Blood Feast: A Fantasy Romance

Into the Unknown

The low, gray buildingcast a long shadow in the fresh snow, a shadow Lio deepened to conceal their rescue party. They slipped under the simple portico that sheltered the entrance to the disenchantment chambers.

The place was too covered in spells for Lio to sense who might be inside. They could only pray Xandra was right, and Lyta would be in council with the Queens for a long while.

Lyros paused at the door and looked at Lio in question. Lio nodded. His veils were ready.

Lyros eased the door open.

The central room was empty. The only guard was a battered practice dummy in the corner, with which a Steward usually whiled away the time while looking after initiates and their misbehaving magic.

The wards that steeped the walls did not feel so protective now. They stood between Lio and his Grace. Doors lined the walls, two of them shut tight and fortified with magic.

Cassia’s presence stirred behind one of the closed doors. Sunbind it, Lio, tell me you’re here for an approved visit.

I’m here to break things until you’re safe.

Tendo peered through one of the open doorways. “Really? This is the only prison in Selas, and we can walk right in?”

“It’s not a prison,” said Lyros, “and the front door isn’t the problem.”

“I expected Hesperines to hold their captives in better comfort,” Solia seethed.

“We don’t hold captives,” Lyros protested. “Any cushions we put in here would get destroyed the next time some youngblood’s spell runs riot.”

Solia stalked forward. “Let’s see how this place holds up when my spells run riot. Which door shall I burn down first?”

Lio pointed to the one across from the entrance. Stand back. Your sister is about to try magefire on the wards.

Cassia’s fury burned through their bond. This is not the plan! We cannot risk Solia’s alliance with Orthros! Mak and I have made up our minds, and we are not letting anyone else take the fall with us!

Lio cast Lyros an amused glance. “If Mak is protesting this endeavor half as vocally as Cassia, your head must be a busy place at the moment.”

Lyros half grinned, rubbing his temples. “Our Graces have tempers.”

Unfortunately for Cassia, her ire seldom had the effect on Lio that she desired. He had too much of a taste for her anger to regret his actions. “She insists she won’t set foot outside this cell, and if I try to carry her, she will tie me to the ground with rose vines before she lets me get myself arrested.”

Tendo snickered. “Tell her I’ll carry her off for you, then. But ask her not to step on my foot again.”

Tell Tendo I’ll aim for his wings this time!

Lio repeated this, and Tendo laughed harder.

Solia settled into a battle stance in front of the door and cupped her hands. “Ready?”

“Yes,” Lio answered. “I’ve covered you in the best thelemantic veils I learned from Nike. Let us hope her experimental spells conceal fire magic.”

Solia’s aura crackled. In a flare of golden light, a ball of fire shot from her palms. It struck the warded door with an impact that reverberated through the stone.

The fireball rebounded back at Solia. She let out a filthy Imperial curse and held out her hands. Her flame returned to her, flitting up her arms. “I see why Aithouros had such a bad night when he tried to chase Lyta through Martyr’s Pass. How much time do we have?”

“We’re out of time,” Lyros hissed, an instant before Lio sensed her, too.

Lyta’s aura was approaching.

“How can their council be over already?” Lio glanced around them, then beckoned to the others. “In here.”

They ducked inside one of the empty disenchantment chambers, and Lio eased the door almost shut. He slammed more power into his veils, wrapping them all in the gloom of the unlit room.

Your heart is pounding, Cassia said. Oh, Goddess, she’s coming?

Lio gritted his teeth, unwilling to admit how close they were to getting caught by the Guardian of Orthros. Time to find out how the veils he had learned from her Grace and daughter held up against her.

Through the gap of the open door, he saw Aunt Lyta stalk in. She halted there, and Lio tensed. She stood for a long moment, pinching the bridge of her nose.

Then she sprang into motion all at once.

She hurled her fist at the practice dummy. Canvas ripped, and feathers tore through the air around her.

When another aura slipped into the room with her, Lio’s heart leapt into his throat.

Uncle Argyros pulled her into his arms. “Talk to me.”

