Page 114 of Blood Feast

She made no promises about using her magic. Avoiding his eyes, she looked down at Knight again. A useless evasion, when their Grace Union was his window on her soul—and her regrets.

THE MOST IMPORTANT LESSON

Once their spell wasfinished, Lio found Cassia in the stables. Knight drowsed on a pile of hay while the Warmbloods munched grain in their stalls. Cassia had found a brush somewhere and was running it over Freckles’ side with steady strokes. The little mare preened under the attention.

All Lio could see in Cassia’s thoughts was the smooth rhythm of those brush strokes. Her utter concentration on the repetitive task was as effective as greenhouse diagrams at deflecting his mind. Almost.

He stroked Moonflower’s nose. “Thank you for seeing to the horses while we were casting.”

“This place is hardly up to Warmblood standards, but I did my best. The provisions the men left behind will keep our horses and Knight fed. Where are Mak and Lyros?”

“They want to keep watch until they’re confident no one is probing our defenses.”

Before he could say more, she pressed on. “Are you ready to look for Lustra portals?”

So she was determined not to talk yet, was she? Using arguments about her magic to get him to do what she wished would not work a second time. Especially when he knew she didn’t actually want to use her power. By the time they finished their search, he would coax her to open up to him.

“The tower looks quite ancient,” he said. “Let’s start there.”

She put the brush away and turned toward the door, giving him a glimpse of her neck before her long hair swung to hide itagain. He followed her and Knight out of the stables, ducking to avoid hitting his head on the door frame. Her hound’s paws left broad tracks in the dirty snow as they crossed the bailey, while Cassia’s light steps left hardly any imprint at all.

She paused, looking to the sky. He followed her gaze to see a large hawk circling above. That was the animal form which had earned her ancestor the title “Changing Queen.” Cassia herself had transformed into a hawk when Ebah’s spirit had briefly granted her shape-changing abilities. He wondered if it was a sign.

As they watched, the hawk took a dive into the trees, oddly silent. It emerged a moment later with a small, broken shape clutched in its talons. Cassia shuddered and headed up the front steps of the keep.

“When did you last stay here?” Lio asked.

Her aura stirred with memories. “Three years ago.”

“How many times?” He opened the weathered door for her and propped himself against it, half filling the doorway.

She slipped through, so close to him that their bodies almost brushed. “Twice. The winter of the Equinox Summit would have been my third, if I hadn’t made it to court instead.”

Before she was out of reach, he caught her cheek in his hand and turned her face toward him. “You almost spent that winter here instead of with me.”

“But I didn’t.”

“Thank you for the risks you took to make that happen.”

She clutched his hand briefly, then turned and went further into the keep.

“Will you show me the room where you stayed?” he asked.

“If you think it’s useful.” She led him past a broad, empty chamber on the ground floor and up a curving staircase, higher into the tower. Knight leapt upward ahead of her. Lio walked close behind her, and her aura tingled with awareness of him.

They entered a shadowy room, and he pricked his thumb on his fang to conjure a spell light from his blood. The warm glow illuminated a round room with one bed, one trunk, and a washstand. It was even worse than her rooms at Solorum. Old anger simmered in him at the neglect she had suffered in her mortal life.

There was something about this claustrophobic room that bothered him. Something wrong about it. But he couldn’t put his finger on precisely what that wrongness was.

He only knew he ought to pull Cassia down onto that bed and replace her memories of lonely nights here.

Knight embarked on a thorough sniff of the place and sneezed. Cassia patted him as he passed her to investigate another corner. “Yes, you remember this place, don’t you, love? Not fit for dogs or ladies.”

“But perhaps it once was.” Lio cast a cleaning spell over the room to peel away the layers of dust and old torch grime. Flakes of plaster crumbled to the floor, revealing the ancient stones beneath. The leather flaps over the windows blew back, letting moonlight in through their rounded arches. “There is neglected beauty here.”

“And magic too, we can hope.” Cassia set her gardening satchel down on the table by the bed. “Strange to think I might have walked past portals here without ever knowing it. I’ll see if the Lustra is telling my intuition anything.”

He rested his hands on her tense shoulders. “No, Cassia. I want you to cast.”

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