Blood Feast: A Fantasy Romance

A Spreading Fire

Ben stood frozen, hissword upraised. Her roses had made his kill for him. He stared at her with wide eyes. She could guess how she looked to him, spattered with blood. Dagger in hand. Fangs bared. The antithesis of the devout maiden of Kyria he had once believed her to be.

“Cassia?” There was a note of plea in his voice.

His emotions pummeled her. Shock. Horror. Grief.

She didn’t want to feel his censure. She didn’t want to feel how much he cared.

In his moment of distraction, another soldier in blue attacked from his blind side. Cassia raised Rosethorn, summoning another twirl of vines around the swordsman. She tossed him at Benedict’s feet and turned away.

Mak and Lyros sat on their horses over the body of the mage. A swath of fallen soldiers surrounded Lio and Moonflower. The battle was over, the surviving knights trying to gather and calm the villagers.

Cassia went to Lio’s side. Knight shadowed her, murmuring a final growl.

Lio slid down next to her and examined the slice in her robes. Are you all right?

It was a mundane sword. I’ve already healed.

He wrapped his arms around her. Two battles in two nights. This is too much.

She couldn’t fall to pieces. Not yet. She had to focus. Kallikrates—?

Gone. Curse him and his games. He kept me distracted so I wouldn’t end the battle with thelemancy.

He could have done far more damage than this. Why is he toying with us?

I wish I knew.

“What happened here?” Lyros asked Benedict.

The knight ignored him. He stalked toward Lio and Cassia. He hadn’t sheathed his sword. Lio tucked Cassia closer against him, gripping Final Word in his other hand.

Tension moved through every human and immortal around them. Mak and Lyros’s latent warding magic hummed in the air.

“I heard the rumors,” Ben said, “but I didn’t expect…”

Cassia’s icy court manners came back to her. “How glad I am to see you alive, as well.”

He didn’t have the grace to look abashed. He appeared to still be in shock at her transformation.

“I trust Solia told you that Lio saved me with the Gift?” Cassia said.

“Is that what you call this?” Ben’s voice cracked.

“I call it respecting her choice,” Lio cut in.

“You,” Ben spat. “You’ve taken her humanity. She deserved so much better than you.”

Lio didn’t answer. He just looked at Ben. Cassia realized in that moment that Glasstongue had a stare worthy of his mentor that could make a man quail in his boots.

Ben took a step back.

“Sir Benedict,” Lyros said sharply, “are you in command here or not? Your fellow knights and your queen’s subjects need leadership, and your Hesperine allies need an explanation. Remember yourself.”

Ben drew himself up, although he emanated resentment. Of course it didn’t go down well that a heretic had reminded him of his honor. “I won’t thank you for what you’ve done to Cassia. But out of fealty to my queen, I will continue to treat you as allies.”

“What are a war mage and Lord Lucis’s soldiers doing here?” Mak asked.

Ben pointed to the river with his sword. “The weather mage sailed them in against the currents. I expect more will slip in to turn our villagers into Hesperine bait.”

“How did they get past Segetia’s defenses?” Mak demanded.

“Our defenses are doing the best they can,” Ben shot back. “At dawn, Lord Lucis and the Mage Orders launched an invasion of Segetia. Their forces are coming down on us from Solorum like a hammer.”

The air rushed out of Cassia’s lungs. The war had finally spread. Who knew what part of the kingdom the fire would engulf next?

“I’m sorry,” she said.

Ben didn’t look at her. “We’re trying to get the evacuees to a safer area south of the river, where Lord Flavian’s allies and my knightly order are preparing their fortresses to receive refugees. If we can get this group to Castra Augusta, we can protect them.”

Cassia gazed back at him in silence. Lio and their Trial brothers seemed to have the same idea as well. If Ben wanted their help, let him ask for it.

“The ferry is gone,” Ben bit out. “Will you step them across?”

“We will always protect Solia’s people,” Cassia said, her chin high.

She and Lio went to help the other knights organize the villagers, keeping their distance from Ben. Mak and Lyros, on the other hand, seemed inclined to breathe down his neck while the three of them escorted groups of evacuees across the river.

“I sense the couple from Mederi somewhere here.” Lio’s words pulled her thoughts back where they belonged.

Cassia helped him search the passing crowd as the night wore on. It was no swift task to move that many mortals, including elders and children, especially when they were unaccustomed to stepping. About half of the villagers were safely across when they encountered the elderly farmers and pulled them aside.

“I’m so glad we found you,” Cassia said. “We’re searching for Lady Miranda and hope you can help us.”

The farmwife pressed her hands to her chest. “Oh, that sets my heart at ease. We’ve been so worried for her since she disappeared. But you can make sure she’s safe.”

Regret bit at Cassia. She hated to use these people’s trust to hunt Miranda down.

But Miranda was part of the conspiracy tearing everyone’s lives apart. These people would also be safer when she was brought to justice.

Lio said, “You mentioned she has safe places where she can go into hiding. Could you tell us where any of those might be?”

