Page 189 of Blood Feast

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 cameto 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.”

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