Blood Feast: A Fantasy Romance

Atonement

Kneeling amid the orphans,Cassia sliced up another tunic, turning a lost parent’s shroud into bandages and diapers. “We only have one option. We have to find Ben.”

“No,” Lio said.

“We need him to take responsibility for the children and warn my sister.”

Lio handed a toddler to her older brother. “I will sneak into Castra Patria and warn Solia myself before I trust him.”

Cassia tried to keep her voice calm. “We don’t even know if the fortress has fallen. And wherever Solia is, you’d have to sneak past Rudhira.”

Lio’s expression hardened. “Then I will.”

“Cassia is right.” Lyros refilled a waterskin from the well for the next child. “Dawn is coming. We need to entrust the children to the knights and go back to the tower.”

Mak glanced at Genie, who was gathering the children to sit in circles by village, appointing the eldest in each group as the leader. “Ben is an idiot, but they need him.”

Lio’s jaw was set. Her gentle Grace could be more stubborn than any of them when pushed past his limit.

Cassia reached for him in their Union. Lio, we can’t leave him out there to die.

Lio’s anger softened. Of course not.

She rose to her feet. “Lio and I will find him. With his veils and my roses, we should be able to bring Ben and his knights back safely.”

“What’s your plan to deal with the Hesperine who’s with them?” Lyros asked.

“This is why we diplomats should go,” she said. “It will take some negotiation. My hope is that the Charger will realize it’s more important to get the children to safety than to arrest us, and there’s only time to do one of those things before dawn.”

Lio dusted off his hands and drew his staff. “And if negotiation fails, we are a match for them.”

Cassia looked at Genie again. She knew the young woman harbored as much unrequited love for Ben as he did for her. “Don’t tell Genie where we’re going. I don’t want to get her hopes up.”

Mak and Lyros nodded in understanding.

Cassia drew her dagger and called Knight to her. She focused on Ben, recalling her soulful friend, not the judgmental man they had last met. Lio’s magic picked them up and carried them away from the scene of slaughter, toward the knight’s aura.

She breathed, but the air was still heavy with fear and death. The fallow field under their feet smelled of bloodshed. Amid the bodies of warriors and mages, five knights and one Hesperine still stood. A contingent of the invasion force had found Ben’s party.

The nearest knight pulled his sword out of a Cordian mercenary and rounded on Lio and Cassia.

Cassia raised a low barrier of roses. Lio held out his staff in one hand, lifting the other in a placating gesture.

“Peace!” Lio shouted.

The Charger stepped in front of the knight, warding magic emanating from her hands. “You dare speak of peace with weapons in your hands? You know nothing of peace or war. Of sacrifice.”

Blood and ash streaked the Charger’s golden hair, but finally Cassia recognized her and the black braid she wore. This gaunt being bore no resemblance to the bold, happy woman who had danced all night with Azad in the gardens of House Komnena. Her heart labored on, but she had already died in Union with her Grace.

“Neana.” Cassia met her fellow immortal’s hollow eyes as if looking into a mirror. This would be her own future, if she ever lost Lio.

Neana slashed her hand with her fangs and took a step toward Cassia and Lio, her magic rising.

Cassia dropped her dagger. Lio’s protest flashed in their Union, but she held out her empty hands. “I found your braid.”

Neana went still. If Cassia lived forever, she would never be able to describe the anguish that flowed out of Neana, a flood devastating the Blood Union.

Cassia managed to speak. “It is my sacred duty and my privilege to return your Grace braid to you, in honor of Azad’s sacrifice.”

Neana drew a rattling breath. “Did anyone survive?”

Cassia took a step forward. “His death was not in vain. Lady Eugenia and the children are alive because of him.”

The knight pulled his helmet off. Ben looked at Cassia with a pleading gaze. “Genie is safe?”

“Mak and Lyros are with her,” Cassia replied. “We came to find you and take you back to her.”

He sagged where he stood. “Everyone else at Castra Augusta?”

“I’m afraid there were no other survivors.”

Ben’s mouth moved, although he made no sound. Cassia read the words of an ancient prayer on his lips.

Lio’s gaze swept the defeated mercenaries. “These men were only a scouting party. The rest of the army could find us at any moment. We need to get back to Castra Augusta.”

