by Vela Roth
He had read her actions correctly, hadn’t he? Hadn’t she been working toward another Summit that would bring him back to Tenebra, just as he had been trying to escape Orthros? Hadn’t they, even at this distance, endeavored in partnership for the same goal, as they had when they had been together?
“What if the king does want the match, and she doesn’t find a way to get out of marrying Flavian?” Mak asked.
“Then my course would be clear,” Lio answered. “I would have to rescue her.”
Mak nodded. “You know I’m the last person to advise better safe than sorry, Lio, but this is your Cassia.”
“If there’s no way to know which is true,” Lyros said, “which choice is safest?”
The answer to that question could not have been clearer.
If Lio didn’t intervene, and she needed him…if the moment came when she faced Flavian at the altar with no way out, with no one to stop it, and Lio could have spared her that…
Lio would be abandoning her. He, her Grace, the very one who should do everything in his power to protect her safety and happiness.
He could not tolerate the thought, but he must. He had to face precisely what it would mean for her if he judged wrongly.
She would be trapped in an unwanted marriage, in a marriage bed, with that man.
Or she would die.
Lio’s head pounded. “Cassia will look upon any marriage her father arranges as a death sentence. They are the same thing in her mind. Such a betrothal was the death of her sister Solia.”
“Princess Solia?” Mak asked. “I have heard Father talk about her. She was the king’s heir, wasn’t she?”
Lio nodded. “She and Cassia adored each other, despite the fact that they had different mothers. She was the closest Cassia ever had to a real parent. When Solia was seventeen and Cassia seven, the king allowed the princess to dance with Free Lord Bellator at the Autumn Greeting, which Tenebrans understand as a promise of betrothal. When Bellator discovered the king didn’t intend to deliver on that promise, long-standing tensions between the nobility and the king erupted into violence. Bellator led some of the other free lords in a revolt. They captured Solia and threatened to kill her if the king didn’t make concessions.” Lio looked at his friends. “He refused their terms.”
“Is that how she died?” Lyros grimaced.
“Cassia was there, listening to the negotiations. She heard her father throw away her sister’s life. She listened to the catapults at sundown, when the rebels fired Solia and her bodyguards over the walls of their fortress, and she heard the soldiers discussing the king’s orders that they not risk any men to collect the remains.”
“Bleeding thorns,” Mak swore. “I’d like to pack the king off to Hypnos myself, except that’s too good for murderers who make children grow up without their sisters.”
Lio winced inwardly, hating that he’d probed his cousin’s wounds.
“The king let them brutalize his own daughter and then left her body there to rot?” Lyros demanded.
“He would have. But that night, Cassia tried to approach the fortress to recover her sister’s body. Alone. No older than Zoe. When I think of what could have happened… But when a rebel’s arrow almost found Cassia, a Hesperine errant plucked her out of death’s path. That Hesperine and her two comrades gave the Mercy to Solia, then took my Cassia to safety. That’s the whole reason she first sought me out. It was the first chance she’d had to talk to another Hesperine since that night, to try to reach an adult understanding of what they had done for her sister. I had the privilege of explaining to her that we honor fallen mortals with Hespera’s own rites and transform their remains into light, just as the Gift does for our bodies if we die. I was able to offer her the comfort that Hesperines errant shared in Solia’s final thoughts and feelings and now carry a part of her with them for all time.”
Mak leaned forward. “Which Hesperines errant were they?”
“We don’t know. They didn’t tell Cassia their names.”
“How did she describe them?” Mak asked.
“I’ve considered and reconsidered the details to no avail, but perhaps you two will notice something I didn’t.”
“Try us,” Mak urged.
“Well, they were a party of two females and a male who appeared to be of Tenebran origin. Cassia said they were all quite tall, so perhaps they received the Gift as children…”
“…or just seemed very tall to a little child,” Lyros finished.
“Not much to go on,” Lio agreed. “They wore formal robes…”
“They would for such a sacred office,” Mak said, “no matter how rough the territory.”