She rested her fists and her tear-streaked face on his chest. “I remember how the pacifist Hesperites looked at me when I learned how to use my fists. Is that how I looked at Mak when I saw him with a weapon? Have I become them?”

“You could never be like them.”

“No.” Her voice fell to a whisper. “I don’t want to tell the Queens. I didn’t want to arrest our son.”

“I know.” He shut his eyes, pressing a kiss to the top of her head.

“I cannot make exceptions for our own blood. But I want to. Hold me, Argyros. Otherwise I will walk over to that door right now and open it so Mak and Cassia can slip away, as if I never saw a thing.”

He held her tighter. “I’m afraid you’ll have to hold me in return.”

She wrapped her arms around him. He rested his face on her hair, and his eyes caught the low light, glowing dark gold.

Lio realized his uncle was looking directly at him.

Caught in Silvertongue’s gaze, Lio could do nothing but hold his breath and his veils and pray.

“I wish you and I could open that door,” said Uncle Argyros, “but we must not.”

Perhaps Lio had lost his mind. Or perhaps he understood exactly what his uncle meant.

He gave his mentor a nod.

Was it his imagination, or was that minute motion of Uncle Argyros’s head a nod in return?

“Let me take you home,” Uncle Argyros said. “It’s not necessary to guard them. Everyone in Orthros knows there is no possible way they could break out of this building.”

She lifted her head suddenly, her brow furrowing.

He put a finger to her lips. “We should leave now. It is better for everyone that way.”

The elders disappeared, their powerful presences fading from the room.

The rest of them stood in silence for an instant, then Solia said, “Is it safe to try again?”

“I’m fairly certain they won’t be back,” Lio replied.

She rushed to the sealed chamber and flattened her palms against it, the rest of them following. This time, her fire cascaded over the entire surface of the door. The stone gave a promising crack.

Then the glow faded. Solia smacked her hands against the door with a growl of frustration.

“You need either more time or more power,” Tendo said, “and time isn’t something we have.”

She kept her back to him.

He snapped his wings. “Let me help.”

Finally she looked over her shoulder, her jaw clenching. “Fine. But only for Cassia’s sake, you understand?”

“Of course.” His voice was hard.

But there was something gentle about how he approached her. She stood very still, letting him draw near to stand behind her. When he flattened his hands over hers on the door, a little start went through her body. His wings flared.

All the air in the room seemed to rush to them in one gust. Her fire flared again. Fed by his wind spell, her magic came alive in a conflagration. Lio and Lyros shrank back. Monsoon stood with nothing but her between him and the flames.

The door glowed molten orange. Then the fire reversed, slamming back into her. She staggered back into Tendo’s arms. A chill wind swept through the room, cooling the door to gray. It fell in pieces at their feet.

Cassia stared at them through the rubble and dust, her aura spitting with anger. Her gaze shot past them. When her eyes locked with Lio’s, he felt the quiver that went through her and knew, as angry as she was, it took all her Will not to throw herself over that threshold and into his arms.

Lyros levitated into the chamber first. Mak opened his mouth, his face flushed and brows drawn down in anger.

“Enough!” Lyros said. “You got us into this mess. Hush and let me get us out of it, will you?”

Lyros grasped Mak’s face, preempting whatever protest he was about to make with a hard kiss.

When Lyros let him go, Mak put his arm around his Grace and exited the chamber with him in silence.

They left Lio and Cassia facing each other over the threshold. Her fists at her sides, she flashed her fangs at him.

Lio held out his hand to her.

She stood her ground. I can’t bear for you to lose our family. Our home. At least let me protect that for you.

You are my family and my home.

He took a step toward her, gravel crunching under his shoe. She stood rooted, as if unwilling to walk forward but unable to pull back.

He reached out to touch his braid in her hair. I will not let you take the fall alone. No matter what happens in our lives, we go through it as partners. What do you think our vows mean otherwise?

She slipped her hand into his. He pulled her close, and for a moment, nothing else mattered. His Grace was back in his arms. Relief sank deep into their shared blood.

