Page 166 of Blood Feast

Miranda dragged herself to her feet, and her crow took flight in her wake. Leaving her fellow Overseers to die on the Hesperine prince’s sword, she fled through the door that led deeper into the castle.

Magic from the letting site nipped at her heels with every pounding step she took through Castra Paradum. But the thorn vines, weakened by the Lustra’s wounds, could not catch her. Miranda slipped through servants’ corridors and down narrow stairways, then crawled through a drainage ditch to a grate that was already loosened. The Lustra’s deep roots marked her passage, even as she made it beyond the walls.

The Lustra was everywhere, and she was prey now.

The images faded from Cassia’s mind’s eye. She saw her roses in front of her and heard Thorn’s blade hacking at vines.

Lio held her shoulders, searching her gaze. “Is your spell complete?”

She cast her power back into the ground. “Let’s go.”

The rose vines fell an instant before they stepped. The last thing she saw was Rudhira’s face, haggard with regret.

Lio’s boots sank intothe mud in the bailey. Once again, no ambush was waiting for them outside the tower, but they hurried up the steps nonetheless.

The door banged shut behind them, closing them back in the safety of Ebah’s spell. But he could still hear Rudhira’s words echoing in his head.

Lyros kicked a pile of hay. “We can’t risk going back for the horses.”

Mak looked at his usually-composed Grace with furrowed brows.

“My gardening satchel was still on my saddle,” Cassia murmured.

Somehow, that small loss made Lio angrier than anything else. He know how vulnerable she felt without her satchel, for it had been her survival kit during many ordeals. Now it held her few mementos from Orthros. She had lost what was let of home.

“Are all of you in one piece?” She was still shaking, her aura popping with little flares of residual magic. Fresh blood slipped down her arms.

Lio wanted to pick her up and hold her, but felt that was somehow inappropriate when he had just watched her make a stand so powerfully. He settled for gathering her close to him. “Let me see to your arms.”

“You didn’t answer my question,” she said.

“I’m fine, my Grace.” Physically, in any case. Lio didn’t know how long it would take his mind and heart to recover from that encounter with their Ritual father.

“Not a scratch on us, either.” Mak waved them away. “Go get patched up, all right?”

Cassia hesitated, then nodded. She let Lio lead her toward the stairs. Mak pulled out the flask of ora that Tendo had sent with them, offering it to Lyros.

“Still not strong enough for Hesperines,” Lyros muttered, but he downed a swig in any case.

Lio took Cassia up to the dining hall and sat her in a chair at the hearth. Knight sank down by the fire’s warmth as if he were a tired, relieved old dog. Lio gave him a comforting pat before kneeling on the floor in front of Cassia.

He turned her hands over, palms up. The veins on the inside of her arms were split open and healing sluggishly. How had her magic done this to her?

There would be time to ask for an explanation later. Right now, she needed his care. He lowered his mouth to her skin and gently laved at her left wrist, where the bleeding was heaviest.

He wasn’t prepared for the kick of Lustra magic in her blood. Her power thrummed through him. The sensation drove all thoughts of Paradum out of his mind for a blessed moment.

Lio raised his head, licking his lips, to look at his Grace in wonder. Her hair was tousled, and there was a streak of dirtacross her face. She looked back at him, not with her kingdom-destroying look, but a kingdom-claiming one.

“Your power intoxicates me,” he whispered, then glided his tongue up the inside of her arm.

She stroked his head. “I felt so much power tonight.”

Did you like it?he asked in her mind, unwilling to take his mouth away from the delicate trail of magic bleeding from her right wrist.

Yes.

Your confidence tastes so good, Cassia.He returned to her left wrist, sucking a little at the gradually healing wound.

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