Blood Feast: A Fantasy Romance

Vigil of the Gift

NO ESCAPE

Cassia woke to aparched tongue and a cold bedroll. Her body worked itself out of the Dawn Slumber without Lio there to hold her. He was everpresent at the boundaries of their Union, fretful, distant, his self-control a seething thread ready to snap.

When she could move her arms, she wrapped them around Knight and buried her face in his fur. The scent of the herbal rose bath she had given him before the avowal ceremony was finally fading from his coat. He rolled onto his side, sprawling across Lio’s place.

She rubbed Knight’s belly. “Still occasionally jealous, darling? Happy to have me all to yourself now and then, like old times?”

Her hound let out a sigh, his tongue flopping out in a dreamy expression.

“What would I have done if you’d been wounded in that battle, hm? This kingdom is harsh, even on liegehounds. I wish I could do more to protect you.”

He licked his nose and settled more comfortably against her.

“Are you tired? This is a lot to ask of you. I wish I could make you immortal.”

The thought squeezed her heart. She would have him with her for another decade at least, given how much longer a liegehound’s lifespan was than a mundane dog’s. But that didn’t sound like very much time now that she would live forever.

She stroked his side. “Do you suppose you could reconcile yourself to becoming a Hesperine’s familiar? Would that magic even work on you?”

The awakening potential of her beast magic, not even her full power, had been enough to convince Knight to protect Hesperines instead of hunting them. But she did not have that power now.

“Muster out, Shadow!” came Mak’s very cheerful, very loud voice from outside the tent. Karege would have been proud.

Knight chuffed with displeasure. Cassia rubbed her sensitive ears. “Are you trying to wake the dead, Wisdom?”

At the mention of his honorary fortune name bestowed by the Ashes, he only sounded more cheerful. “Lazy newgifts are harder to wake than the dead! Up and at it!”

She did her best to smooth her rumpled travel robes before leaving the tent. Would she ever learn Hesperine cleaning spells? At least she wasn’t a mortal in need of a privy first thing in the morning. Or rather, at twilight.

In the deepening dusk, her eyes instantly locked on Lio’s. He looked back at her across the stone circle, searching her gaze. His confusion and pain throbbed in their Union, and she knew she was the cause.

The site’s ancient power uncoiled inside her. Heat throbbed deep in her body, in her magic. Before she thought, she took a step toward him.

Winter rain spattered down between the stones, and the cold drops on her cheeks brought her to her senses. They had to leave this place.

Mak eyed her fangs. “Do I need to give you a bottle of thirst suppressant?”

She slapped her hands over her mouth and mumbled a curse.

Lyros slung one more pack onto General. “Get a veil at our next stop. We’re nearly ready to go.”

Lio, his high, pale cheekbones painted with a handsome flush, focused his attention on dismantling their tent.

They led their horses out of the circle and back into the world as they knew it. The Lustra’s compulsion faded but left Cassia with her Craving.

Lio drew near. She wished he wouldn’t. He didn’t touch her, but she felt his mind voice all over her body. Can you make it until we find a safer place to camp?

Her gaze fixed on his throat. I drank from you last night, just before we left the lighthouse. And we’ll find somewhere I can drink later tonight. Hesperines are fine with one dose of blood each night.

Not newgifts, and not after a battle.

The look he gave her made her wonder if he was considering carrying her off right this moment, covering them in veil spells, and feasting with her on the nearest patch of grass. Her face flamed.

We’ll wait a few more hours to make sure my blood is safe,he said. But I will not leave you in withdrawal longer than that.

When Lyros pulled them over for a quick strategy session, Cassia was grateful for the interruption.

“You two didn’t have much time to sharpen your combat skills before we left. Mak and I will continue your training when we find a safe enough place. Until then, trust your experience from past battles, but follow our instructions, understood?”

Cassia and Lio both nodded in agreement. Despite all the dangers they had survived until now, she didn’t feel prepared.

Now that they had left the circle, they were able to step back to the road. Knight was the first to notice the tracks leading southwest. He nosed around the imprints left by horses, carts, and shoes.

“A large group passed this way while we slept,” Lyros observed.

“Looks like it could have been a group of knights and villagers,” Mak said.

Cassia frowned. “It does, but I expected to find them farther northeast of here. Flavian has holdings there where Ben would be likely to settle them. Why would they travel this far southwest? There’s nothing in that direction but the rivers.”

“Let’s find out,” said Lio. “I’ll try to sense any minds as we ride. Hopefully we can pinpoint the auras of the couple we’re looking for.”

“Warn us if you feel the person following us,” Lyros said.

“Or any Chargers,” Mak added. “I hope we’re not serving ourselves up on a platter by seeking out the evacuees.”

“I doubt the knights will still have Hesperines with them,” Lyros replied. “The Chargers probably returned to the front lines once they were able to leave the villagers in safe territory.”

They followed the tracks the large group of mortals had left. As they rode, Lyros and Mak drilled Cassia and Lio on combat tactics. The warriors described scenarios, then asked how their party should respond in that situation. When Lio and Cassia made the wrong call, their Trial brothers patiently explained alternatives. Cassia’s head was soon swimming with creative ways to use the few, basic fighting moves she had mastered.

Some time after twilight gave way to night, Lio’s thelemancy swept out around them again, a shadow stretching far across the countryside. He sucked in a breath.

“What is it?” Cassia asked.

