Blood Solace (Blood Grace Book 2)

by Vela Roth

  He smiled benignly. “We strive to accommodate all needs.”

  Eudias cleared his throat. “Ambassador, did you, just, ah, perform a traversal to cover all of a few paces?”

  “I stepped,” Lio corrected. “Hesperines do not require traversals. Stepping accomplishes the same with far less effort.”

  “Can such a skill be learned?”

  “I fear not. It is Hesperine blood magic.”

  Benedict signed a glyph of Andragathos over his amulet.

  Cassia strode to the opposite railing and took in the view of the sea ahead. Lio made use of her swift advance to insinuate himself once more into her escort. Other Hesperines worked around them in coordinated silence. Cassia did not even feel the graceful ship begin to move, but the horizon began to sail toward her.

  “How long will our voyage last, Ambassador Deukalion?” The Light Moon was so bright in the sky behind him, Cassia had to shade her eyes to look up at him.

  A gentle sea breeze stirred his hair, playing with his braid as she had done little more than an hour past. “We will make harbor in Selas tomorrow, Lady Cassia.”

  “Is the channel between our mainland and yours so narrow?”

  “Not at all, my lady. Without the aid of our magic, your people would be hard pressed to make this voyage in a fortnight.”

  Cassia looked behind them to watch the fortress on the bluff recede. “Your land is impressive in scope, Ambassador.”

  “Thank you.” He smiled with a knowing light in his gaze.

  The lords and mages must even now be contemplating the futility of a human military assault upon Orthros. They had no hope of battling winter over a treacherous mountain range and crossing a great uncharted sea. To say nothing of the Queens’ endless, ageless blood ward.

  The four ships sailed in formation, carrying the embassy and their Hesperine guides smoothly away from the cliffs and farther out onto the beckoning ocean. Cassia now saw that, for all the vessels’ grace, the figureheads were not swans. Upon each prow was carved a magnificent winged serpent, lovely as a swan, but fanged.

  Cassia was glad the vessel that carried Chrysanthos and the mages was farthest from her and that Kadi led their escort. The free lords and their retainers occupied the nearer ships. Cassia saw Komnena conversing with Lord Gaius on a neighboring deck.

  Cassia had one ship and Lio all to herself. Except for her retinue and the Hesperines who sailed the ship. But all the same, being the royal representative had its benefits.

  The ship cavorted beneath their feet. Knight’s paws slid on the slippery deck, but he regained his footing quickly and gave himself a shake, tossing salt spray on Cassia’s already damp cloak. She and her fellow humans grasped the rail to steady themselves. Lio, perfectly balanced, clasped his hands behind his back. That sign of tension made her wonder if he had been tempted to put a hand out to assist her.

  “I’m afraid Orthros’s sea is not for the faint of heart,” Lio apologized. “Our sailors will ensure no storms trouble us, but the polar climate and the mixing currents here mean the winds and the waves are seldom steady.”

  “You will find no one among us who is faint of heart,” Cassia assured him.

  “I am not surprised, my lady. My time in Tenebra convinced me of your people’s bravery,” he said to her.

  “I hail from Hadria,” Callen declared, “on the western coast. The sea there has as much temper as her lord, and every soldier must be ready to weather both.”

  Benedict eyed Cassia’s bodyguard. “Segetia may be landlocked and known for its gentle hills. But as my lord Flavian’s First Knight, there isn’t a corner of Tenebra where I haven’t traveled, including our rivers, lakes and seas.”

  Behind the competitive males’ backs, Perita and Cassia exchanged long-suffering looks.

  Cassia glanced past Perita, Callen and Benedict to check on the mage. “Apprentice Eudias, I hope you are feeling better than you were last night. This cannot be a comfortable journey otherwise.”

  His color had improved. He nodded to her without any apparent discomfort. “Thank you for your concern, Basilis. Being on the water is the best tonic I could ask for.”

  So much for finding an excuse to send him below deck. “Well, that should come as no surprise to us, should it? Your magic must make you feel right at home here.”

  “Is that so?” Lio asked politely. “Your affinity is for water, I take it?”

