Page 25 of Blood Feast

Rudhira shook his head. “You two will be the targets of his revenge. Step home to Cassia. Now.”

“I can’t, Rudhira. The visions I saw…Lucis and the Collector want a long bloodbath like the Last War.”

Rudhira smiled. His fangs shot down, as threatening as the sword on his back. “Let them try.”

Lio’s eyes widened. “We cannot give them the violence they want.”

“Oh, have no doubt. I will stand between them and everything they want.”

“Let us stand with you.”

“Listen to me. When I was a newblood, Orthros still lived in fear that the Last War would break out again. This is why I felt called to the battle arts. This is what I’ve prepared for since I first set foot in the arena. I always knew that when the next war came, it would be my duty to fight for my people. My duty. Not yours or Cassia’s.”

“And if the Queens had banned you from the arena then? If they called you home now? Would you obey their command?”

Rudhira’s steely eyes narrowed. “You are not me, Deukalion of the Eighth Circle. Give me one reason besides your admirabledevotion to our people why I should not order you home this instant to tend to your newgift.”

“None of us are safe until we find out what’s behind that door and how to stop the Collector from getting it.”

“The Charge will hunt down a Gift Collector or two. They can answer our questions in my dungeon.”

“And when they do? Who among your forces has dueled the Collector and freed souls from his possession?”

Rudhira’s jaw tightened.

Lio pressed, “Where will you find a spare Silvicultrix to make sure the Changing Queen’s secrets stay buried?”

A shout came from the center of the village. Rudhira muttered an oath, hesitating for an instant that seemed to last forever. Then he let go of Lio and headed toward the square. When Lio followed him, Rudhira did not order him to turn around and go home.

They had no chance for further debate as they joined the others in the square. Mak and Lyros were guiding the villagers into groups small enough for each Hesperine to step with.

“This is everyone,” Solia announced. “I will stay until all the villagers are safely inside the keep.”

“Two of us will stand guard while two others step,” Rudhira said. “Mak, Lyros, you hold the wards here. Lio, with me.”

Lio didn’t miss the warning in Rudhira’s tone. He was still here on probation.

Lio spotted two villagers he recognized and took charge of their group first. The last time he’d seen the older couple, the woman had wept tears of joy to discover that their beloved princess Solia was alive and had returned to deliver them from Lucis’s tyranny.

The wizened woman clasped her hands. “Ambassador Deukalion. Have you and Princess Cassia heard from Lady Miranda since that night?”

“We fear the rumors,” said her husband. “Is it true the three of you walked into a necromancer’s trap at Castra Paradum?”

They still had no idea Miranda herself was the necromancer. The man on two strong legs, giving no sign the king’s soldiers had once shattered his knee. The knee Miranda had mended with magic she had ripped out of the innocent healer Pakhne.

Had her love for these people been real? Miranda had claimed she felt a responsibility to them because she had once been their liege lady. Perhaps in her twisted mind, taking Pakhne’s magic and using it to save this man was somehow justified. Or had her care for them been another deception to gain Lio and Cassia’s trust?

Lio did not have the heart to rob these people of one of their few symbols of hope. “Lady Miranda escaped. I’m sure we’ll see her again.”

The couple breathed sighs of relief. “She has had to go into hiding before,” the wife said, “but she always returns to us.”

“Ready?” Rudhira asked Lio. “We’re taking them to the great hall inside Castra Patria.”

Lio nodded and gathered his magic around the eight villagers entrusted to him, layering veils over his spell. When Rudhira stepped, Lio followed his powerful aura, and together they slipped through the world bearing the weight of mortal beings.

In that split second between one step and the next, light seared Lio’s vision. Fire tore him out the fabric of reality. He landed hard on rocky ground that dug into his knees.

Lio!Cassia cried in his mind.What’s happening?

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