Page 235 of Blood Feast

For the second time in his life, he teetered on the edge of Kallikrates’s maw. But Grace Union kept him from being consumed.

Cassia’s magic reached for her through him. He gave himself over to it, the living link to its Silvicultrix.

Miranda screamed. Vines snaked out of her mouth, coated in blood. Her body bowed with the force of the magic that poured out of her. The Collector’s pull slammed her back onto the tableand tore from Lio’s spine out the front of his chest. He staggered toward Miranda as she choked.

His heart labored, and his chest felt like it was splitting in two. But he would forget the pain. What he would remember forever was Cassia in this moment.

She held out her arms and watched her black roses wind lovingly around her body. The thorned vines bloomed with more impossible colors. Bright moonflowers and brilliant yellow cassia. Pure Sanctuary Roses and rich purple betony. At last, soft, crimson Roses of Hespera. Their roses caressed her throat and spun into her hair, growing around his braid.

She looked into his eyes, hers blazing green with magic. Her lips parted, and she drew a deep gasp. On that breath, rose petals spun into her.

Joy unfurled in their bond. Pure. Untouched. An empty place inside her filled. As he felt that reunion, a piece of himself fitted into place, too.

Tears streamed down her face. “Thank you.”

“I love you,” he said.

“I know.”

Miranda fell silent. The blood on her breastplate faded, line by line, until the Eye of Hypnos was gone. Her head rolled to the side, her lips moving in wordless horror. At last she rasped, “What have you done?”

Kallikrates’s rage echoed out of the void, aiming for Lio.

Cassia’s fangs flashed and held up her palms. They were covered in blood. Crimson tendrils flowed from her hands and spiraled around Lio, then splashed to the ground in a ring at his feet. The Collector’s pull on his chest snapped.

She was suddenly beside him, and he sagged in her arms, clutching his staff for support.

“You have to get out of here,” she cried. “He wants his revenge.”

“Not until we learn what’s locked inside the doors.”

Thunder rumbled outside the castle, and a flash of lightning lit the room.

“Go,” Lio said. “Defend our temple.”

“My magic isn’t inside Miranda now. It won’t come to your aid. I can’t abandon you here.”

“We won’t survive her war magic unless you wield all your power against her. We need you to fight with Mak and Lyros.”

“Call me,” Cassia demanded. “If you need me, pull me into our Union again.”

He pressed a hand to his chest. “I will hold you right here.”

The vision of her vanished, but her presence was still with him. And her magic was with her, where it had always belonged.

Lio grasped his medallion and struck the ground with his staff. The Lustra portal opened for him, and he and Miranda fell deeper into her mind.

THE BARROW

Cassia blinked the tearsfrom her eyes. She lay entwined with Lio in a pool of blood inside the Ritual circle. Flowering vines wound around them, tying them to each other.

Petals of every color floated in their blood. This was real.

She reached inside herself and sank into familiar magic. The power she had once known flowed into her Gift and became Hesperine, and she knew it again.

With a thought, Cassia calmed the vines that clung to her. They fell away to cradle her Grace. She sat up and smoothed Lio’s bloody hair back from his face. His eyes moved rapidly under his closed lids. She put Final Word back in his hand, and his fingers closed around the staff.

She lifted her head. Mak and Lyros were on their feet, battling Miranda across the cracked, scorched Ritual ground. She blocked the Star of Orthros once more, but her arm shook. As she spun to evade Night’s Aim, her bare breastplate came into view. Cassia’s blood really was gone.

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