“Where are the villagers you were taking to the camp?” Cassia asked.

“The army found them first.” Neana sounded so angry.

“We tried—” Ben began. “When Azad warned Neana of what was happening at Castra Augusta—we tried to get back—but the mages ambushed us mid-step.”

Cassia reached out and put a hand on Ben’s arm. “You did the best you could. Come back and reassure Genie you’re alive.”

Neana closed her fists, red dripping between her fingers. She took another step toward Lio and Cassia. “Back to Castra Augusta is not where our prince ordered me to take you.”

Lio faced her, his staff ready. But all he said was, “Your grief runs in my veins.”

She lowered her hands. The blood she shared with Azad, with Lio and Cassia, began to dry on her skin. “So it does, son of Apollon.”

Slowly, Cassia reached into the collar of her robes. Neana made no move to stop her. She retrieved Azad’s braid and offered it to Neana.

She gathered her promise to Azad in her hands. “You have my gratitude.”

Cassia closed Neana’s fingers around the braid. “If there is anything we can do for you, ask. Anything.”

“I am beyond help. Now there is nothing our prince can do to reprimand me if I don’t arrest you. I would rather see you out here, bringing Othros’s justice upon those who took my Grace from me.”

Cassia squeezed her hands. “Thank you.”

“All that matters to me is finishing what Azad and I started.”

“If you’re willing to warn my sister about the invasion, you will save countless lives.”

Neana nodded once. “I will go to her.”

“You have our gratitude as well,” Lio said.

Neana put one hand to his cheek, the other to Cassia’s. Azad’s braid touched her skin. “Farewell. Survive to dance the night away, for all of us. May we never meet in Sanctuary.”

She disappeared with a whisper of a step.

We’ll never see her again,Cassia said.

Lio put his arm around her and held her against him. Not in this life.

One of the other four knights looked to Ben for guidance. “What will we do with the bodies, Sir?”

“Leave them,” Ben answered, “and let us remember them in our prayers. We have to go.”

The air swelled with Lio’s power as he stepped them all back to Castra Augusta. When they arrived beside the well, Mak and Lyros’s sighs of relief were audible.

Genie’s eyes filled with tears. Ben dropped his helmet and his sword. As if no one else in the world existed, he ran to her and pulled her into his arms.

Lio listened for thehound’s heartbeat through the children’s weeping and the adults’ worried voices. She still slept where he had settled her, away from the chaos around the well. She still lived.

Cassia kept her arm around him. Where do your thoughts keep drifting?

I’ll explain as soon as I have a chance.

“We only have an hour till dawn,” Lyros was saying to Benedict. “Is there somewhere we can step you?”

The knight rubbed his face. He now stood at a distance from Genie that mortals would consider appropriate. Barely. “What do you think? Could we try Lord Avar’s keep?”

Genie blinked, as if realizing his question was directed at her. Well, it was about time the man started showing some respect for her judgment.

“No,” she said. “His loyalty is wavering because of his trade with Cordium.”

Ben scowled. “When did this start?”

“Since his ancestors swore fealty to mine. They’ve always been a money-minded lot. We should go to Lord Septimus. He will stay loyal to my family and the queen because his temples have chosen Solia’s side, and the mages know all his sins.”

Lio suppressed a smile. Someone had been paying attention, and she was well on her way to becoming a cunning politician like the rest of her family.

“Then we go to Lord Septimus.” Ben gave his knights a look. “Is that understood?”

No one protested his decision to follow the advice of a seventeen-year-old girl.

Mak glanced at the twilight sky. “It will take time to move this many children. We need to hurry.”

Before Lio could reply, pressure built on his arcane senses.

“Mages!” He shouted the warning at the same time as Mak and Lyros.

Five knights and four Hesperines had their weapons out before the traversal spell popped Lio’s ears. He tasted a storm on the air.

A mage in red-gold robes manifested with lightning crackling around him. The forks of magic darted across his tan skin and black hair, then shot back inside him. Through the abating heat, Lio recognized the mage’s aura.

“Eudias! Thank the Goddess it’s you.” Lio sheathed his staff and reached out to steady the young man.