“But anything Cassia saw that night could have been illusion,” Lyros pointed out. “There are many reasons for Hesperines errant to alter their appearances, one being to make themselves appear less frightening to a Tenebran child.”
“They certainly had a light mage with them. Cassia described a diffuse, omnidirectional illumination.”
Mak cleared his throat at Lio. “Light magic is one of the four essential affinities that lots of Hesperines study. Sometimes too much.”
“Cassia also recalled being surrounded by shadow that made her feel safe.”
Mak brightened. “That’s definitely a description of a Hesperine protective spell. One of them was a warder.”
“Also an essential affinity,” Lyros said. “Lio just described half our Hesperines errant.”
“True. Warders like us are among the most likely to go Abroad.”
“Of course,” Lio went on, “they would have traveled with at least one thelemancer or healer trained to ease pain.”
“Because that’s required of all Hesperines errant.” Mak sighed.
“No way to know which of them had one of those two essential affinities.” Lio lowered his head. “One of Solia’s guards still lived when they arrived, but they did not say who treated him.”
“The Gift empowers all of us to give the Mercy,” Lyros said. “Cassia’s rescuer could have had any kind of magic.”
“She did confide in Cassia one personal matter. She was grieving for her brother. She carried deep regret that she had not been able to save him from capture.”
Mak shook his head. “Unfortunately, that describes all too many of our people as well.”
“There’s nothing in our chronicles about Hesperine involvement at the Siege of Sovereigns,” Lio said. “That must mean the three of them haven’t returned home to give a report of their deeds and have remained Abroad since that night or longer—so at least fourteen years.”
“That’s not unusual,” said Lyros, “given the freedom Hesperines errant have, but Rudhira must surely be aware of their activities.”
Mak’s jaw tightened. “The Charge doesn’t give orders. Rudhira provides support and oversight to make sure no one else ends up like Prometheus, but despite his best efforts, there are just too many ways for a Hesperine to go missing in the field.”
Lio joined Lyros in sending silent encouragement to Mak through the Blood Union.
“Have you tried interviewing any of the Hesperines who have made it home?” Mak asked. “You know that every time the Queens’ summons brings someone back to Orthros, the first thing we do is ask if they have word of Nike, although we’ve yet to learn anything.”
“I’m afraid my questions have yielded no more than yours. No one seems to know anything about the Siege of Sovereigns. I’ve had to be subtle about how I ask, but if Cassia’s rescuers were in Orthros, I would have found them by now.”
Lyros nodded. “So many newcomers and returnees pass through House Komnena while your mother is helping them readjust to life here.”
“I won’t give up until I give Cassia’s rescuers my gratitude for saving her life. Not to mention for showing her our people’s kindness. That’s why she was predisposed to trust me when we met. Those three Hesperines errant are the reason she loves our people and wants to fight for peace between Orthros and Tenebra
.”
“There you go, giving her childhood rescuers all the glory.” Mak looked at Lio askance. “It’s obvious her motivation for saving the embassy and fighting for peace has a name, and it isn’t ‘gratitude.’”
“She said that,” Lio confessed, reminding himself. “She said, ‘I would have done this just for you.’”
“Of course,” Mak told him.
“You’re worried that this time, the only Hesperine who will rescue her is you,” said Lyros.
“Lucis allowed his own daughter’s murder, because the princess’s popularity among his subjects—and all the secrets she knew—made her too much of a threat to him. It’s all I’ve been thinking about since I heard Flavian is going to ask Cassia for the promise dance. Is that Lucis’s purpose now as well? What if he knows Cassia is a threat to him, and he plans to use this situation to rid himself of her the same way he did her sister?”
Mak gripped Lio’s arm. “If there is any chance Cassia’s life is in danger, now isn’t the time to hesitate.”
“If her life is in danger, so is yours,” Lyros reminded him quietly.
