Page 151 of Blood Feast

All the Black Roses had now was each other.

Lio joined Cassia on the bed and fed her from his throat again. Then she fell into a kind of dazed rest against him. Knight stayed near, his ears and tail drooping, occasionally giving Cassia’s hands fretful licks. Lio thought of how many times he had seen Knight sink into this despair while Cassia lay on the brink of death.

“I’m sorry,” Lio said again. “I promised you I’d keep her safe.”

The night wore on, and Lio roused her every couple of hours for more blood. He held her distant, muddled thoughts with care. His own hunger became a sharp, hot ache, but he pushed it to the back of his mind, giving her Gift and his blood time to heal her. All that mattered was getting more blood into her and listening to her heartbeat strengthen by a tiny measure each time.

She came to in the twilight hours before daybreak. When her gaze focused on him, he breathed a sigh of relief, blinking hard.

She squeezed his hand, her grip weak.I’m so sorry I let him take the pendant.

You’re safe. That’s what matters.

She gave her head a shake.After my ancestors kept it secret for centuries…after my Gifting changed it…and everything we went through to retrieve the enchantment here… Now I’m down to one focus, and—

Shh.He stroked her hair.Don’t worry about that now. Look. Knight is safe too.

She ran a weary hand over his head. He wallowed closer to her in the bed and propped his head on her belly.

She cleared her throat. “Kallikrates spared him on purpose. He knew our bargain would be off if he hurt anyone I love.”

Silence fell between them. Lio harnessed the raging magic inside him and used it to veil his anger from his Grace. Or at least dull the effect of it in their Union.

When he spoke, he managed to keep his voice gentle. “Did you mean what you said to him? About wanting all your power?”

“No.”

“Cassia, you know I wouldn’t blame you if you did. I want you to have all your magic.”

“I don’t want it. But it’s a motivation he understands, so I let him believe it. You know I didn’t mean anything I said to him, don’t you?”

“Of course I know that.”

“Then why are you so angry?” she asked.

He swore under his breath, his veils shredding at her words. There was no point in hiding. They had promised each other they wouldn’t, even when it caused them pain.

“You opened a negotiation with Kallikrates,” Lio said.

“Negotiating is what we do. Even now. Or has that staff made you forget it?”

“That staff is for keeping you safe!” Lio’s voice rose. “You made a bargain with Hypnos himself! He will make you pay for it, Cassia, and I cannot bear to imagine what the price will be.”

“I gave him a reason to spare us.” She hugged herself, hiding the fading mark on her chest. “Would you rather he have taken the pendant and left us all dead? At least he let us keep our lives.”

“Better to fight our way out than you make this kind of pact with him.”

“Do you honestly think there was another way out of that battle?”

“Yes! The moment the Collector manifested through Skleros, you should have let me fight him with thelemancy instead of listening to a single word he said.”

“You were too busy holding Lyros’s heart inside his chest!” Cassia covered her face with her hands but not before Lio saw her tears.

He bit his tongue. Goddess, this was not what she needed right now.

“I’m sorry,” Lio murmured.

He reached out to touch her shoulder. When she didn’t flinch away, he pulled her close again.

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