appearances fool you. She and Aunt Lyta train equally hard, although they are naturally different shapes. Kadi is one of the greatest warriors in Orthros’s history.”
“Orthros is ruled by Queens. I should not wonder that females can also be warriors there.”
“Indeed, any Hesperine may choose any life path, based on skill and desire. But few desire to pursue the path of war. Our people strive to avoid violence at all costs. Aunt Lyta and her children are the only ones who devote themselves to the preservation of the Hesperine fighting arts, and Lyros is one of the few who sought her training from outside her bloodline.”
“Your aunt is…the leader of Orthros’s army?”
“She is the Guardian of Orthros.”
Cassia was silent for an instant. “Not the legendary warrioress from those hateful marching songs.”
“She rather likes those songs, to tell you the truth.”
“Those old ballads must be as exaggerated as everything else about Hesperines.”
“No, the songs of her deeds are all true.”
“She is…shorter than I imagined.”
Lio laughed.
Cassia found herself smiling. “The Guardian of Orthros is breathing down the necks of the most powerful men in Tenebra, and none of them have a clue.”
“Aunt Lyta and Kadi accompanied the embassy as our protection. In their absence, Mak and Lyros are solely responsible for the defense of Orthros.”
Had Lio just told her inside information about Orthros’s defenses? He was very foolish after all. “Just the two of them?”
“It only takes two,” Lio said with a sanguine smile.
Perhaps not so foolish. “They say Orthros is impregnable, and all those who have tried to enter have lost their way in the frigid mountains and died an excruciating death, driven mad by blizzard wraiths that pick their bones.”
“We only do that to unpleasant people.”
“Like mages?”
Lio didn’t answer that.
“No one dares lay siege to Orthros,” Cassia said. “Wars with Hesperines always occur on Tenebran soil. You are in very dangerous territory.”
Lio put the back of his hand to his forehead in a dramatic gesture of distress. “I live in fear of a particularly ferocious liegehound who stalks me every night, for I did not heed my cousins’ warnings that I should learn to defend myself.”
Cassia pursed her lips, trying not to smile. “I have told you. I shall defend you.”
“No, you have not told me that before.” Lio’s tone changed. Did he let his steps weave him a little closer to her, or did he seem so near simply because he was so tall? “With such a capable protector as you, Cassia, I feel very safe indeed.”
Cassia had never heard him speak quite like this. Surprise sent an uncomfortable flush across her skin. To her astonishment, she found herself unable to interpret his tone of voice.
But she knew he was indeed unwise, if he took her banter about protecting him to heart. If he felt safe with her.
Free with Words
For someone so skilled at reading every minute cue in a person’s movements and tone, Cassia was remarkably unaware Lio had just flirted with her.
He had debated the wisdom of speaking in such a way to her, but the lovely answer in her blood proved well worth the risk. This could become…addictive. Saying something that embarrassed her, making her blush, listening to her blood and the pounding of her heart.
His own blood pumped in his veins, awakened but unsatisfied. It was a good thing he had lingered over the deer so long tonight.
Cassia looked away, calling to Knight. The dog loped toward them again with the stick trapped in his jaws, and Lio reluctantly moved aside. Making over her dog, Cassia took hold of Knight’s prize by the end with no drool on it. She threw the st
ick ahead into the darkness beyond the reach of the spell light.
In the hound’s absence, Lio once more eased closer to Cassia on the path. How could she miss it? She knew dalliance when she saw it. But perhaps the courting she received had only taught her to watch for deceit, not to recognize sincere interest. Lio—a Hesperine, an ally, a genuine admirer—was far outside the paradigm in which she strove to survive. It seemed she did not know what to make of him.
She changed the subject. “The way you speak of your cousin Mak, it is clear the two of you are good friends.”
“We are more like brothers than cousins.”
“Brothers are not always friends.”
Prince Caelum must have proved that to her on plenty of occasions. Lio gentled his tone. “That’s true. I feel very grateful that in our case, we are both friends and family. In fact, Mak and Lyros are my sworn Trial brothers. We went through the Trial of Initiation together to mark our passage into adulthood, along with our three other dearest friends.”
As he and Cassia neared a ruin that had crumbled partway across the deer path, they slowed their pace. At the base of a stone slab that had long ago fallen on its side, Knight was digging and sniffing amid the rocks and dirt with great enthusiasm. His stick must have landed somewhere in the rubble.
Cassia propped herself against the fallen support. “Was your Trial of Initiation very long ago?”
Lio leaned against a slender tree that grew up through the fallen stones across from her. “I fear whatever air of mystery I still possess in your eyes shall not survive this conversation. My friends and I passed Trial only this Winter Solstice, shortly before I came to Tenebra. I’m quite green.”
“That tells me very little, for I still do not know at what age Hesperine initiation takes place.”
Lio slid his hands into the pockets of his robes. “We all wanted to be initiated together, so we waited until everyone was old enough.”
“You are making me fish for my answers tonight, Initiate Ambassador. Before you ask, no, it shall not disturb me to learn you are old enough to be my ancestor.”