“I can sense them ahead of us,” he answered. “They’re moving faster than I expected.”

Cassia pulled Freckles alongside him. “If they go much farther, they’ll be at the ferry. Surely they wouldn’t try to cross the river with exhausted villagers in the middle of winter.”

“They would if they’re running from something,” Lio said.

What danger could have found Solia’s forces here in the heart of a powerful ally’s domain? Without further debate, they rode toward the disturbance. Their veil spells swallowed the pounding of the Warmbloods’ hooves.

As they neared the vee of the rivers, a bright flash lit the night. Suddenly the air smelled like a storm. But it felt like magic.

Duck, Lio shouted in her mind.

Cassia flattened herself against Freckles’ outstretched neck. The revelatory spell struck her like a hot breath, and she shuddered. The next instant, a jagged streak of lightning followed it. A crash tortured her ears, and the hairs on her arms stood on end.

The spell shot over her head. The enemy had expected a taller rider.

The next fork of lightning broke against a shadow ward in front of Lyros. “Weapons out!”

Another ward swept up from Mak. “Focus on keeping the enemy away from you, and let the Warmbloods help.”

Cassia drew Rosethorn and tried to spot the mage in the chaos of men and horses ahead. Knights in the white surcoats of the Order of Andragathos clashed with soldiers in Lucis’s sky blue. Behind the knights’ line of defense, the population of an entire village cowered on the riverbank.

Scorched planks spun away on white-capped water. What was left of the ferry. The coward of a weather mage who was throwing lightning bolts lurked at the back of Lucis’s warriors.

“Leave the robe to Mak and me,” Lyros called out. “Help the knights.”

Lio’s magic washed over their enemies, and a shudder seemed to move through Lucis’s forces. But they kept fighting.

Kallikrates is here,Cassia guessed. In whom? All of them?

He’s toying with us, Lio answered. Darting in and out of their minds. Stay close to me.

Freckles slipped past the larger mounts and pranced into the fray. Lio cried out a protest in Cassia’s mind. She grabbed for Freckles’ mane, squeezing with her knees. But the mare merely smacked Cassia’s leg with her tail and plunged onward.

Lio charged after them. Over her shoulder, Cassia saw one soldier turn his horse to face the oncoming mass of white that was Moonflower. The mortal lifted his longsword and aimed at Lio’s heart.

Lowering his staff like a lance, Lio drove the end at the man and flung him out the saddle before he ever saw the veiled weapon.

Instead of a scream of pain, the soldier let out a smooth, deep laugh that Cassia recognized. Through her Union with Lio, she felt the presence his thelemancy revealed.

Concentrate on the Collector,she urged him.

Stay. Close. To. Me.

But her mount danced deeper into the battle with confidence twice her size. She was the descendant of Celeris, the steed who had carried the Guardian of Orthros through the Last War. Lyta had trained Freckles herself. This horse was better prepared for battle than Cassia.

She relaxed her knees and eased her grip. Trust Freckles to protect me.

The little mare dodged blades and, with a vicious kick, left one macer clutching his head in the dirt. Cassia called out commands to Knight in tandem, and his lunges and bites widened the swath her horse carved through the skirmish.

Another bolt of lightning reached for them. Cassia pressed herself against her horse until they felt like one creature. By the time the spell blasted a small crater in the riverbank, Freckles had already leapt a pace away.

Another horse screamed. One of the knights went down, trapped under his bleeding mount. Pure suffering crushed Cassia for an instant. The battle wavered before her eyes, her vision going dark.

She couldn’t see the knight’s face. Could he be…

A sharp pain in her leg brought her back to herself. Freckles bared her teeth at Cassia.

“Thank you,” she whispered.

As if understanding her pure Will, Freckles raced toward the fallen horseman. A soldier in sky blue yanked his sword out of the knight’s body, then turned to swing at Cassia.

Panic seized her mind, even as her arm came up on instinct. She made a mad flail with her dagger and dodged. Pain sliced along her hip.

Only Hesperine agility had saved her from a sword in her gut. The slash of pain faded by the time she straightened on Freckles’ back.

Her horse surged under her, lashing out with her front legs. The hoofprints of an Orthros Warmblood marred the king’s emblem on the man’s surcoat. Ribs cracked. The warrior staggered back into Knight’s range, and his sword arm was the next to break in the grip of the hound’s jaws.

Cassia’s Blood Union with the knight faded as his blood slowed. Helpless empathy drove her out of the saddle and down on her knees beside his body.

She had to know. She touched his mud-spattered helmet and turned his face toward her.

Not Ben. Someone else’s friend or sweetheart or brother. But not Ben.

Cassia, get back on your horse!

At Lio’s warning, she realized three of Lucis’s soldiers were closing in on her. She sat alone in the gap the knight’s death had left in the defenses. Behind her, a villager’s infant wailed.

Enraged for people whose names she didn’t even know, she surged to her feet with a cry of anguish. She pushed power into her dagger.

Three vines broke out of the soil of the riverbank. Black roses ensnared the trio of warriors and dragged them to the ground. Their screams joined the battle’s cacophony.

The man right at her feet choked, yanking at the rose vine around his throat until the thorns shredded his hands. Cassia’s stomach heaved. She swayed where she stood, looking down at him.

He was younger than her. Was he like Lucis’s personal guards, known for their cruelty? Or had he been a frightened subject impressed into the king’s service?

She tore her gaze away from him and found herself face to face with Benedict.