Blood Feast: A Fantasy Romance

First Ritual

Tendeso lifted one ofhis black and tawny wings in greeting. Now she understood why Lio had thought him an enemy when they had first met. Even here, on the other side of the world from the land of Tendo’s ancestral power, the shifter prince’s magic was enough to make her rock on her feet.

She wrapped her arms around him, dangerous aura, sharp weapons, and all. He smelled of veld grasses and royal incense. “Thank you so much for coming.”

His wings enfolded her. “Stop having close calls, nyakimbi. I went to a lot of trouble to save your life. I had to come in person to make sure your silkfoot rescued you properly.”

Lio clasped Tendo’s arm. “This silkfoot is glad you’re here.”

Tendo pulled Lio in to clap him on the back. “I might have to promote your nickname, too. I hear you fought your way out of a castle full of necromancers to carry her to safety. Not garden variety death mages, either—those Gift Collectors who assassinate Hesperines for a living. Well done.”

“High praise from you, Monsoon.”

Tendo shook his head at the mention of his fortune name, the epithet he had earned in his past as a mercenary. It must be a painful reminder of the happy years he and Solia had spent fighting with their mercenary band, the Ashes. He hadn’t forgiven her for choosing her duties as a royal over their lives together.

“I’m nothing but the Ashes’ messenger bird these days,” Tendo said. “Karege, Tuura, and everyone in Ukocha’s village said to tell you congratulations.”

Solia put in, “Kella and Hoyefe send their love, as well. They’re holding down the fort in Tenebra.”

Solia and Tendo stood on opposite sides of the gathering, but they were in the same room for Cassia’s sake. She didn’t dare ask what truce the former lovers had agreed upon.

Her sister had now wrapped her bespelled golden scarf around her shoulders, concealing her aura from the Blood Union. Tendo must have similar magic at hand, for Cassia couldn’t sense his emotions toward her sister, either.

But Cassia hadn’t lost her touch for reading body language and expressions. The pair betrayed awareness of each other’s every twitch and glare.

Lio sighed. They’re acting like two predators ready to fight.

Or to mate. Cassia could feel the most natural form of magic sparking between the two simply because they breathed the same air.

With them, there isn’t usually a difference, Lio pointed out.

Perhaps we can get them to do more than stare daggers at each other from across the room.

Time for one of our diplomatic schemes, he agreed, of the matchmaking variety.

But right now, the elders were beckoning Cassia toward the Ritual circle. Komnena opened her arms, her eyes shining with tears, and Cassia went into her Grace-mother’s embrace. She would never be motherless again.

For a vivid instant, she recalled the spectral hold of her mortal mother’s spirit. Now Thalia had a kind of immortality too—through Cassia.

“How do you feel?” Komnena asked in her bespelling, soothing voice. “If tonight becomes too overwhelming, tell me.”

How like the mind healer to welcome Cassia into eternity with such a considerate question. “I will, but right now, I’m so happy to be with everyone.”

Cassia turned to Apollon, surprised how quietly his presence had been dwelling at the heart of this gathering. “Papa, are you…veiling yourself?”

A chuckle rumbled out of Apollon’s chest. “Yes. A room full of ancients can get a bit stuffy otherwise.”

A kind jest at his own expense. He had always been so patient with her, even when she had cast her fears of her human father on him.

“You are one of the least stuffy elders in all of Orthros,” Cassia protested. “Please don’t feel the need for veils.”

His dark blue eyes, so like Lio’s, crinkled at the corners with amusement, and then his presence dawned on the room. She would never again understand why humans worshiped the solar god Anthros when the Goddess of Night’s most ancient Hesperine was far more radiant.

Apollon’s power was in the bedrock beneath their feet, In Komnena, Lio, and Zoe’s heartbeats. In Cassia. His magic carried the current that flowed among their bloodline.

He searched her gaze, a silent question in his eyes. Could she accept this?