Eudias grasped Lio’s arm for support in the wake of the exhausting spell, but he kept his balance. “I’m glad to see you too, my friend.”

Now that the glare of the lightning had faded, Lio realized who had been standing behind Eudias. The young mage of Kyria in blue robes was Ariadne, his respected colleague and secret sweetheart. Her eyes, visible above her veil, gleamed with tears.

Ben gripped Eudias’s shoulder. “What are you doing here?”

“Neana brought word of what happened,” Eudias said. “Queen Solia agreed to spare us so you’ll have a healer to help with the children and a lightning mage to protect you while we get them to safety.”

“How is my sister?” Cassia’s heart made Lio’s race with fear of the answer.

Ariadne clasped her and Genie’s hands. “Our queen prevails.”

Cassia let out a breath. “Does she still hold Castra Patria?”

They couldn’t take any more bad news tonight, and yet Eudias shook his head. Such a small sign, but a great blow.

“What happened?” Mak sounded as devastated as they all felt.

“Our forces are divided between the queen’s position and Segetia,” Eudias explained, “and Lucis’s army stands between us. Even with Hesperine aid, fighting a war on two fronts is wearing us to the bone. We can’t hold Patria. The queen has ordered us to abandon the domain and retreat to Hadria.”

Lyros’s shoulders slumped. “What else can she do?”

“Hadria will never fall,” Cassia said fervently. But Lio knew she was trying to convince herself as much as the rest of them.

“Where are we taking the children?” Ariadne asked.

“We’re trying to get to Lord Septimus’s estate,” Genie answered, “but you two will exhaust yourselves traversing this many, and our Hesperine friends must leave before dawn.”

“I can traverse to the Kyrian mages there,” Ariadne said. “The leader of their temple is a staunch ally of my own Prisma. Let me gather more of my sisters to help traverse the children.”

“Are you sure you all can manage?” Cassia asked.

Ariadne’s eyes flashed. “We will do better than manage. This is our goddess’s fight now. Did you not hear of Cordium’s ultimatum?”

Everyone shook their heads, although Lio had a guess as to what machinations the Magelands would try next.

Ariadne continued, “The Mage Orders issued a unanimous decree from the Divine City of Corona. Cordium demanded that the temples of Tenebra repudiate Queen Solia and her Hesperine allies and reaffirm our obedience to the Orders. All who refuse will be branded apostates. But their threats of arrest and persecution won’t sway us from our cause.”

“It’s as I feared,” Lio said. “If Solia was not associated with Hesperines, the religious authorities would have no grounds to intervene in a Tenebran political conflict. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be,” Eudias replied. “They would find any excuse to prey on Tenebra. They’ve already trampled on the law with their enchanted war machines and magefire arrows. And if no Hesperines had been here to defend us from them, we would have lost already.”

Ariadne nodded. “They may try to place Hesperine heresy at the center of this conflict, but they know it’s about so much more. The Mage Orders have been trying to subdue Tenebra for centuries, just as they brought Cordium under their thumb.”

“How did the temples respond?” Lio asked.

The proud gleam in Ariadne’s gaze told them the answer. “At the Temple of Kyria at Solorum, we shut their gates to Lucis and declared our walls a sanctuary for Solia’s supporters.”

Eudias crossed his arms. “Then the mages of Anthros at Lucis’s capital abandoned the Sun Temple in protest and came to our Kyrian sisters’ defense. Most other temples in the kingdom have followed their example.”

“We will defend our right to worship free of the Mage Orders’ dictates,” Ariadne swore, “even though we know the cost. There’s no doubt Cordium will cite our temples’ rebellion as a justification for the invasion they have longed to launch for centuries.”

“We know the price you pay,” Lio said. “The only comfort I can offer is this. Hesperines dared to resist, and we are still standing.”

“And we stand with you,” said Cassia.

Ariadne squeezed her hand again. “We know.”

Lio could feel history shifting around them. The temples that had abandoned Hespera worshipers during the Ordering now fought at their sides. Could this be the sixteen-hundred-year conclusion of the Last War? Or was it only the beginning of the next one?

Mak glanced at the sky. “I’m afraid it’s time for us to go.”

“Wait.” Ariadne handed Cassia a small fabric pouch. “The queen told me to give you this.”