  Now Eudias shifted on his feet. “Weather, Ambassador.”

  The more comfortable Eudias was with Cassia and, especially, with Lio, the less excruciating this arrangement would be. A little effort to draw Eudias out would be beneficial in the long run.

  She smiled. “Apprentice Eudias’s spells greatly contributed to the speed and safety of our journey to the border.”

  “You flatter me, Basilis.”

  While the embassy had traveled, Tychon had tutored Cassia and Eudias incessantly on the mages’ pretense, as if they were both children who could not keep a secret. She put a little of their act to work for them now, staying as close to the truth as possible, while omitting any mention of Cordium or lightning magic.

  “Eudias tells me that when he was a boy, the mage of Anthros in his village took him under his wing. He started his apprenticeship assisting his neighbors with fair weather for their crops, before his extraordinary talent drew the attention of a prestigious circle.”

  “An impressive task for a boy to undertake,” Lio put in. How quick he was to read her cues and lend his aid. “Yours is a very demanding affinity. Weather is a complex and recalcitrant force, which requires great Will to control.”

  Eudias glanced out to sea, his ears reddening.

  “What kind of crops did your neighbors grow?” Cassia asked.

  The apprentice cleared his throat. “Grains. That sort of thing.”

  “Rye? Barley? Oats? They all have their own requirements. You must have had to tailor the weather to each.”

  By the time the fortress had slipped out of sight behind them, Eudias was naming the farmers and which crops they had cultivated in what rotation. He responded with increasing enthusiasm to Lio’s comments on magical practice and Cassia’s remarks about plants. She had never seen Eudias display anything like pleasure until now. He had certainly never appeared to relish his work for Chrysanthos, nor any of his tasks for Dalos before that.

  After some time, Benedict joined in, proving Segetia had earned its reputation as Tenebra’s bread basket. Flavian’s right hand clearly paid as much attention to estate management as his liege. Callen and Perita drifted further along the rail to talk quietly with each other, no doubt glad for more time to themselves. The conversation on agriculture whiled away the time and roamed over everything from crop prices to a recent history of famines, including one from which Eudias had spared his village.

  “Remarkable,” Cassia said. “The farmers must have been very sad to lose you, when you left for advanced training with your circle.”

  Eudias shrugged. “It was an honor to be taken into the Circle, Basilis.”

  To be taken? Of course. The Order of Anthros required all those born with magic that lent itself to combat to be trained under the watchful eyes of the Aithourian Circle.

  She had thought perhaps Eudias had merely had his enthusiasm beaten out of him by his masters’ tyranny. But no. It seemed he had never been a Tychon in the first place.

  “I have lived in many places all my life,” Cassia said, “first one residence, then another. It must be nice to have somewhere you are from. You surely miss home. Do you get to visit often?”

  “It is of greater benefit to them for me to devote all my time and effort to my training.”

  Did Eudias ever wish he had been born with less powerful weather magic, so he might have stayed in his village? Had that been the life he really wanted?

  Had anyone asked him what he wanted?

  Ha. He was a war mage in the Aithourian Circle, who would grow up to be another Dalos. Give him a fe
w years, and he would be more eager to hurl lightning at Lio than to discuss weather spells.

  It was a shame, actually.

  Cassia pushed her sympathy for him away. She might pity him for his position as the Aithourian Circle’s whipping boy, but he had still been at his master’s side when Dalos had nearly killed her Hesperines.

  She looked at Lio now, safe and sound beside her, in the flesh. Every glimpse of him felt like another dose of the Gift’s healing power, reaching hurts much deeper than her skin.

  But this time a glance at him didn’t give her comfort. It reawakened her worries. The signs would go unnoticed by someone unaccustomed to Hesperines’ almost unreadable body language and Lio’s candid face. But Cassia was expert.

  Lio’s courteous diplomatic expression didn’t disguise the tightness at the corners of his mouth. His perfect posture was not easy Hesperine poise, but tension. As the talk of crops neared a natural conclusion, Lio hid more and more behind harmless, insignificant remarks.