“I made up my mind when I left that if there was ever a real threat to her, I would intervene. Somehow.”
“What’s the worst that can happen, if you’re wrong?” Lyros reasoned. “So she’ll be angry with you for interfering with her ability to commit more treason.”
Lio voiced the same argument, the one he’d had to repeat to himself every other moment since he’d left to keep himself from going right back. “She spent her whole life being afraid of the king. Now she has finally found the courage to stand against him. I have no right to prevent her from that. That’s like telling her to go back to being silent and obedient.”
“How does running away with a Hesperine equate to silent obedience?” Mak asked.
“She wants to right the injustices the king has made her suffer all her life. She wants justice for her sister. I can’t ask her to just leave all of that. Think of what she is doing for her people and ours.”
“To fight anybody, she has to be alive,” Lyros said.
“But the moment we remove Cassia from the king’s court, we remove the only person who stands in his way. Without her influence keeping him in check, Lucis will welcome Cordium into Tenebra with open arms and allow the war mages free run of his kingdom, so they can mount a persecution against our people the likes of which we haven’t seen in centuries. We aren’t ready for that. The Prince’s Charge is still…making preparations.”
“Lio, it’s my sister’s life we’re talking about.” Trust Mak not to mince words. “I think my opinion carries some weight here.”
“Of course it does.” Lio met his cousin’s gaze. “I would value your honesty.”
Mak hesitated. “I would never say this in front of my parents. I wouldn’t want to worsen their pain.”
“You don’t have to watch what you say with us, my Grace,” Lyros assured him.
“This is a night for speaking openly,” Lio agreed.
Mak gave a nod. “We wish every moment Nike would come home. Mother and Father begin and end each night wondering if she’s safe. But Nike knew the risks when she decided to stay Abroad on her own after the Blood Errant disbanded. She wasn’t the same after the Aithourians got Prometheus. I think her grief clouded her judgment. But she chose her path. I don’t think we’ll ever know if she came to harm…or if she’s out there now and just doesn’t want to come home.” Mak let out a sad laugh. “She’s Mother’s daughter. Who else would have the backbone to refuse a summons from the Queens?”
Lio voiced a question he had never dared ask before. “Are you ever angry with her?”
“Bleeding thorns, no. Even after what happened to Prometheus, she didn’t run to safety in Orthros. She had the courage to stay Abroad, to keep up the Goddess’s practices where they’re really needed. I admire her. I just wish she’d come home long enough for me to meet her so I can tell her that. But I can’t do anything about Nike. None of us can. We have to respect her Will for her own life. Even if…”
Lyros got up and went to sit at Mak’s side.
Their shoulders touched, and Mak took Lyros’s hand. “Even if her choice for her life was to sacrifice it.”
“The Charge is still looking for her,” Lio reminded him. “They need more time.”
“You don’t have more time. I must accept Nike’s choices. I don’t have to accept what’s happening to you.”
“That’s right,” Lyros said. “We can do something about the fact that our Trial brother is suffering. Hesperines who go errant face the danger in the name of serving Hespera and her people. You aren’t in a position to make that sacrifice. Think of your parents and Zoe.”
“And us, Lio. Goddess knows I don’t want to lose you, too.”
Lio swallowed. “I’m grateful for you two.”
“You’re welcome,” Mak answered. “We’re happy to break your nose for you anytime.”
“Stop making him laugh, Mak. It hurts just looking at him.”
Mak’s reply was not a joke this time. “His body should have repaired itself by now. He’s that bad off.”
Lio had to do what was right for his people, his family and Cassia.
But also for himself.
“I got Cassia her seat at the Summit in Tenebra, against her wishes,” Lio said. “I regarded it as an invitation, she as an unwanted intervention. I understood afterward I should not have acted without her consent, but she came to realize she truly wanted her seat. She did great things from there, and if she hadn’t, Dalos and the king would have succeeded.”
“Such what-ifs don’t bear thinking on.” Mak shook his head.
