The Mourning Circle
A growl from Knightmade Lio fumble for his fading veil spells. The hound faced the way they had come, leaning forward, his whole body alert.
Mak and Lyros already had their wards up. Lio levitated to his feet and summoned his staff to hand, pushing through a wave of dizziness and the weakness in his limbs.
With her fangs and dagger out, Cassia moved in front of him, a small, vicious obstacle between him and unnamed danger. Goddess, she was beautiful. Every protective instinct in him demanded he pull her behind him where she would be safe.
But if he kept treating her like a mortal, that wouldn’t encourage her to embrace her immortal power. He moved forward and stood at her side.
Knight let out a fretful whine, then barked.
“I think someone is following us,” Cassia said.
Lio cast veiled thelemancy across the moor. “I can’t get a sense of them.”
Mak fingered his morning star. “Anyone who can hide from your mind magic isn’t to be trifled with.”
“I don’t like this,” Lio said. “If they’re Gift Collectors, why aren’t they attacking?”
“Whoever they are,” Lyros said, “we’ve drawn them out here where they can’t harm any mortals. Now we should get to Segetia and look for shelter there. Cassia, do you remember a location we can use as a stepping focus?”
She nodded and shut her eyes. Her senses opened for Lio, letting him deeper into their Union.
She envisioned a road in her mind’s eye. He sensed her past emotions tied to that place. She had traveled through there with the king’s entourage on the way to the Solstice Summit, where she hoped she would meet a Hesperine.
That memory of her journey to him made a powerful focus. They stepped from Hadria’s harsh landscape to a road bordered by Segetia’s gentle fields.
As they picked up their belongings and mounted again, Knight sniffed their surroundings, pausing over refuse left behind by whoever had ridden here during the day. But few dared travel the roads of Tenebra at night in wartime, except Hesperines.
“This is King’s Road, which runs all the way from Namenti to Solorum.” Cassia pointed not far into the distance, where moonlight gleamed on water. “That’s where the Silvistra and Cerera Rivers meet.”
“So the knights will almost certainly have to bring the evacuees along here,” Mak said.
Cassia turned Freckles. “We should be able to intercept them.”
“Good,” Lyros said. “We’ll try that tomorrow night after we’ve found another refuge.”
Lio wrapped a hand gently around Cassia’s where she still held Rosethorn. “Let’s think where a Lustra site might be in Segetia.”
Her grip on the dagger only tightened, and he knew he was in for another debate about the use of her magic.
He tried to keep his tone patient. “Do you know of any possibilities? This domain isn’t as old as Hadria, so it didn’t exist in its current form during the Mage King and Changing Queen’s reign. But there could still be fortresses built by the lords of that time.”
“Right.” Cassia’s voice was too calm. “It was settled very early because it’s the most fertile land in the kingdom. Many bitter feuds were fought over it until Flavian’s ancestors prevailed and consolidated power to rival Hadria’s.”
Mak waved at the surrounding fields. “If everything grows so well here, does that mean the Lustra is more powerful in this region?”
Lio shook his head. “I fear it may be the opposite. It’s one of the least wild places in all of Tenebra.”
“Men tamed it so long ago. The Lustra feels…” She seemed to search for words. “Diminished.”
“It can’t be gone, though,” Mak reasoned. “The letting site under your mother’s temple is still there, even though Corona is one of the most populated cities.”
“True,” Lio said, “but it was tended by generations of Silvicultrixes disguised as mages of Kyria. The Lustri sorceresses were surely driven out of Segetia ages ago.”
“Yes.” Cassia paused.
Lio leaned closer to her. “You have a theory.”
She hesitated. Knight barked suddenly, then circled them. He pushed against Cassia’s leg.
“He wants us to leave,” she said. “It’s as if someone is still on our trail. How could they follow us when we stepped?”
“We need to find shelter,” Lyros said. “Quickly.”
Cassia finally replied, “Segetia is dotted with circles of standing stones so old no one remembers who built them. Could they have been ritual sites for the Silvicultrixes?”
“Stone circles!” Lio exclaimed. “Certainly. I wish we had access to a library right now so I could refresh my memory on Tenebran megaliths. They’re sure to date from the Hulaic Epochs, when the Silvicultrixes were at their most powerful.”
Cassia frowned. “I should have thought of this before, but I’ve never actually been to any of them. Genie mentioned them when she was telling me about places she wanted to show me in Segetia. That was before I knew anything about my magic.”
Lio could believe Lady Eugenia’s imagination would be captured by some ancient site with mysterious origins. Flavian’s younger sister was quite the romantic. Lio would never know what she saw in narrow-minded Sir Benedict.
Lyros levitated the map over to Cassia. “Do you know the locations?”
She furrowed her brow, studying the map. “Genie told me about a few near her family’s estates, but that’s too far to ride in one night and we can’t step there without a clear focus.”
“May I make a suggestion?” Lio asked.
She met his gaze, her chin set. It was clear she was already prepared to resist his advice.
Lio continued anyway. “If the stone circles are Lustra sites, your senses will draw you to them. You should try stretching your awareness and see if you can detect any within riding distance. This is also a good opportunity to test your range.”
She let the map roll shut with a snap. “We are not performing any magical tests after a narrow escape from Gift Collectors, with more of them possibly on our heels. Do you want me to bring the next Hesperine-baiting party down on our heads?”
“If you do, we’ll take care of them.”
