Page 51 of Blood Feast

Between the shifting Hesperine guests, she caught sight of the black roses. The vines were as wild as she had left them. But now a new border circled them, built of marble she recognized as former chunks of the floor. Apollon had turned the damage into a flower bed, reshaping the stones not to hide her roses but to draw attention to them.

Their closest friends and family lined her final way. Alkaios murmured something to Bosko, while Nephalea’s hands rested on Zoe’s slim shoulders, reminding Cassia of how the two Hesperines errant had protected her as a child. Zoe looked like the most endearing little blood sorceress in her red robe, with an abundance of crimson ribbons in her hair. Cassia marched between the Graced pairs of Blood Argyros, then her Ritual parents, to be welcomed by her Grace-parents. Apollon and Komnena parted, clearing her last steps to Lio.

At last Cassia laid eyes on him. She felt as if all the spell lights in the hall took flight in her belly. The black waves of his hair were loose, ready for her braid. A ruby stud glittered on his earlobe. With his tall frame, he looked stately in his heavy crimson avowal robe, gleaming with gold.

He emanated power that called to her blood. Her Gifter. Her Grace. Could this magnificent immortal really be hers?

The look on his face left no doubt. He gazed upon her as if she were a goddess, and in that moment, she knew he would look at her this way forever.

He held out his open palm. Placing her hand in his, she joined him inside the Ritual circle.

Outside the mosaic, the first Graces were seated hand in hand. For the first time since her Gifting, Cassia beheld her Queens. Recognition sang deep in her veins. She felt the shared blood that ran from her to them, and from them back into a distant night when Hespera had touched the Ritual firstbloods and created their kind. Beside them, Princess Konstantina smiled in understanding. Together, Cassia and Lio made the heart bow to the royals, then faced each other across Hespera’s Rose and the constellation Anastasios.

Queen Alea spoke, her aura shining. “Redblood Deukalion, for what reason have you called together our people?”

“To declare that through Cassia, I have experienced Hespera’s abundance.”

“Whiteblood Cassia.” Queen Soteira’s warm voice carried through the hall. “Do you join him in this declaration of your own free Will?”

“Under the Goddess’s Eyes, I do.”

Queen Alea lifted her pale hand. “Ritual Firstblood Anastasios watches from the stars. On his behalf, let those us of who still walk this world welcome Cassia’s bloodline into his own.”

The crowd shifted. The Redblood guests made room for her Whitebloods to mingle among them, and all their loved ones stood together in one gathering.

Queen Alea squeezed Queen Soteira’s hand. “Only Graces know the joys of their bond, and yet our pain is evident toall. Redblood Deukalion, can eight witnesses attest that without Whiteblood Cassia, you will have no eternity?”

“I call forth the eight who have seen my Craving for her,” Lio answered.

“Whiteblood Cassia,” Queen Soteira asked, “can eight witnesses attest that Redblood Deukalion offers you eternity?”

Cassia echoed, “I call forth the eight who have seen my Craving for him.”

Their witnesses came forward from the crowd and proceeded down the central aisle, a festive procession despite the gravity of what they were about to describe. They stood in two half moons on either side of the Ritual circle.

Queen Alea addressed Lio’s witnesses. “As the first Redblood to receive Grace, I will hear your testimony.”

Mak made the heart bow. “Annassa, I have watched Lio make sacrifices to protect our people, and it is my honor to help him secure his happiness now. To prevent war, he returned from Tenebra without Cassia, no matter the cost to himself. He had been without her for half a year when my Grace and I saw him collapse in the gymnasium.”

Lyros continued, “We recognized his symptoms, having experienced them ourselves. After minor sparring injuries, his body wouldn’t heal. No blood, no matter how potent, could fully restore him.”

Cassia’s hand tightened on Lio’s. She hated thinking of how close he had come to starvation. She listened as their Trial sisters described his collapse before the Firstblood Circle. Then Karege, Tuura, and Hoyefe related how his Craving had later endangered him in the Maaqul Desert.

I feel no more horror at those memories,he reassured her silently.Let those wounds become part of our vows.

“Eight times has the truth been spoken,” Queen Alea concluded. “Let it be known for eternity that Deukalion’s Craving for Cassia is the Goddess’s Will.”

You’re right,Cassia said in his thoughts.Somehow, those curses have turned into this blessing.

Queen Soteira gestured to Cassia’s witnesses. “As the first Whiteblood to bring Grace to our people, I will hear your testimony.”

“Were my visions admissible as testimony,” Kassandra began, “I would tell you of the first night I met Lio’s Grace, when she was still a future dream. But I saw her in the flesh when she came to Orthros and, on the Vigil of Will, sought me out to ask for my wisdom. I helped her see the truth in herself: Craving is not merely a thirst for blood, but also a hunger in the soul. Without Lio, her spirit was dying.”

It had been one of Cassia’s darkest hours. But also the hour when she had found hope for this future that was now coming true before their eyes.

Tendo took up the story next, then Kella, relating how they had cared for Cassia during her illness when she’d been separated from Lio in the desert.

When it was Solia’s turn, her aura was full of many things—but foremost, a sense of conviction. “In my fear for my sister, I was the greatest denier of her bond with Lio. Take my change of heart as powerful evidence that their love is true. I have seen him heal Cassia. Sacrifice for her. And most of all, make her happy, in ways I never imagined possible after what she suffered in her past.”

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