  He didn’t look ill as he had the night before. His color was fine, his eyes weren’t dilated, and he didn’t even look weary. But what if he was wearing a veil? If not for his magic, would she be able to see signs of his hunger returning?

  She hastened a return to an earlier topic of conversation. She said lightly, “Are you prone to seasickness, Ambassador?”

  He glanced at her with an expression of surprise and laughed. “No Hesperine is prone to any sickness, Lady Cassia.”

  “Of course.” With her face turned toward him and away from Benedict and Eudias, she let Lio see a flicker of concern in her gaze before looking out to sea again. “But surely there are some dangers at sea with which both our peoples can sympathize. For example, being surrounded by water that is no good to drink.”

  Benedict and Eudias shifted nervously on their feet. How squeamish they were, even though she had referenced the Hesperine diet with so much delicacy her words had been almost meaningless. But Lio would know her true meaning.

  He did not reply. It was Callen’s voice, low with concern, that filled the silence. Cassia turned to him. He was leaning over Perita, who sat on a nearby crate.

  Cassia went to her friend’s side. “Are you all right, Perita?”

  Before she could answer, Callen scowled. “No, my lady. She’s not well.”

  “Did you get enough rest after what happened at the border?” Cassia asked. “If you think you are taking ill—”

  Callen shook his head. “It’s a more usual malady.”

  Perita cut in, “I’m perfectly fine, my lady.”

  “Oh, Perita. I wish you had told me you are seasick.”

  Perita crossed her arms and didn’t budge.

  “She’s doesn’t want to seem like she’s failed you, my lady,” Callen said quietly, which earned him a glare from his wife.

  Cassia made a great show of relief, lowering her voice. “I’m so glad you’ve told me. I feel quite ill myself, but I could not reconcile my conscience to excusing myself. For Perita’s sake, I will not hesitate. Let me make our excuses to the ambassador.”

  Perita breathed a sigh. “I suppose that’s all right, my lady. It’s not Ambassador Toothy’s side I promised not to leave.”

  Cassia couldn’t help but chuckle. Ambassador Toothy, Lord of Fancy Soap, could easily hear he had just earned another pert name from Perita.

  Cassia returned to Lio at the rail and pressed a hand to her belly. “Ambassador, I must beg your forbearance. I stand by my claim of Tenebran steadfastness, come Hypnos or high water. But I must reluctantly admit the sea is putting me to the test.”

  Alarm flashed in Lio’s gaze. “Perhaps we have been too hasty in departing Waystar so soon after the ordeal of your arrival.”

  “Thanks to the healers, we are all quite fit to travel, I assure you. But I neglected to ask them for a charm against seasickness. If you would be so kind as to excuse me, I would be very grateful for the opportunity to take a moment’s pause below deck, where the motion of the ship is sure to be less.”

  “Of course, Lady Cassia. Please, take your time and rest.”

  Eudias interrupted, “Basilis, I’m sorry to hear you are ill. But if I may, I suggest you remain on deck. That is the best remedy for seasickness. Seeing the motion of the water will help calm your stomach.”

  “Thank you so much for your concerned advice. But I would really prefer to lie down. You and Sir Benedict need not bestir yourselves. Callen and Perita will escort me below.”

  Eudias looked uncertain, but Benedict nodded, clearly satisfied with his assignment to keep an eye on Ambassador Toothy. “As you wish, Your Ladyship.”

  Lio was very grave as he escorted Cassia, Callen and Perita to the hatch that led below deck. Cassia began to regret her ruse. She’d had no intention of worrying him. But if it had escaped his notice that she wasn’t really ill, he was not at his best indeed. He needed her, even if she must subject him to a few moments of fretting in order to arrange it.

  She descended into the ship, and Knight joined her, his mass all but blocking the narrow corridor that ran the length of the keel. At Cassia’s insistence, Callen took Perita to their cabin straight away, and Perita didn’t even protest. Cassia slipped into her own cabin to wait for Lio.

  This was yet another benefit of her position as the crown’s representative. Her cabin was private and generous in size, its appointments fit for royalty. The bunk looked inviting and, not surprisingly, long enough to accommodate someone of Hesperine height.

