Page 6 of Blood Feast

“You have nothing to apologize for. Of course you would rather keep me naked and locked in the tower with you for another month or eight.”

“So very tempting.” He adjusted the high collar of his red festival robe. “But I won’t have you miss any of the traditions of Hesperine life. The family will want to hold your first Ritual tonight to welcome you into our bloodline. As soon as I sent our note ahead to the main house, I imagine my mother went into a whirlwind of preparation. She’ll manage to make tonight special, war or no war.”

Cassia smoothed the robe she had chosen for her presentation to the family, her black one embroidered with Hespera’s Roses. “You’ll have to help me remember the right words to say during the ceremony.”

“I’ll be with you every step of the way.” He put on a smile for her.

She could still feel the specters lurking in his emotions. She would find a way to reassure him, she swore.

A plan came to her in that moment. It was the best way, perhaps the only way, to truly reassure Lio that their love was her first priority. But could she do it on such short notice in the middle of a war? With help from all the Hesperines who cared about them, it might just be possible.

“Go ahead, my Grace.” He gestured to the double doors. “Your immortal future awaits.”

The heavy iron panels felt light to her now. She opened their Sanctuary and, with her hand in his, reentered the world.

This time alone with him in the tower had become her reality, and setting foot outside felt like a dream. No shock of icy wind hit her in the lungs to jolt her awake. The cold of her belovedOrthros wrapped around her, familiar and safe. Fresh snow covered the terrace, and the starlight on that blanket of white was all the light she needed to see. Her swift eyes could track every snowflake that fluttered around them.

She let out a giddy laugh. She was impervious. She was free.

She lifted her face to Hespera’s night sky and found herself riveted.

Lio stood at her back and wrapped his arms around her, looking up at their Goddess’s domain with her. “You can feel it now, can’t you?”

“I canfeelthesky.”

“How does it feel to you?” His aura stirred with curiosity. “Tell me everything.”

As a bloodborn, her Grace had never been a new Hesperine. His mother’s transformation had made him immortal in the womb. Cassia was happy he could experience this with her now.

“It feels vast,” she said. “Deep. As if that vastness is inside my chest. The blood moon is running in my veins—I can feel its pulse. And the light moon is shining under my skin.”

“And how does the garden feel?”

She stretched her senses and her gaze out over the grounds of House Komnena. The neglected gardens had always been a wild tangle of arctic plants that clung to life in Orthros’s frozen soil.

But now they struck her nose with a thousand verdant scents. Despite the cloak of polar night, the bushes hung heavy with bearberries, and the dwarf willows were in full bloom. Vines of Hespera’s sacred thorns had overflowed the arbor in front of the tower and formed a bastion around the terrace.

“I think they like your letting site,” Lio concluded.

“Oh, my. Weeding will be even worse than I thought.” She couldn’t wait to get started.

But as they walked along the paths toward the main house, her delight faded.

“What is your greatest worry?” Lio asked. “Let us see if we can defeat it before we join everyone.”

“Thank you, my champion, but I’m being foolish. The world is going up in flames, and the one I’m most worried about is…”

“Your dog.”

Cassia nodded. “We can explain things to people. Animals don’t understand.”

“Knight is no ordinary animal. He will understand.”

“What if he doesn’t even recognize me?”

“You’ve been his entire world since he was a puppy. He’ll be overjoyed to see you again.”

“I’m his to protect, hiskaetlii…or I was. Now the mortal he was bonded to is a Hesperine, a being he was bred to hunt. What if my Gifting severed our connection?”

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