She couldn’t find the words to explain how he eclipsed what fatherhood had once meant to her. So she simply hugged him, as Zoe would. The smile she sensed in his aura seemed to warm every hall and chamber of the house he had built.

By the time Uncle Argyros and Aunt Lyta finished handing her back and forth to congratulate her and reassure themselves, her new senses were dazed with their might and their love. Bosko peppered her with questions about her Gifting, for which she had no suckling-appropriate answers, until Javed stuck Thenie in the boy’s arms and Kadi persuaded him to stand with them outside the Ritual circle. It took Cassia several attempts to convince Knight to stay there with Kadi and Solia.

Lio offered Cassia his hand. “Ready?”

“Yes, she is.” Kassandra urged Cassia forward.

At this vote of confidence from Orthros’s oracle, Cassia shot her a grateful look. Meeting Kassandra’s gaze, Cassia bit back a gasp at the seer’s fathomless aura. She was past and present, pain and joy existing in the same body and the same moment. How hard it must be to be her.

But Kassandra smiled. “All is well with me on nights such as these.”

Together, Lio and Cassia joined Apollon upon the mosaic of Hespera’s Rose within the Ritual circle. Zoe’s slippers pattered on the tile as Komnena guided her to stand with them.

Kassandra, with one of her mysterious smiles, held out a long, rolled bundle across the sacred ring. “Weaving your Ritual tapestry was tricky. Your schemes aren’t easy to follow through my visions, Cassia Komnena. But oh, what marvelous patterns they make.”

Cassia put a hand to her heart. “Thank you.”

She recalled the night when Kassandra had handed her the Mage King’s banner, and she had thought that was her future. Now she took her Ritual tapestry from the Oracle with the certainty that this weaving represented her true destiny. Together, she and Lio unfurled it for everyone to see.

Cassia would have to look at this for centuries before she perceived every detail in the incredible weaving of rich blood reds, deep dark greens, and velvety black. Kassandra seemed to have captured all the wildness and beauty of the Lustra in a frame of celestial designs. Hespera’s dark night sky encompassed all of Cassia’s future, her moons and stars shining their light on her garden.

Plants danced in and out of one another in complicated knots that reminded her of the Changing Queen’s pendant. She spotted Hespera’s Roses and betony, Sanctuary Roses and cassia flowers, ivy and thorns. But there were animals too. A pack of liegehounds on the hunt made her smile. A hawk appeared at various points in the tangle, as if swooping in and out of her fate. Hidden among the flowers, was that elusive shape a woman’s face, her lips parted as if to speak a spell?

Lio’s aura honed with conviction. The animals and the speaking woman must be symbols of beast magic and soothsaying. I was right, Cassia. It is your destiny for us to restore your other two affinities.

You know how open to interpretation Kassandra’s prophecies are. Perhaps the tapestry is merely a tribute to my Silvicultrix heritage. I’m happy with the Gift and my plant magic.

You must have all your power. This prophecy shows it’s written in the stars. And if it weren’t, I would make it so.

She knew that look in his eyes. He had made his choice about which path of destiny to fight for, and Goddess help anyone who resisted the new shape he would Will the world into.

I love you, my Grace,she said.

And I love you, my Silvicultrix.

When Rudhira and Nike set foot upon the stone petals of Hespera’s Rose, the glorious magic around Cassia swelled so high she could drown in it. She handed her Ritual tapestry to them. “Ritual Father, Ritual Mother, you have my gratitude.”

In Rudhira’s complex scent, she picked out fresh-cut timber and the bold fragrance of Blood-Red Royal, his namesake rose in his family’s greenhouses. But the rare smile he gave her was uncomplicated. He looked from her and Lio to Zoe. “I’m happy to be called upon for a third addition to Apollon’s bloodline. Looking after the three of you for eternity is certain to be an adventure.”