A boom sounded from the central room, jolting Lio back to reality. He had veil spells to maintain. Cassia hurried out of the chamber with him. Her eyes widened at the sight of her sister and Tendo working on the other sealed door.

“Leave the weapons in there,” Mak said. “They’re not worth it.”

That image flashed in Lio’s mind again: Thorn, cutting through the night, cutting down the Gift Collector. “We’ll need them where we’re going.”

“I’m not letting you leave without your blades.” Solia gritted her teeth.

Tendo pumped his wings, and more wind magic swept into her grasp. She hurled a jet of flame at the door. This time, their spell cleaved right through the stone, and it fell in two slabs at their feet.

I’m glad they’re our family and not our enemies,Cassia marveled.

I can imagine how they carved their way across the Empire for eight years with the Ashes.

He simply needs to go carve his way across Tenebra with her, and then they’ll both feel better.

Mak didn’t move to retrieve his creations. So Lio took it upon himself. He found the weapons resting on the benches. Whatever spell Aunt Lyta had used to bind them must have worn off. Apparently she had thought the door would be secure enough.

Or had she suspected a fire mage bent on protecting her little sister could break it down?

Lio shook his head. No time to puzzle out the elders’ motivations. He tossed Mak, Lyros, and Cassia their weapons and scabbards. He slung his chain across his chest, and the metal grips attached to it settled between his shoulder blades. He levitated his staff onto his back and felt it lock into the enchanted holder.

The magic in Final Word murmured to him like a friend. A temptation. It felt good to have it on his back, this aberration that had caused them so much grief already.

What did that make him?

“We’ll get the Blood Shackles off you after we escape,” Lyros said. “We’d better run.”

Cassia cast a worried glance between her sister and Tendo, who now stood as far away from each other as the room allowed.

“Well, Sunburn,” Tendo said, “do you want to take a slow, mortal stroll to our escape ship, or will you let me carry you so you can keep up with the Hesperines?”

She crossed her arms over her chest, her lips pressed together.

“The avowal celebration isn’t over,” he said, “which means our truce still holds. We agreed we wouldn’t let our past affect Cassia.”

“That’s not all we agreed to. I will fly with you, but if you don’t keep your hands to yourself, I’ll burn them off.”

Tendo smirked. “And if you break that part of our truce? Shall I give you a little distance from temptation? I’m sure dropping you over Orthros would cool you off.”

“Say that again when I have time to answer in the arena,” she snarled.

Laughing, Tendo scooped her up and marched out the door. In a rush of wind, his magic lifted them, and he spread his wings to carry her into the night sky.

Lio and Cassia took off running after their Trial brothers. They sped across the fields, and Stewards’ Ward faded away in a blur of white. Then they darted through the back streets of the arts districts, where revelers were more interested in their own veiled trysts than prying into Lio’s spells. All the way, Cassia kept pace with him, fleet and powerful at his side.

Soon they hit the beaches beyond House Kitharos, and they raced lightly across, the sand barely giving under their feet. Lio and Lyros led their Graces to the two boats waiting just above the tide.

“Our Trial sisters are in on this too?” Cassia demanded.

“And the Ashes,” Lio said. “Lyros and I tried to keep everyone else out of it, but they wouldn’t stand for it.”

Cassia pressed her lips together in silent protest, but helped Lio push their boat out into the water alongside Mak and Lyros’s. They leapt in, and the waves rippled with Nodora’s magic, tugging them out to sea.

The beach had receded into the distance when her veiled ship emerged from the darkness ahead. Her flute trilled above them. The waves crested beneath them and lifted the boats gently onto the deck. Lio got out and reached to help Cassia, but she had already leapt nimbly out. Knight ambushed her, the water on her clothes soaking into his fur.

Tendo came in for a graceful landing on the starboard side. Solia jumped out of his hold as if she’d been burned, straightening with great dignity. Judging by his cocky smile, the flight had not been a waste.

“Thank the Goddess none of you got caught.” Nodora ushered Cassia toward one of the benches under the awning.

Tuura was already waiting there with her medicine bag. “Who needs a poultice?”

