Page 98 of Blood Feast

She jumped off Freckles, giving him no opportunity to help her down, and strode a few paces away from them. Knight followed her, darting to and fro, clearly anxious at the delay. Mak and Lyros fanned out on their horses, and shadow wards rose to encircle their party.

Lio dismounted and followed Cassia with Final Word at the ready. He slipped up behind her and rested one hand on her shoulder. “I’ll protect you while you cast. If you need help with control, I’m here.”

She didn’t turn to him, but he heard her little intake of breath. “I will not need help. It’s not even a casting.”

He resisted the ill-timed temptation to kiss the sensitive spot between her neck and shoulder. He wanted to lick her anger from her skin.

She pointed the tip of her dagger toward the ground, adjusting her grip on it. There came the barest stir in her aura, slipping down her blade.

That meek ripple of magic sent a sudden rush of anger through Lio, this time all his own. This tentative creature was not Cassia. She had left those days behind in her human life. As an immortal, she should hold her head high and unleash her power. That was what Orthros had promised her. That was what he had promised her.

She glanced over her shoulder at him, her eyes full of hurt. He pulled back. What had he said—or not said—to put that fresh wound in her aura?

Before he could respond, she gasped and swayed on her feet. He reached to catch her, but she steadied herself.

“The Lustra is still here, buried deep.” She sounded a little breathless. “No one has woken it in a long time. It’s tired. Desperate.”

“Is it willing to guide us?” Lio asked.

“Eager.” She turned slowly, holding out Rosethorn like the point on a compass. “That way. I think we can reach it before dawn.”

“Then we ride northeast,” said Lyros.

“Cassia—” Lio began softly, reaching to catch her hand.

“Not now. Not here.” She slipped from his grasp.

The Lustra’s guidance wasa faint, keening thread pulling Cassia along the next mile. Then the next. She had to focus all her Will on it, or she would lose the trail. But that meant she had no concentration to spare for the unbearable emotions lodged in her chest.

At last they spotted gray, jagged teeth against the violet horizon. By the time they approached the standing stones, twilight muffled her thoughts and dragged at her limbs. She prayed this would prove to be a safe place. They were out of time to find another before dawn.

Mak gave the crumbling slabs a dubious look. “It’s just a pile of rocks.”

“This is a masterpiece of prehistoric engineering and astronomy!” Lio guided Moonflower around the perimeter of the circle at a trot. “See the arrangement of the stones? They align with the heavens somehow. Perhaps related to the equinox and harvest season? If we count the broken stones, there are nine in all—three times three. That suggests a Silvicultrix site.”

“Huh.” Mak tilted his head. “Youmaybe onto something. That ritual circle under the lighthouse had nine nodes, too.”

Lio rejoined them. “See? Your brain isn’t a pile of rocks, either.”

Mak gave him an affronted look. “My brain keeps your hide safe while your brain is stuck in prehistory, scrollworm.”

Lyros’s mouth twitched. “The question is, does this place offer any of our brains protection?”

Cassia’s dulled reason somehow made her more aware of the Lustra’s pull. Her voice came out hushed. “It’s not just rocks. Each standing stone has a presence. Even the broken ones.”

The others grew quiet. Acting on instinct, she slipped off of Freckles and put Knight in a sit stay. “I think it’s best if you all wait here at first.”

“I should come with you.” Lio was already dismounted and at her side.

She held up a hand. “The Lustra here doesn’t know you yet. It’s…suffered a great deal, I think.”

Lio’s brows descended, and she knew there was a protest in his exquisite mouth. Two could play this game of unfair negotiations.

“If you want me to use my magic,” she said, “you have to let me use it. Trust what my intuition is telling me. Let me see how the magic in this place responds to me before you try to enter the circle.”

His eyes narrowed. “Well played, my Silvicultrix.”

He waited with Mak and Lyros as she walked alone into the ring of megaliths. The dewy grass gave softly under her feet, and the scent of damp stone touched her senses. As the magic of the place enveloped her sleepy mind, she felt like she walked into a dream.

---