The husband scratched his chin. “She never plainly said where they were, but her hints might mean something to you.”

Lio gave an encouraging nod. “Any detail could be valuable.”

“Somewhere abandoned,” the man said. “Forsaken, she called it. As if it were a place others feared to tread.”

Can you think of a place with such a reputation?Lio asked silently.

Tenebra is such a superstitious kingdom, she replied. That could refer to any marsh, graveyard, or field with a cross-eyed goat.

“Did she say anything else about this place?” Lio’s tone was patient, despite the frustration in their Union.

The woman rubbed her back as if it ached. “I got the idea it was quite a ways from Patria. It would take her weeks to come back. We worried about her, asked her if she had anyone like us there to look after her.”

Her husband put a supportive arm around her. “She told us no. ‘Nothing there but salt and bones,’ she said. No place for our lady, if you ask me.”

“I wish we could tell you more,” the woman fretted. “But she does keep her secrets. To protect us, you know.”

“It’s all right,” Lio reassured them. “You’ve been a great help, and you have our gratitude.”

“Please find her,” the man implored them before the couple joined the next group Mak and Lyros were stepping across.

“Salt and bones…” Cassia murmured.

Lio’s gaze sharpened. “Does that mean something to you?”

She glanced at Ben. “Later.”

By the time the last family made it over the river, night had turned into twilight again. Mak and Lyros pulled Cassia and Lio aside for a veiled consultation. Lio cast an uneasy glance at the knights who lingered nearby to see to their fallen comrades.

“We need to discuss our options,” Lyros said. “Do we want to risk staying with the knights and villagers during the day?”

Lio’s nostrils flared. “I would sooner spend the Dawn Slumber in Cordium. I don’t want Cassia anywhere near Benedict, especially while we’re all asleep and vulnerable.”

Mak shook his head. “Slumbering surrounded by Knights of Andragathos sounds like a good way to wake up with holy daggers in our hearts.”

“These knights have sworn fealty to Solia,” Lyros said. “They’ve fought with the Charge. I doubt they would try to punish us for heresy. I’m more worried about who else might find us if we sleep outside a Lustra site.”

“I agree,” Cassia said. “I can deal with Ben, but there’s no telling what enemies might ambush them if we linger. These mortals are already pawns in Kallikrates’s game with us. The sooner we leave, the safer they’ll be.”

Lyros nodded. “Unfortunately, we don’t have time to find another refuge before dawn. I’m afraid our only option is to return to the stone circle.”

Lio and Cassia looked at each other.

I’ll suffer it to keep you safe,he said, but I don’t want to put you through another night of Craving with the circle’s magic making it more difficult for you.

What a moment for a laugh to bubble out of her, if a slightly hysterical one. I would rather return to the stones of unholy lust than stay here and suffer through more judgmental, holy stares.

She sensed Lio groan inwardly. We’ll manage. I’ll wait outside the stones until you fall asleep and leave before you wake.

Will you be safe?

Yes. I’ll come inside the circle before the Slumber hits me.

She sighed. It’s the best we can do.

“We’ll go back to the standing stones,” Cassia agreed, “but there’s one more thing I need to do here first. This might be our only chance to send word to Solia for quite some time. We should ask Ben to reassure her we’re all right.”

“Do you even trust him with that?” Lio asked.

Cassia shrugged. “We can rely on him to take a message to her, at least. Whatever Ben thinks of us, he will never break his oaths to my sister. His quest not to become his traitorous father is what defines him.”

Anger still darkened Lio’s expression. “Even if that’s true, I can’t forgive him for being disloyal to you.”

She squeezed his hands. “Just give me a moment. Then we’ll leave him in our dust where he belongs.”

“I’ll ask him for you,” Lyros offered.

“That’s all right,” said Cassia. “I’ll take care of it.”

She approached Ben. The stench of the dead threatened to make her retreat to the river and retch. But she would not let these battle-hardened mortals mistake her newfound Hesperine empathy for female weakness.

She halted in front of Ben. His lips parted, then he hesitated, his aura fraught.

“Sir Benedict, I would ask a favor of you, for my sister’s sake, if not mine. None of us need enjoy the situation.”

“What do you need?” His voice was quiet, as if his anger had gone and left him drained.

Cassia considered her words carefully. She didn’t want to tell him anything their enemies or the Charge could use to find them if her message reached the wrong ears. “Will you send word to Solia that the Black Roses are making progress?”

He swallowed. “Now I understand why you call yourselves that.”

She felt the urge to shake him. He had no right to look so uncomfortable after she had saved his life. Would he rather die than be rescued by the unholy flowers his order referred to as harlot’s kiss? “Can you get our message to her or not?”

“I told you, there’s an invasion force between us and her fortress right now. I don’t know when or if my couriers will get through to her.”

“This is the first contact I’ve had with my sister’s forces in nights, and might be the last for weeks. You’ll have the chance to communicate with her long before I do. Will you at least tell her I’m still alive? Will you give your queen that much kindness, even if you have none left for me?”