“Good thing you’ll have my help with this one.” Nike rested her hands on Cassia’s shoulders. The evergreen scents of the dark forest where they’d first met seemed to have followed Nike home from her long quest in Tenebra. “I’m honored. When I first found you that night as a mortal child, I never could have imagined we would be standing here tonight. What a Hesperine you’ve become. I cannot wait to see what you do.”

“I will cherish your words.” Cassia could scarcely believe the Blood-Red Prince and the Victory Star were holding her tapestry for her during this momentous occasion.

A hush fell over the hall, pregnant with the question no one had yet asked Cassia and Lio.

They’re too kind to ask if I’ve manifested any magic, Cassia said. Shouldn’t we warn them?

Mischief sparkled in Lio’s aura. Why don’t we let it be a surprise?

Are you sure that’s safe?

Father built this house. It’s covered in so much magic, it can withstand anything.

Well, if you’re certain…I’ll do my best with a demonstration.

“Cassia Komnena,” said Apollon. “Will you give of yourself for your bloodline, tonight and forever?”

My blood is your blood,Lio reminded her.

“My blood is your blood,” Cassia responded.

She offered her wrist to Zoe. The smallest member of their family took Cassia’s hand, and her little fangs stung Cassia’s skin. Zoe tugged, and Cassia felt her life, her power, flow out of her to nourish the child.

She had always known she would spill every last drop of her blood for this little girl. But now, she would never bleed dry. She would always have the strength Zoe needed.

Zoe lifted her head, solemn with her effort not to make a mistake during the important ceremony. She managed not to spill and hastily accepted a handkerchief from her mother. Cassia bent and kissed Zoe’s forehead, her wrist already sealing.

“Cassia Komnena,” Apollon said, “we, your bloodline, will give of ourselves for you, tonight and forever.”

My Grace. Lio gave her his wrist first, and the familiar taste of him steadied her. You’re doing beautifully. No urge to tear my clothes off in the middle of the Ritual circle?

Sunbind you, you’ll have to veil my blushing face if you keep on like this.

Then my goal is accomplished.

As she finished her drink from him, she felt a shiver of power go through the ground. Not now, she Willed the letting site.

Komnena held out her wrist. “Daughter.”

Cassia focused on keeping her thoughts and her magic in line as she accepted her Grace-mother’s offering. She tasted rich plum wine and sweet gardenia, and Komnena’s magic poured into Cassia like rain. Cassia’s own magic bloomed.

In a flash, she felt the shapes of the magic below them. In her mind’s eye, she could trace the blood-infused Ritual circle, eight bright mosaic stars of the constellation Anastasios glowing with his enduring power. Deep below, strong roots ran, tracing back to the fertile nexus under the tower. The Lustra was everywhere.

Cassia turned to Apollon, visualizing every mental pattern she and Lio had devised to assist her self-control. She would not ruin her own first Ritual.

Apollon’s blood hit her tongue. She couldn’t taste anything but power. She braced herself and swallowed.

Magic blazed into her veins. Her jaw clenched, her heart ready to burst from her chest. The undiluted strength of her foregiver charged through her, and the Lustra tore out of her in answer.

You belong to me. She trembled where she stood, her ears roaring. You do not control me. You are mine.

But her power knew it belonged here. It rejoiced in her veins and flourished amid the centuries of her bloodline’s spells.

Lio’s mind drew deeper into to hers. I’m here. Let’s try to guide it together.

With their combined force of Will, they took hold of the rampant power inside her. The chaos gained form as vines of magic they could grasp and guide, but still it fought them every inch of the way.

Komnena’s power swept into the spell with the inexorable power of an ocean tide, taming the currents of the Lustra magic. Apollon joined her casting, sealing wayward power into the stone, building it into layer after layer of the ground. When Nike’s magic charged into the fray, it was as if a master smith bent and shaped the raw magic with harsh artistry.

Rudhira joined the spell as gently as a winter breeze. If he hadn’t been so careful, Cassia feared the infusion of royal Hesperine magic would have made her lose her grip on her magic all over again. His power made a battle cry rise in her blood.

