Page 177 of Blood Feast

He withdrew into his bond with Cassia and focused on shielding her. That was one thing he could do, besides stand here helpless in the face of destruction they were too late to prevent.

“An army did this.” Mak sounded numb.

Lyros dragged a hand over his face. “Let’s spread out and listen for heartbeats. We may be able to detect survivors the enemy missed.”

Cassia didn’t open her mouth, but she nodded.

You can come with me.Lio made the offer privately so as not to wound her pride in front of the warriors.

Her throat worked as she swallowed again.No. If there’s anyone left to save, every moment counts. I’ll search on my own so we can cover more ground.

None of them were safe fighting alone, but Lio knew she was right. At least she had Knight with her. Fighting his Grace instincts, he let her out of arm’s reach and forced himself in a different direction.

He levitated over the mortals’ remains. His magic seemed blind in the face of their terror and despair. He stopped breathing and listened. But the bodies were lifeless.

They had come from all over Patria and Segetia to find safety here, only for their last Sanctuary to fall.

Lio felt as if he were seeing into the forgotten past and the inevitable future. Was this what the beginning of the end looked like each time the Old Masters prepared to destroy the world again?

All these lives, wasted for the game. Their loved ones would grieve out their mortal years, while the necromancers continued their schemes, untouched.

Lio didn’t know the names of the fallen. He didn’t have room in his chest for all their pain. But he tried to memorize their faces as he searched. He had to do something for them, if only remember them for as much of eternity as he and Cassia survived.

Have you found anyone?she asked.

No. Have you?

Only more fallen knights.

Is Ben…?

I don’t know. I haven’t found him yet. That means there’s hope.

When Lio checked the next body, recognition jolted him. He would never forget how this young woman had smiled at him after he had soothed her fears with his thelemancy. Rudhira had helped her grandmother up from a fall.

Now the girl’s expression was blank of either joy or fear. She lay across the elder woman’s body, the young trying to shield the old, love trying to defy fate.

Lio searched through familiar faces now. He reached into every person with his magic, sending his own mind into their emptiness again and again.

Goddess, let even one be alive.

When he found two gray heads bent together, he sank to his knees on the ground. The elderly couple who had loved Miranda lay in each other’s arms with matching wounds. The same sword had run them both through.

Cassia wrapped him in their Union.Who is it?

I found the villagers from Mederi.

Oh, Lio. I’m so sorry.

We tried so hard to save them.

She had no answer for that. Neither did he. But they had each other. Grace Union was the cord of life that pulled him to his feet and gave him the strength to forge ahead.

When he found the little girl’s goat with its throat cut, he dug the heels of his hands into his eyes.I can’t find the children. I don’t see them anywhere.

We’ll keep looking,Cassia promised.

He took the goat in his arms and laid it next to the girl’s parents. Then he got up again and kept putting one foot in front of the other.

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