Page 60 of Blood Feast

Lyros shook his head. “That’s the crime you’re most worried about, scrollworm?”

“Nike invented adamas,” Mak explained. “She built this secret forge for the sole purpose of crafting the Blood Errant’s weapons from her signature alloy. No one else has discovered it in eight hundred years.”

“It’s no wonder,” Lio breathed. “The shadow wards and thelemantic veils she has over this place are a work of art in themselves. The Blood Errant could all set off master spells at once in here with no one the wiser.”

“They probably have. Methu, Rudhira, and Uncle Apollon have all been here before.” Mak beckoned them to the back of the deep chamber.

Geomagical heat bathed Cassia’s skin as they approached the forge. Silver light and unseen, molten power emanated from the great crucible. A nearby pool of water let off such cold that it must have come straight out of Orthros’s frozen mountains.

“Father never breathed a word of this,” Lio said.

“Trying to spare your diplomatic career, no doubt,” Cassia surmised.

“Nike brought you here?” Lio asked Mak.

“Actually, no.” Mak held up the adamas star. “While she was missing in action, I discovered this in her abandoned residence and figured out how to get in.”

“How did she react when she came home?” Cassia asked.

“She tried to kick me out. But I persuaded her to teach me instead.” Mak gestured to the swords on display around them. “These are all practice pieces from our lessons.”

Lyros crossed his arms, gazing into the forge. “When we came to the Empire—to bail you out of jinn prison, Lio—Mak felt his presence was more important than his blades. He gave up weapon smithing, and we asked for reassignment as your bodyguards.”

Lio searched his cousin’s face. “But you changed your mind?”

Mak strode back to the table and braced his hands on a black cloth that covered four mysterious shapes. “You know that what happened at Paradum changed everything. Lyros and I weren’t there to protect you—again. And even when we made it there to help you fight your way out, we faced threats from the Collector that we’ve never seen before. I knew then that it had been a mistake to abandon the forge. We need weapons like the Blood Errant’s.”

Lio joined him at the table. “If Rudhira hadn’t taken Skleros’s head off with Thorn, Cassia and I would both be dead.”

Cassia came to stand on the third side of the table. “Hesperine swords are not Tenebran swords. The Blood Errant have always used their weapons for good. Like them, we can wield these in Hespera’s name without forgetting her tenets.”

“Yes.” Lio’s gentle face was set in a hard expression. “Not in spite of being diplomats, but because we are diplomats, we will bear the burden of violence with you, so our people may know peace.”

Lyros filled the empty space beside Mak, putting a hand over his Grace’s.

A bittersweet smile came to Mak’s face. “I’m sorry. But I’m also glad we’re all in this together.”

“Don’t be sorry,” Cassia said. “One night soon, a blade forged by your hands may destroy an enemy as evil as Skleros.”

Mak took a deep breath and gave a nod. “Well, my errant circle. Meet your new weapons.”

He swept back the black cloth.

Cassia had not thought she could ever find weapons beautiful, but these took her breath away. Four newborn artifacts of adamas, each adorned with a milky white moonstone the size of an eye.

A morning star, enduring as a light in the night sky. A spear befitting a sharp-minded general. The tall, elegant staff of a sorcerer.

But the one all her senses focused on was the dagger. Its blade was darker, less brilliant, but the wicked little thing called to her. She gasped and reached for it. As soon as her hand closed over the hilt, she knew.

“It’s my spade.”

Mak smiled at her. “I found the broken pieces inside Paradum. I couldn’t bear for you to lose it. You can’t replace an artifact like that, not when your battles have created it for you. So I reforged it—unbreakable this time.”

She traced a finger over the moonstone embedded in the hilt, then the flat of the blade. The magic in the weapon rushed out to greet her like an old friend. “It’s still imbued with Lustra magic and Hesperine blood magic, just as it was when it was a gardening tool.”

“I was as careful as I could be, trying to preserve the original enchantments.”

She held fast to it, her only weapon for so many years, now remade. Just like her. Tears pricked her eyes. “Thank you, Mak.”

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