With her Grace and the four ancient immortals bolstering her Will, Cassia sent the Lustra magic twining back down into its source.

She lifted her head from Apollon’s wrist and opened her eyes. For an instant, she felt mighty, drunk on the power of their kind. Then she saw what she had done to the Ritual hall.

Roses had exploded everywhere. They had broken right through the marble to spill across the floor and climb the pillars. Cassia gaped up at a hole where the vines had collapsed the roof so they could turn their impossible dark blooms toward the moons. Their petals were as black as the night sky.

Cassia put her hands to her face, speechless. Lio held her steady, blanketing her in reassurance through their Union. But her cheeks burned.

Apollon’s laughter split the silence, echoing through his wrecked masterpiece. “That’s my daughter.”

“Black roses.” Nike touched a finger to one petal. “Hespera’s sacred flower, taking on the color of her protection. A miraculous omen.”

Solia stared at Cassia. “You have your plant magic. How?”

If Cassia must tell them the true horror of her past, this was how she wanted to do it, surrounded by Hespera’s proof that she was whole now. “During my Gifting, I regained memories the Collector hid from me. We learned that my plant magic came to me when I was fourteen…and he took it.”

The anger and grief of her loved ones raged up like her rampant roses. She thought the Blood Errant might charge out of the room that instant to hunt down the enemies who had made her suffer. She didn’t want to cause them this pain, but oh, how grateful she was for such defenders.

Solia pulled Cassia into her arms, her skin hot. “I have many scores to settle with Lucis, but I will make him pay for this above all.”

“It’s all right now. They had to leave me a drop of my plant magic to keep me alive. The Gift took that last remnant and turned it into…” She gestured around them. “This. Thanks to Lio, I’m alive and well and, ah, rather powerful.”

Lio smiled. “Don’t be so modest. You opened a letting site under the tower.”

Solia’s eyes widened. “What does this mean for your other two affinities? Will your new letting site give you beast magic and soothsaying?”

“We’re working on that,” Lio said firmly. See? he added in her mind. Your sister agrees with me.

She decided this was not the time to debate it in front of their loved ones. “Right now I have enough magic and more than enough reasons to celebrate.”

Solia swiped at her eyes. “I wish Thalia were here to see this, but I can speak for her. We are so proud of you, Cassia.”

In the centuries tocome, Cassia would never forget how cheerfully everyone moved the celebration into the library, as if her magical disaster were the greatest cause for celebration of all.

She hesitated in the doorway, where black roses threatened to invade the library from the Ritual hall. Leaning in to smell one bloom, she tested the texture of the dark petals between her fingers. Their fragrance held the aching beauty of Orthros’s red roses, deepening into the indulgent sweetness of blood.

“I scarcely know what to make of this creation of mine—or Hespera’s—or the Lustra’s?”

“All three.” Lio studied the flowers, a smile on his face, his magic sweeping over the nearest vine. “All the rosarians of Orthros will be clamoring to study these. They must be a magic-bred hybrid of some kind, don’t you think?”

Cassia kept her hand in Knight’s ruff. “The Winter Solstice festival starts in two weeks. I know how important it is for our tributaries to gather here and receive our gifts to them for the coming year. What will we do without a Ritual hall to put them in?”

“My dear,” Komnena said with a laugh, “this is hardly the first spell that has gone awry in this house. You should see the repairs Apollon had to do when Lio’s thelemancy first manifested. He had barely learned to walk, but he managed to shatter every window in the house.”

Lio rubbed his face. “I suppose I can tolerate story hour about the embarrassing moments of my childhood if it will make Cassia feel better.”

“It’s dangerous to give your mother that kind of permission.” Xandra’s eyes sparkled. “We’ll be here all night.”

Komnena, never daunted as the Queens’ Master Chamberlain, supervised the rearrangement of the festivities amid the half-empty shelves of their growing library. Friends and family brought the platters of food and wine, except for Apollon, who carried the sucklings on his shoulders. Rudhira and Nike levitated a dinner table in.