His gaze dropped. “Cassia, I… Of course. I’ll reassure her.”

His anger had been easier to bear than the familiar way he said her name.

She turned away from Ben and marched back to her fellow Hesperines.

Lio pulled Cassia intohis arms. She wasn’t shaking this time. She seemed frozen, her spine rigid. That worried him more.

Lio second-guessed his decision not to put a fist in Benedict’s face.

After holding onto him for a long moment, Cassia made to pull away. He didn’t let her go. Brushing her hair back from her forehead, he felt how warm her skin was. For the first time in her Hesperine life, she had a Craving fever, and Lio hated it with every fiber of his being.

“Ride with me,” he said.

She glanced at Freckles. “I can make it back to the stone circle on my own.”

“I know you can. I need you in my arms for a while before we have to sleep apart again.”

She softened against him and nodded. He had known if he made arguments about her own needs, she would only get more stubborn to prove she could hold up. But she had been willing to give in for his sake.

He scooped her up in his arms, then levitated into the saddle and settled her across his lap.

She arched a brow at him. You’re showing off.

Surely you’re getting equal satisfaction from putting Ben’s underlinens in a few more twists?

She gave Lio her secret smile and settled against him. Yes. I refuse to be less Hesperine to appease him.

As Lio urged Moonflower forward, Freckles and Knight fell in behind him without a command. Mak and Lyros flanked them, and the mortals parted to let them through. They rode shoulder-to-shoulder past the staring knights. Ben’s gaze tracked them, fixed on Cassia in Lio’s arms.

They galloped until they couldn’t smell death any longer. Then Lio slowed Moonflower to a walk. Mak and Lyros exchanged concerned glances with him, and he nodded. His Trial brothers fell back a little, and he layered more veils with their wards.

Cassia’s gaze flicked from the open fields to Lio’s face. “Why are we slowing down here?”

“For the same reason you stopped us on the moors last night to tend my wound.” He offered her his wrist.

As he had expected, she protested immediately. “We’re not safe here. There could be more mages in the area.”

“The safest place for you to have a drink between the battlefield and the stone circle is right here in the saddle with me.”

“We need to step back to the Lustra refuge.”

“You will not go a single night without my blood. Not when we’re safe at home. Not when we’re in enemy territory. I will not allow our quest to deprive you of what you need, my newgift. If a war mage tries to come between me and your Craving in the next five minutes, I will kill him and keep feeding you.”

A shiver went through her whole body. She looked up at him, her lips softly parted. He watched her fangs unsheathe at his words.

This time, when he held up his wrist, she seized him in shaking hands and sank her fangs in. She made a stifled sound of relief in her throat and drank him down. He wrapped his other arm closer around her and kissed her hair.

He watched his powerful Grace drink long and hard. Her aura swelled with renewed magic. He’d been right. She never could have borne another day in the stone circle without this drink, especially after how much she had channeled in their two battles.

When she finally had her fill, she sealed her bite and rested her face against his chest. He offered her his handkerchief.

Her cheeks flushed, she wiped her mouth, staining the white silk red. “Trust my champion to never be without a clean handkerchief, even under these circumstances.”

“All those times when I handed you one as a human, did you ever imagine you might need it to wipe my blood off your lips?”

“Often.”

He smiled.

She folded the handkerchief, not looking at him. “Thank you.”

“Of course. You have nothing to prove, my rose. Trying to outlast the Craving longer only makes you miserable and more vulnerable to our enemies.”

“I know. I just…need to feel in control of something right now, if only my own body.”

He grimaced. “I understand.”

He thought of all the nights he had hesitated to tell her she was his Grace for this very reason, among other fears. Neither of them would ever be fully in control of their Craving. Now that he had Gifted her, she was living with the full effects of that curse, the price of their bond.

Everything was out of control now—their futures, the war, the Collector’s conspiracy. Except for one thing.

“I can help you control your magic,” he said.

She tensed in his arms. “We can’t afford magical experiments right now.”

“You saved Benedict’s life with your spells tonight, not that he showed you any gratitude. You used your magic as effectively in this battle as you did at the lighthouse.”

“That wasn’t control. It was instinct. Last night, when I saw you wounded with that dagger like the time Miranda captured us…I was enraged. And tonight, the mortals’ suffering tore those roses out of me.”

“Your magic answered to your protective instincts again.”

“I can’t let my instincts take control of me in every battle. It worked in our favor—this time. What about the next time my magic betrays us?”

Their own people had betrayed her, and now she felt like her power was a traitor, too. Goddess help him, this anger in him was enough to fill centuries.

She turned her face away. “It’s not fair of you to debate this with me right now. Dawn is so near, I can hardly put two words together.”

Lio wanted to break something. But he couldn’t break down the wall she had built inside her. He would have to coax her to let it down for him.

“No more negotiations tonight,” he agreed.

She was a knot of tension against him until she slipped into the Dawn Slumber in his arms.