Page 106 of Blood Feast

She couldn’t fall to pieces. Not yet. She had to focus.Kallikrates—?

Gone. Curse him and his games. He kept me distracted so I wouldn’t end the battle with thelemancy.

He could have done far more damage than this. Why is he toying with us?

I wish I knew.

“What happened here?” Lyros asked Benedict.

The knight ignored him. He stalked toward Lio and Cassia. He hadn’t sheathed his sword. Lio tucked Cassia closer against him, gripping Final Word in his other hand.

Tension moved through every human and immortal around them. Mak and Lyros’s latent warding magic hummed in the air.

“I heard the rumors,” Ben said, “but I didn’t expect…”

Cassia’s icy court manners came back to her. “How glad I am to see you alive, as well.”

He didn’t have the grace to look abashed. He appeared to still be in shock at her transformation.

“I trust Solia told you that Lio saved me with the Gift?” Cassia said.

“Is that what you call this?” Ben’s voice cracked.

“I call it respecting her choice,” Lio cut in.

“You,” Ben spat. “You’ve taken her humanity. She deserved so much better than you.”

Lio didn’t answer. He just looked at Ben. Cassia realized in that moment that Glasstongue had a stare worthy of his mentor that could make a man quail in his boots.

Ben took a step back.

“Sir Benedict,” Lyros said sharply, “are you in command here or not? Your fellow knights and your queen’s subjects need leadership, and your Hesperine allies need an explanation. Remember yourself.”

Ben drew himself up, although he emanated resentment. Of course it didn’t go down well that a heretic had reminded him ofhis honor. “I won’t thank you for what you’ve done to Cassia. But out of fealty to my queen, I will continue to treat you as allies.”

“What are a war mage and Lord Lucis’s soldiers doing here?” Mak asked.

Ben pointed to the river with his sword. “The weather mage sailed them in against the currents. I expect more will slip in to turn our villagers into Hesperine bait.”

“How did they get past Segetia’s defenses?” Mak demanded.

“Our defenses are doing the best they can,” Ben shot back. “At dawn, Lord Lucis and the Mage Orders launched an invasion of Segetia. Their forces are coming down on us from Solorum like a hammer.”

The air rushed out of Cassia’s lungs. The war had finally spread. Who knew what part of the kingdom the fire would engulf next?

“I’m sorry,” she said.

Ben didn’t look at her. “We’re trying to get the evacuees to a safer area south of the river, where Lord Flavian’s allies and my knightly order are preparing their fortresses to receive refugees. If we can get this group to Castra Augusta, we can protect them.”

Cassia gazed back at him in silence. Lio and their Trial brothers seemed to have the same idea as well. If Ben wanted their help, let him ask for it.

“The ferry is gone,” Ben bit out. “Will you step them across?”

“We will always protect Solia’s people,” Cassia said, her chin high.

She and Lio went to help the other knights organize the villagers, keeping their distance from Ben. Mak and Lyros, on the other hand, seemed inclined to breathe down his neck while the three of them escorted groups of evacuees across the river.

“I sense the couple from Mederi somewhere here.” Lio’s words pulled her thoughts back where they belonged.

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