Uncle Argyros personally rescued his coffee service from the devastation and arranged it on the table in all its glory. With great ceremony, he poured Cassia a cup and offered it to her. “Now, an important rite of passage. Experiencing coffee with your Hesperine sense of taste.”

“I shall need a bigger cup,” Cassia predicted.

“Indeed, it is one of the greatest joys of immortality,” Uncle Argyros said with a contented sigh. “You can drink as much coffee as you wish.”

She took a deep whiff of the expertly crafted beverage. “Deukalion’s Blend. My favorite.”

“Of course.” Their mentor’s imposing gaze softened with good humor.

Cassia took a sip. Layer after layer of rich flavor warmed her mouth. She bit back a moan. “If I weren’t immortal, I would be deceased.”

“Do I have competition?” Lio asked with a teasing grin.

She met his gaze over the rim of the cup and blushed. “Coffee is the second best beverage known to Hesperine kind.”

Uncle Argyros gave a wholehearted laugh, slipping his hand into Aunt Lyta’s. “I couldn’t agree more.”

The diplomatic relations of the world were in upheaval, and yet the Queens’ Master Ambassador had taken time to make Cassia’s first cup of coffee. Solia and Tendo carried the weight of their kingdoms and heartbreak, but had pushed that aside to be here. Hesperines were at war with the Mage Orders for the first time in sixteen hundred years, and yet Rudhira had left the battlefield for her, his newest Ritual daughter.

Cassia might be immortal, but time was still precious, and none of them knew what tomorrow would bring. She held tight to the fragile, joyful moments they all snatched from the jaws of war.

Lio was the magic that imbued each cherished instant. Their Grace Union made him fully present in her every breath and glance as she experienced these familiar parts of their world with her new senses. She kept pulling him deeper into their connection, trying to hold him away from his own haunted thoughts.

When Tendo absorbed Lio in conversation for a few minutes, their laughter reassured Cassia somewhat. Now might be her only chance to put her secret plan into action without Lio plucking it from her thoughts and ruining the surprise.

She eased back from their Grace Union as subtly as she could. It felt like holding her breath. He was still within her, like that residual air in her lungs, and all her thoughts and emotions burned with the need to pull her next dose of him into her.

Before she lost her grip, she pulled Komnena aside. “I have a question. Could you veil our conversation, please?”

Komnena cast a glance at Lio as her magic enveloped them. “Of course, but if you intend to keep something from him, it will take far more than my veils now.”

Cassia clenched her fists with effort. “Our Union makes romantic surprises terribly difficult.”

Aunt Lyta joined their conspiratorial circle. The Guardian of Orthros gave off the fragrances of soothing meadowsweet and dangerous yarrow. “Do I sense a new Hesperine in need of mental defenses against a powerful thelemancer?”

“Do you mean that’s possible?” Cassia asked.

“You must maintain some privacy to live with the same person for centuries. Especially when one’s Grace is a mind mage.”

“Can I learn how, even if I’m not a thelemancer myself?”

“Certainly. I may be a warder and a warrior, but over a thousand years with Argyros have honed my mind as well. I can teach you some tricks. Thelemancers like Lio and Argyros could certainly get through those defenses if they wished, but our conscientious diplomats would never.”

“Of course not.” Cassia grimaced. “I’m more concerned about how easily my own thoughts leak out of my mind for him to see.”

“That I can help with. Here’s a quick tactic to help you right away. Focusing on something else is more effective than trying to avoid a certain thought. If you fill your mind with words or images to distract him, he’s less likely to notice the one you’re trying to keep from him.” Lyta added, “Have fun with that.”

Cassia grinned. “Oh, that’s a very good idea.”

She started by focusing her thoughts on something that wouldn’t draw his suspicion: a diagram of the greenhouse he, his father, and Mak were building for her. She ran through plant varieties and flower bed layouts, and Lio’s light touch upon her mind didn’t focus into full attention.