“Fight when we must, Lio. That’s what Uncle Argyros said to us. I won’t incite any more violence if I can avoid it.”
Lio wanted to peel away the layers of guilt in her aura one by one until she realized just how wrong her words were. But that would take time. Right now, he had to make the argument that would change her mind. Her mind, which he knew so well.
He made a point that he knew she would not be able to refute. One that was close to her heart. “The villagers are headed here for safety. Better to draw any of Kallikrates’s hunting parties to us before they have a chance to hurt the mortals.”
Anger flashed in her hazel eyes, glinting half gold in the moonlight. Sunbind you, Glasstongue, she told him privately before saying aloud,“Very well. I will ask the Lustra to show us the way. That is all. No channeling.”
She jumped off Freckles, giving him no opportunity to help her down, and strode a few paces away from them. Knight followed her, darting to and fro, clearly anxious at the delay. Mak and Lyros fanned out on their horses, and shadow wards rose to encircle their party.
Lio dismounted and followed Cassia with Final Word at the ready. He slipped up behind her and rested one hand on her shoulder. “I’ll protect you while you cast. If you need help with control, I’m here.”
She didn’t turn to him, but he heard her little intake of breath. “I will not need help. It’s not even a casting.”
He resisted the ill-timed temptation to kiss the sensitive spot between her neck and shoulder. He wanted to lick her anger from her skin.
She pointed the tip of her dagger toward the ground, adjusting her grip on it. There came the barest stir in her aura, slipping down her blade.
That meek ripple of magic sent a sudden rush of anger through Lio, this time all his own. This tentative creature was not Cassia. She had left those days behind in her human life. As an immortal, she should hold her head high and unleash her power. That was what Orthros had promised her. That was what he had promised her.
She glanced over her shoulder at him, her eyes full of hurt. He pulled back. What had he said—or not said—to put that fresh wound in her aura?
Before he could respond, she gasped and swayed on her feet. He reached to catch her, but she steadied herself.
“The Lustra is still here, buried deep.” She sounded a little breathless. “No one has woken it in a long time. It’s tired. Desperate.”
“Is it willing to guide us?” Lio asked.
“Eager.” She turned slowly, holding out Rosethorn like the point on a compass. “That way. I think we can reach it before dawn.”
“Then we ride northeast,” said Lyros.
“Cassia—” Lio began softly, reaching to catch her hand.
“Not now. Not here.” She slipped from his grasp.
The Lustra’s guidance wasa faint, keening thread pulling Cassia along the next mile. Then the next. She had to focus all her Will on it, or she would lose the trail. But that meant she had no concentration to spare for the unbearable emotions lodged in her chest.
At last they spotted gray, jagged teeth against the violet horizon. By the time they approached the standing stones, twilight muffled her thoughts and dragged at her limbs. She prayed this would prove to be a safe place. They were out of time to find another before dawn.
Mak gave the crumbling slabs a dubious look. “It’s just a pile of rocks.”
“This is a masterpiece of prehistoric engineering and astronomy!” Lio guided Moonflower around the perimeter of the circle at a trot. “See the arrangement of the stones? They align with the heavens somehow. Perhaps related to the equinox and harvest season? If we count the broken stones, there are nine in all—three times three. That suggests a Silvicultrix site.”
“Huh.” Mak tilted his head. “You may be onto something. That ritual circle under the lighthouse had nine nodes, too.”
Lio rejoined them. “See? Your brain isn’t a pile of rocks, either.”
Mak gave him an affronted look. “My brain keeps your hide safe while your brain is stuck in prehistory, scrollworm.”
Lyros’s mouth twitched. “The question is, does this place offer any of our brains protection?”
Cassia’s dulled reason somehow made her more aware of the Lustra’s pull. Her voice came out hushed. “It’s not just rocks. Each standing stone has a presence. Even the broken ones.”
The others grew quiet. Acting on instinct, she slipped off of Freckles and put Knight in a sit stay. “I think it’s best if you all wait here at first.”
“I should come with you.” Lio was already dismounted and at her side.
She held up a hand. “The Lustra here doesn’t know you yet. It’s…suffered a great deal, I think.”
Lio’s brows descended, and she knew there was a protest in his exquisite mouth. Two could play this game of unfair negotiations.
“If you want me to use my magic,” she said, “you have to let me use it. Trust what my intuition is telling me. Let me see how the magic in this place responds to me before you try to enter the circle.”
His eyes narrowed. “Well played, my Silvicultrix.”
He waited with Mak and Lyros as she walked alone into the ring of megaliths. The dewy grass gave softly under her feet, and the scent of damp stone touched her senses. As the magic of the place enveloped her sleepy mind, she felt like she walked into a dream.
Power. Ancient, frightening. Familiar. Mourning soaked the earth, while the stones whispered comfort. She knew this place, and yet it reminded her of the farthest corner of the world where she had ever set foot.
Btana Ayal. The majestic megaliths of the Diviner Queen’s ancient city made Tenebra’s standing stones seem like small children. But with this circle’s magic murmuring around her, Cassia could not help but recall how she had felt, standing on the cusp of the broken gate in Shattered Hope.
The stars glittered at her feet, and the heavens above felt rife with new seeds waiting to bloom. Her blood wheeled with the earth and sky.
“Cassia!” Cassia!
Lio’s shout, in her ears and her mind, brought her back to reality.
Lio? she called back.
His fear sent a chill down her spine, breaking the dream. Cassia, I can’t find you. Can’t step to you. Where have you gone?