Cassia peered inside, then pressed a hand to her mouth. “Seeds.”

Ariadne nodded. “Her Majesty plucked every winter weed that prevails in the scorched earth of Patria. She said you would find hidden power in the plants that others cast aside.”

Cassia held the pouch close. “I will. Give her my love.”

Eudias smiled. “She speaks of you all the time. She can’t stop boasting of your fangs and had lovely tales to tell of your avowal celebration. I wish I could say this under better circumstances, but congratulations to you both.”

The words reached Lio through the horror around them and proved there was still gratitude in him. “Thank you.”

“We’ve heard wondrous rumors of your spells, Cassia,” Eudias added. “I hope for better days when you two can tell Ariadne and me all about your magic studies.”

“I’ll hold that hope with you,” Cassia said.

As they prepared to go, Benedict approached her. He had the look of a supplicant, but Lio still moved closer to her and glared at the knight.

Benedict avoided his gaze and addressed Cassia in a surprisingly humble tone. “Genie told me what you did with your magic.”

Cassia said nothing. The silence became uncomfortable.

Benedict looked away, at Genie. Then back at Cassia. “When I knew Castra Augusta was under attack, and I couldn’t get to her…I would have done anything to save her. I would have broken my vows as a holy knight and used any magic, no matter how forbidden.”

Cassia’s aura softened. “You should tell her that.”

His gaze fell. “I have work to do to be worthy of her. But after looking into my own heart tonight, I cannot fault any of the choices you have made for love.”

“I hope you will not fault your own choices either, Ben. Love is nothing to be ashamed of.”

“I am sorry I shamed yours. I beg your pardon and your patience as I continue trying to understand your true beliefs. Can you forgive me?”

She held out a hand to him. He took it, and instead of kissing it as if she were a lady, he held her hand in both of his like a friend.

“Yes,” she said warmly.

“You have always been too generous to me,” he replied.

“Someone ought to be, when you are so hard on yourself. I’m sorry I lied to you.”

“I cannot fault you for that, either, when I gave you no reason to trust me with the truth.”

“Can we trust each other again?” she asked. “Can I still call you friend?”

“If you will have my friendship, Cassia Komnena.”

At his use of her true name, she smiled at him.

Lio would have liked to see Benedict grovel longer to earn back Cassia’s goodwill, but if she was satisfied, he would call a truce. He extended his hand to the knight. Benedict clasped his wrist the Hesperine way.

When they had all said their farewells, Mak put an arm around Lyros’s shoulders. “Ready to return to our tower, Black Roses?”

Cassia clicked her tongue at Knight, and he somewhat reluctantly left the children. “Ready.”

“Almost,” Lio said. “There’s someone I’m bringing with us.”

Lyros frowned at him. “What?”

“Who?” Mak demanded.

“The survivor I found,” Lio replied.

Cassia’s brow furrowed, her mind probing his veils. He hadn’t wanted her to know about the hound until he was sure she would survive the night. But he couldn’t keep his new familiar from his Grace any longer.

Lio rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m not sure how Knight will take to her.”

“I’ll make sure he behaves. Hama.” Cassia heeled Knight and followed Lio.

He led her and their Trial brothers away from the mortals, to a quiet place around the corner of the ruined keep. He had laid the hound there in the lee of some fallen stones and covered her in veils. Now he pulled back his spells.

“Oh, Lio.” Cassia put a hand to her chest, tenderness welling out of her aura. Just as he’d expected, one look at the hound was all it took. She was already in love.

Barks erupted from Knight. She moved in front of him, holding his gaze.

“Het!” she barked back. “Soor het!”

He bared his teeth, and his haunches bunched. Lio tensed, prepared to shield his familiar if Knight tried to lunge past Cassia.

“Barda acklii,”she commanded.

At those words, Knight fell silent. His posture was still tense, and he kept his eyes on Lio’s hound. But he made no more aggressive moves.

“What does that mean?” Lio needed to pay more attention to the training tongue from now on.

“I told him to guard her as an ally.” Cassia crouched and put her arms around Knight’s neck. “Shh, darling. She suffered a great deal. Be kind to her.”

