Page 218 of Blood Feast

Mak’s face fell. “Oh, Cassia. I’m so sorry.”

“Oh, that’s not the worst part.”

“How could it possibly get any worse?”

She wrapped her arms around her knees. “All of those sites were nodes in the spell that’s keeping the doors shut. There’s only one portal left.”

He stared at her, his eyes wide. Then he said a curse that was illegal in ten sister states of the Empire.

“Agreed,” Cassia replied. “But it’s all right.”

His voice cracked as he laughed. “How is any of this all right?”

“Think about what happened at Paradum.”

He paused for a moment. “It’s a node, too, isn’t it?”

Cassia nodded.

“Kallikrates broke it already. So that should mean there’s only one site left out there somewhere, holding the third door closed. Except…”

She smiled at him.

Slowly, he smiled back. “You healed Paradum.”

“With the dagger you forged for me.”

Mak rubbed the back of his head and blew out a breath. “Well, it’s good to know untold destruction won’t come pouring out of the door in the next hour. But that doesn’t change anything about the weapons. I could have reforged yours as an innocent garden spade instead, and it would have worked to heal the letting site.”

“Miranda would still have it right now, and you already know how much damage she can do with innocent gardening tools.”

He shuddered.

“It’s not about the weapons, Mak. It’s about what we do with them.”

“Thorns, you’re going to get as philosophical as Lio now, aren’t you?”

“No. I don’t have answers for any of the great questions about violence that we’re wrestling with. But I know this. Hesperines are the heretics who always keep questioning.”

He didn’t reply. She thought he was listening, now.

“As a Steward, you’ve been carrying those questions for our people your entire life. You keep fighting, even though we don’t have answers. You still believe in Mercy on a merciless path.”

“Fighting without answers. Good description of us blundering around Tenebra in the dark.”

She pointed to his heart. “Lyros, Lio, and I certainly got our heart wounds from blundering, but you didn’t. Why do you think the Lustra gave this to you?”

He rubbed his chest where his scar lay hidden under his battle robes. “They’re your ancestors. You translate for me. Was Lio right when he said it’s a mark of honor?”

“Yes. I think they gave you a sign that you did the right thing.”

He looked thoughtful. “The Lustra does seem to have some wisdom about bloodshed that eludes us immortals. Wolves don’tcommit violence for pleasure or cruelty. Only survival. And somehow, rebirth.”

Cassia thought of the reborn letting site at Paradum. The magic was now more powerful than it had been before its wounds. Just like her. “Now who’s getting philosophical?”

“Sunbind it, you scrollworms are rubbing off on me.”

“And you warriors have certainly rubbed off on us.” She pulled Lio’s staff across her lap. “What do you say we liberate Rosethorn from Miranda so my blade can once again serve the side of right? I have an idea.”

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