Cassia sank down onto the seat. The anger drained from her aura, giving way to misery. “I’m so sorry I brought all of this on you.”

“So am I,” Mak said.

Kia hugged him tightly. “Stop it, you overprotective oaf. I, for one, am proud of you.” She sat him down next to Cassia and took the seat across from them. “Can I hold one of these weapons that have the elders’ underlinens in such a twist?”

Neither Mak nor Cassia hurried to display their weapons, and Lyros hesitated, too.

Metal whispered on metal as Lio levitated his staff out of its grips. He rested the end on the deck with a soft impact.

Kia circled it, her face bright with fascination. “May I?”

Lio offered the staff to her. “Cassia named it ‘Final Word.’”

“Ha! You’ll certainly have the last word when fighting with this.” Kia lifted it, weighing it in her hands, her magic probing the artifact. “Mak, this is a marvel! It deserves to be studied, not outlawed!”

Mak slumped with his elbows on his knees. “Phaedros can write a treatise about it when we’re all banished with him.”

“No one is getting banished on my watch,” Kia said. “Don’t despair. Heretics never changed the world without breaking things.”

Lyros interrupted, “Right now, we need to break these Blood Shackles off Mak and Cassia so we can make it over the border.”

Kia handed Final Word back to Lio and rolled up her sleeves. “Show me how this spell works.”

He joined her on the bench across from Mak and Cassia, and blood magic flared in the night as they went to work.

Lio hovered behind his Grace, longing to put a hand on her shoulder for comfort. But he sensed she wanted time to sort through her emotions. He had learned that when she was in this state, all he could do was give her the space she needed.

Lio sighed and retreated to the railing. He watched the lights of Selas give one last glitter in the darkness of polar night as home disappeared behind the horizon.

Kia had been workingfor hours when Cassia felt a snap in her blood. The Shackles finally gave way. The magical weight lifted from her, and she heaved a breath.

Kia flopped back on the bench, her face ashen and fangs out, but her aura was triumphant. Lyros rubbed his Grace’s wrists, and Mak accepted this in silence.

Cassia’s gaze drifted to Lio. He still stood at the railing, but now he was looking at her instead of the dark, empty sea. Her aura instinctively flowed toward him. She sensed him simply waiting, listening. He would be at her side in an instant if she asked.

He was too far away. And she had only herself to blame.

“All right,” Kia said. “The shackles are off, and it will be twilight in Tenebra by now. Time for you all to go.”

Nodora looked toward the southern horizon, although the border was too distant to be seen from here. “I wish we could wait for word from Xandra.”

“So do I.” Mak finally spoke. “We don’t even know if her plan worked. If Nike turns herself in after all...”

Lyros shook his head. “It will be better if Xandra keeps her distracted until we’re well over the border.”

Mak gathered his composure. “Right.”

“You all have our gratitude,” Cassia said.

The Union was heavy with everyone’s regrets. Lio sent reassurance to all of them, and selfishly, Cassia soaked it up like a thirsty scrub in the Maaqul.

“It’s all right,” he said. “This is how it must be. For now. We can worry about clearing our names after the war is over.”

Nodora wiped her eyes. “We’ll keep working to exonerate you. We will make it our cause in the Firstblood Circle.”

There was a cold fire in Kia’s gaze. “This will only inspire our partisans. The Eighth Circle, taking up arms like the First Circle, persecuted by those too afraid to rebel!”

“I’ll write your first ballad myself,” Nodora promised.

“Yes,” Kia swore, “the name of the Black Roses will be in everyone’s hearts.”

Nodora swallowed hard. “And we’ll visit Zoe every night.”

Cassia covered her face with her hands. Lio’s despair mingled with her own. Zoe. Their greatest regret of all.

Zoe’s worst nightmare was that her loved ones would leave her, never to return. Cassia and Lio had promised her that would never happen to her again. But this time, it might not be in their power to come back.

They hadn’t even said goodbye.

Strong arms, warm with fire magic, wrapped around Cassia.