Lyros shuddered. “Thank the Goddess. You were all in the right places at the right times.”
“That’s the last time I dismiss a diplomatic mission as a lot of boring talking,” Mak said. “I keep wishing the two of us had gone with you after all.”
“I wished that constantly while I was there,” Lio admitted. “But who would have patrolled the border while the embassy was in Tenebra, if you hadn’t stayed? The Queens’ ward protects us, but it doesn’t have hands to reach out and help anyone seeking asylum from the other side.”
Lyros smirked. “Besides, it earned us our promotions from initiates to full rank in the Stand. Just like your feats in Tenebra earned you your ambassadorship.”
Mak’s chest shook with laughter. “We’ll keep your ‘feats’ with Cassia a secret, if you won’t tell anyone how much fun Lyros and I had while everyone was gone.”
“The three of us spent the shortest time as initiates in the history of our people, after all,” said Lyros. “We’d better not let on.”
“Right,” Lio said between excruciating laughs. “Wouldn’t want anyone to think we advanced so quickly by getting our fangs polished.”
Their humor offered a moment of respite. But only a moment.
“We won’t feel safe until you’re with your Cassia on this side of the border,” Lyros said.
“It may be the only safe place for her,” Mak reminded Lio.
Lio leaned his elbows on his knees. “Basir and Kumeta are consulting with the Queens again tomorrow. I’ll find out then whether or not Flavian and Cassia danced the Autumn Greeting. Whether she’s really in danger.”
“Even if she isn’t, you still are,” said Lyros.
“What if she doesn’t dance with him?” Mak asked. “What will you do for your sake, Lio?”
“I don’t know.” Lio stood, and his Trial brothers steadied him on his feet. “But if Cassia dances with Flavian tomorrow, I will no longer hesitate.”
Zoe
Lio didn’t want to admit how relieved he was Mak and Lyros offered to take him home. It didn’t strain them to step with him back to House Komnena, and they delivered him precisely to the family terrace.
The side door stood open, its stained glass panels illuminated by spell light from within the house and moonlight from without. It was an e
arly effort of Lio’s from before he had learned to infuse glass with its own light, but the door remained one of Mother’s favorite Gift Night presents.
Father always said the house he had built for his bloodline had been a mausoleum until he had brought his Grace and their child home, and the monument of white marble would not be finished until his son filled every window frame and doorway with color. Lio had centuries of work ahead of him.
Lyros’s eyes narrowed with amusement. “This feels familiar.”
Mak chuckled. “How many times have we had to carry each other home after one of us caught the wrong end of our mischief?”
“Only our sisters are missing,” Lyros mused.
“Yes. Our Trial sisters.” If Lio kept referring to all three of them that way, perhaps he would come to feel it was true not only of Kia and Nodora, but also Xandra as well.
At the outset of Lio, Mak and Lyros’s doomed childhood expedition to the aptly named Wisdom’s Precipice, Kia had given them a lecture on why leaping from the cliff would not cause them to learn levitation any faster.
Upon their return, when she had visited them in the Healing Sanctuary, she had said, “I told you so,” before weeping at the sight of them. Nodora had sent them dismayed, sympathetic get-well notes while devoting her time to keeping Xandra busy for as many hours as it took the healers to make Mak, Lyros and Lio more presentable.
When Xandra had finally burst in for a visit, Lio wasn’t sure what had set off her infamous temper the most. That the three of them had done such a thing to themselves, or that everyone else had tried to protect her by keeping her in the dark.
“I think it will require more diplomacy when I tell the others than it did with you two,” said Lio.
“Telling us didn’t require any diplomacy,” Lyros pointed out.
“Nothing diplomatic about getting your face smashed and then vomiting your guts out on the steam room floor.”
“Hush,” Lio begged Mak. “Zoe might hear you.”
“We understand,” Lyros assured him. “You have to plan how you’ll share your happy news with our sisters.”