Reassured, Lio knelt to check his dog’s bandages. No blood has soaked through.

“Where did you find her?” Cassia asked.

He sighed. “Next to her fallen master—a Cordian.”

Mak gave Lio and his new familiar an apprehensive look. “She’s one of the enemy’s war dogs?”

“Lio.” Lyros’s tone was gentle. “There’s only one kind thing we can do for her.”

“That’s out of the question. I won’t let her die.”

Lyros turned to Cassia with a plea in his voice. “You know how a liegehound suffers when it loses its master.”

Cassia looked at Lio, and he could feel her looking into his soul. His Grace saw all the things inside him that were too raw for words, and he knew she understood why he had to save this animal.

“Lio is keeping her,” she informed Lyros and Mak.

“She’s a danger to us,” Lyros protested, “and always will be.”

“Not anymore.” Lio got to his feet, lifting the massive dog in his arms as gently as he could. Laying limp across his chest and shoulders, the dangerous beast, now defenseless in her sleep, was less a burden than he had expected. “Now she’s my familiar.”

“What?” Cassia breathed. “You gave her your blood?”

“Did it work?” Mak asked.

“I don’t know. I only know I was able to break her bond to her master with my thelemancy and that her wounds are better since I gave her my blood.”

Lyros frowned at him in consternation. “Is that even possible?”

“For a Silvicultrix’s Grace in favor with the Lustra, apparently so.”

Cassia reached out a hand and stroked the dog’s face. “We’re keeping her. Forever.”

If Lyros and Mak still had their doubts, they made no further protests as they stepped back to the tower together. Lio carried the hound up to the dining hall and laid her on one of the furs in the warmth of the fire.

His hands came away from her stained with blood again. Moving her had reopened the wound. “What can I do for her?”

Cassia hovered just beyond the fire’s reach with a staying hand on Knight. His hackles were still up. “I’ll get us some supplies.”

She left, taking Knight with her. Lio sat on the floor with his back against the hearth stones and the dog’s head on his lap. Her heartbeat filled the emptiness in his mind.

“I won’t let anyone hurt you again,” he whispered, wondering if his promise was empty, too.

He gave her more of his blood while he waited for Cassia. When she returned, she set clean rags, water, and a pestle full of herbs within his reach, then retreated to sit with Knight several paces away.

“I prepared some healing plants in the Changing Queen’s alchemy room. This mixture always helps Knight when he’s injured. You can put it under her bandages.”

Working the soaked bandage carefully off the dog’s side, Lio paused and looked at her. “Thank you, Cassia.”

“I’ve known her for minutes, and I already adore her. Knight will, too, once he grows accustomed to the idea that there’s one more member of our pack.”

Lio let himself believe her reassurances that his familiar would live long enough for Knight’s reaction to matter.

Once he finished changing the bandage on the dog’s back, he gave her yet another dose of his blood. He saw no sign it was hurting her, at least. He could only hope it would stop the bleeding again.

“Try to get some water into her,” Cassia said. “Even little sips will help. If she tolerates that, we can try some morsels of meat next.”

Twilight brightened beyond the clerestory windows while Lio worked tiny swallows of water into the dog’s mouth. Cassia’s presence abided with him. His eyelids grew heavier as the last hour of the night slipped away. He forced his eyes open with a sudden burst of anger.

“Lio.”

At Cassia’s quite voice, he looked up from the hound. His Grace was within arm’s reach now. She must have been working her way gradually nearer for the last hour. Knight lay on a fur on the other side of the pool of firelight. But closer than before. Lio lifted his arm.

Cassia slid under it and leaned against his side. “We can give her some meat tomorrow.”

“What if she dies in our Slumber?” he whispered.

Cassia ran her hand down his chest. “Hespera’s healing will fight for her while we can’t.”

He found no comfort in those words. He felt so helpless. Where had Hespera’s healing been tonight?

She stroked his hair back from his face, her fingers gentle on his brow. “I know, my mind mage.”

His throat closed. A sob wanted out of him, but couldn’t escape. Weeping was useless. His power was useless.

“It’s not,” Cassia said fiercely. “You saved them at Mederi. You gave them more time. That time means so much to mortals.”

She stroked his face until they fell into Slumber in each other’s arms.