“I will make sure Zoe is all right,” Solia swore. “I’ll have someone step me to Orthros to check on her every chance I get.”

“She needs you,” Cassia said, her throat tight. Solia was the only person who could fill the hole they were about to leave in Zoe’s life.

“I haven’t lost my touch at being an elder sister to a little girl. I couldn’t be there for you when I was a fugitive. But I can be here for Zoe while you are on the run.”

Cassia rested her face on her sister’s shoulder. “I’m so glad you’re in our lives now.”

“Took me long enough, but I’m here to stay.”

“And you, Tendo?” Lio asked, clasping his arm. “Will you go back to the Imperial court to make sure none of this affects the Empire’s alliance with Orthros?”

“Eventually,” he said, “but for now, I think I’ll find out if Zoe likes flying with me as much as Chuma does.”

Solia lifted her gaze to his. “So…you’re staying in Orthros for the time being?”

“Someone has to clean up the damage these four left in their wake.”

“If you grow tired of peaceful silkfoots,” Solia said lightly, “there is a battle going on next door, you know. Helping me throw fireballs might be more entertaining, at least.”

Tendo put his hand to his ear. “I’m sorry, I must have misheard you. Did the Queen of Tenebra, who insists she can win this war without any more Imperial warriors, just ask for my help?”

“I’m giving you an opportunity to escape that uncomfortable chair a certain Imperial princess has in mind for you. You should be thanking me.”

“And how does a certain Hesperine prince feel about me flying into his territory?”

Solia frowned. “He is unlikely to object to more Imperial support. And if he did, I would remind him my kingdom is not his territory.”

There was an edge to Tendo’s laugh. “Oh, I’m sure he’d object to the kind of support I gave you when you and I fought together. I don’t get the impression he likes to share your sparring sessions, and neither do I.”

Solia surged to her feet. “Is that what you think?”

Lio’s eyes widened at the two of them, and Cassia couldn’t help meeting his gaze.

Oh my Goddess, he said, Tendo is jealous of Rudhira.

Does he have a reason to be? Cassia asked in astonishment.

I have no idea. It never occurred to me. Our Ritual father and your sister? Did Solia say anything to you about it?

Not a word.

“I will not dignify your assumptions with an explanation,” Solia said. “I am no one’s ‘territory,’ and the only person entitled to an opinion on who I ‘spar’ with is me.”

Tendo gave Solia a sardonic look. “There isn’t room in your kingdom for two princes, Your Majesty. I’ll be tending to Hesperine-Imperial relations on this side of the border, regardless of what sort of negotiations are going on between you and the First Prince.”

He turned his back on a fuming Solia, flaring his wings. He paused only to look back at Lio and Cassia.

“Take care of yourselves,” he said. “Don’t make me come rescue you.”

He vaulted off the railing and flew back toward Selas.

No one spoke for a long moment. Cassia’s mind reeled with the implications, but she didn’t dare ask her sister about it right now.

“I apologize for that display,” Solia said at last.

Cassia stood and put an arm around her. “You have nothing to apologize for. You know you can talk to me about it when you’re ready.”

Solia’s warrior face slid back into place. “Kella and Karege will meet us in Tenebra with your horses. You can use his aura as a stepping focus.”

Tuura patted one of the packs she had brought. “We retrieved everything we thought you’d need from your residences. Quite easy, when your provisions are traveling with you. I packed food for Knight and plenty of poultices, though.”

The diviner handed Cassia her hardy old gardening satchel, which had carried her prize possessions through many past travails. But leaving tonight felt harder than anything she had ever done, from walking into a war mage’s assassination plot to trekking across the Maaqul.

They were out of time. These were her Trial sisters’ last embraces and final farewell blessings. She had to let them go.

“I will see you again,” Cassia said in defiance of the dread taking hold of her. “This isn’t forever.”

It couldn’t be. The forever she had envisioned for herself in Orthros couldn’t be gone.

Rosethorn felt so heavy at her waist as she and Lio collected their packs and gathered with Mak and Lyros around Solia. Lio’s magic wrapped her close, and they stepped into the unknown.