Once she got the answers she needed from Komnena, Cassia gathered her Trial circle around her. Before she had to ask, five layers of veils descended over them.

Xandra’s aura was bright with interest. “I know that look in your eye. You’re working on a scheme.”

“It’s clearly time for a strategy session,” Lyros agreed.

Cassia sent her gratitude into the Blood Union, so glad to now have this way of communicating when words felt insufficient. “Kia, I need you to inconvenience your mother.”

Her fangs flashed in a grin. “I thought you wanted me to do you a favor.”

“Mak, Lyros, I would like to employ the Stewards’ wards—not for battle, but romance.”

Mak gallantly put a hand to his chest. “You know you can rely on us in matters of love or war.”

“Nodora,” Cassia asked, “could I ask for one more encore of Lio’s and my favorite dance?”

She clasped her hands together. “Of course! It would be my pleasure.”

By the time they had decided all the details, Cassia was running out of rose arrangements to envision to distract Lio.

“You look like you’re about to strain a muscle,” Lyros observed.

“Or hit someone,” said Mak. “Give yourself some Grace, eh?”

“You all have my gratitude,” Cassia said before returning to Lio and Tendo.

She stopped fighting the Grace Union. As Lio’s thoughts and emotions flowed into hers again, she bit her tongue to keep from groaning with relief.

He slid his arm around her. You’ve been trying to hide from me, Lady Circumspect. Tired of my company already?

Did I seem tired of you when you fed me, right before we left the tower? She filled her thoughts with the sounds and sensations of their last, quick feast.

Lio rubbed his mouth. Ah, there’s only one explanation for those veiled conversations, then. You’re conspiring.

I was only talking with Mak about my greenhouses, she replied innocently.

That doesn’t explain how my mother and aunt are involved. Should I be worried what you three are about to unleash upon the world?

Oh, I was only getting some advice about Graced life now that I’m a happily paired immortal. They’ve been keeping your father and uncle happy and out of trouble for years, after all. She thought of magical explosions.

Why do you have a tendency to get me deeper into trouble?

Have you ever considered that makes you happier than staying out of it?

Tendo snorted. “You two have that lovesick look on your faces again. Mak, Lyros, get over here and talk to me about violence.”

Their Trial brothers joined them, Lyros raising his glass of wine to his Grace. “Mak isn’t always much help with that. He’s a hopeless romantic.”

“I’m in a helpful mood,” Mak said. “You’ll spar with us tomorrow, won’t you, Tendo?”

Didn’t he already secure Solia’s agreement to meet in the arena? Lio asked Cassia silently.

He certainly did,she replied. Oh, clever Mak.

Cassia put a hand on Tendo’s arm.“Please stay that long. I’d love to come and watch.”

“I’ll even let you take me into the ring for a few beatings,” Lio promised.

“We’ll see,” Tendo relented. That was far better than a no from the grumpy shifter.

No one breathed a word of war or politics as the night went on. Cassia managed to bring Zoe and Solia in on her plan with Lio none the wiser. But Cassia could feel everything left unsaid rising like a storm, until she could hardly bear the charge in the air.

The storm broke when a new aura slipped silently into the gathering. Cassia’s magic rose in recognition, and she met the scout’s startled green eyes across the now-hushed room.

“Habuch joh bero,” Kalos breathed, an oath in the old garden tongue once spoken by their ancestors, the Lustri people, who had practiced nature magic in its most ancient and powerful forms. She sensed his beast magic prowling around the letting site, circling her. He bowed deeply to her.

She drew nearer to him. “Oh, Kalos, no need for that.”

“Silvicultrix,” he said reverently. “You made a Hesperine letting site.”

“I’d love to talk with you about it. Later.” Right now, she could tell their time was running short.

Kalos’s gaze went to the First Prince, then Solia. The scout was veiling his emotions. For the sucklings’ sake, Cassia thought. But she knew without a doubt that he was here to deliver the bad news she had feared.