  Knight squeezed his big, furry body under a dainty dining table that was bolted to the floor, and the embroidered tablecloth secured upon it hung in his eyes. She strapped her gardening satchel to the table leg next to him.

  She hadn’t even finished unlacing her russet travel dress when Lio appeared just inside her door, his face clouded with worry.

  She grinned at him. “I knew you’d find a way to get away from Benedict.”

  “He and Eudias are watching an illusion of me have a word with my mother on the opposite deck. Are you all right?”

  “Of course.”

  “I feared you might need another healing from Javed, but call it seasickness in front of the others. Some injuries and fevers take more than one night to manifest.”

  “Your health is the reason I have come below deck. You should have had breakfast before we left. It is clear you are hungry.”

  There was a hint of panic in his eyes. “The symptoms shouldn’t be showing. My veil is in place.”

  “I knew it. I’ll help you out of your veil if you’ll unlace me.”

  His gaze riveted on the bit of bare shoulder she showed him. The raw hunger she had seen in his gaze last night returned in full force. Cup and thorns, she thought for the first time. She wanted him to look at her like that all night. Her heartbeat quickened, and his pupils enlarged.

  “I feasted on you too long last night. It’s too soon.”

  She held out both hands to him. “Half a year, Lio. It’s not too soon.”

  He was across the cabin in a heartbeat. Her arms were around him, his hands on her. His mouth found hers.

  This was how she had so often imagined their reunion. Holding onto each other for dear life, devouring each other with kisses, no negotiation, no preamble. Their hands roamed over each other, shedding their clothes. They had their bodies bare in a matter of moments, and then he had her on her back, under him on the bunk. She pulled him down to her, parting her thighs for him.

  She had one glimpse of his fangs straining against his lips before he lowered his head. She felt the sting of his teeth on her neck and the pressure of his rhabdos between her legs. He buried himself in her in one smooth, hard motion.

  It was still a mystery that the razor-sharp blades in her throat wrought only pleasure, not pain. Her body shivered uncontrollably, tugging against the grip of his teeth with the motion. Pleasure filled her from his bite down to her krana and chased into the depths of her mind. Like a shard of moonlight, his presence
plunged inside her thoughts with a caress.

  She had waited so long to feel this. Him under her skin, completely. Everything was as it should be now. With a soul-deep sense of relief, she gave into the need to move. She lay her head back for him to drink and spread her legs wider, rocking beneath him in exultant silence.

  The bunk rose and fell under them with the ship, and he matched his rhythm to the swell and ebb, timing his thrusts and his sucks at her neck. He feasted on her as if she were the last sustenance in the world.

  The pleasure was so sweet. More powerful than her memories, more intense than her fantasies of him in their long months apart. The invasions of his rigid flesh inside her were marvelous, stroking her, stretching her to hold him, as natural as breathing. His weight sheltered her, and his long, lithe body rubbed against her, reminding her how her sensitive skin seemed made for this.

  Cassia stopped thinking. Ceased her worrying and trying and fighting. She surrendered to her wants, to her need for him.

  She let herself get lost in this world where his body drove the tide. They were safe. Adrift in a ship surrounded by endless ocean, with Lio at the helm. She relaxed for the first time in six months and let him consume her.

  Her guard fell, and the self-control she had clung to every moment of every day escaped her. She tossed and twisted on his rhabdos, unable to be still. She pushed her throbbing body up onto him hard, bucking with the ship, and he drove down into her, carrying them under again. She devoured him in time to the sea and the throb in her throat.

  He panted upon her, drawing in air through his nose as if to enhance his ability to taste her. What could he smell? What did he taste? The dampness from her body smeared across his skin. Surely the blood on her lip, where she was biting it now. And her heart, hammering in her chest. He could taste that.

  And with every pump of her racing heart, she felt her blood rush forth from the warm ache at her throat, onto his waiting tongue. She felt him draw her essence out of her and suck her down like she was also sweet and powerful and marvelous. And in return he poured pleasure, magic, himself into her.