Page 64 of Blood Feast

Denial burned through Cassia’s veins. This couldn’t be happening.

But it was. In that split instant, calculations clicked in her mind. If there was ever a time for one of her schemes, it was now. Their fates were in her hands.

Lio, I need you to trust me.

Cassia—

There isn’t time for debate. I have a plan. You and Lyros won’t like it, but you must go along with it for all our sakes.

I will do anything to protect you.

“What is the meaning of this?” Aunt Lyta’s voice was terribly calm.

“How did you find us?” Cassia responded with a question, although she thought she already knew the answer.

“It was rather hard to miss,” Aunt Lyta snapped. “We’re on the alert for responses from your roses so we can apprehend any enemies they snare. The magical disturbance here felt like the time they caught those heart hunters.” Her voice rose slightly. “I thought the enemy was inside the ward, and your spell had spread to stop them. When I followed a trail of black roses into the mountains, I never imagined…this.”

Cassia had been right. This was her fault. The horror in the pit of her stomach faded, and her thoughts grew colder, clearer. Allthat mattered now was protecting everyone she could from being implicated.

If only she could face this punishment alone. But it would take at least two of them to construct a tale Aunt Lyta would believe.

Mak took a step around the table, but Cassia held up a hand. “We owe your mother the truth. This is all my doing, and I will shoulder the full responsibility.”

“Wait—” Lyros began to protest.

“None of you can protect me now,” she interrupted him, Willing them to understand what she was up to. “Nor should you, after I dragged you all into this.”

No.Lio’s magic was a storm in his aura.Don’t you dare.

If you trust me, my Grace, you will let me see this through.

“This was my idea,” Cassia announced. “You know I’ve always been willing to do anything to protect Orthros. I thought bending the laws against weapons would be justified if it saved Hesperine lives.” Her throat tightened. It was easy to spin this lie because it felt so true. “But I realize it was a very Tenebran thing to do. I suppose I am not as Hesperine as I should be, after all.”

“Cassia.” Emotion broke through Aunt Lyta’s veils, and the hint of devastation there made Cassia’s immortal blood ache. “That doesn’t explain who crafted these weapons. You’re no smith, and that forge is hot.”

Aunt Lyta knew someone had been making weapons here. All Cassia could do was make it seem as if only one smith had been involved. She knew what Mak wanted. What they both had to do for their family and for Orthros.

“I found them,” Cassia blurted, “some ancient adamas weapons in the Hesperite shrine back in Tenebra. I brought them to Orthros along with the glyph stone. I thought they must have been made by the same ancient smith who forged the ones the Blood Errant found.” She turned to Mak. “Can you ever forgive me for showing them to you and asking your opinion?”

She waited, praying Mak would let her take this fall at his side so she could help him protect Nike. Cassia’s bond of gratitude with her Ritual mother demanded this. If Nike hadn’t saved Cassia’s life all those years ago, she wouldn’t have survived to stand here tonight, now an immortal.

Mak rounded the table and stood at her shoulder. “I don’t blame you, Cassia. It was my decision to get involved.”

“But if I had never brought them to you, you wouldn’t have gotten the idea to study them and learn how to forge adamas. I even encouraged you when you decided to set up our research in this old forge of Nike’s.”

“To violate a Sanctuary of hers and craft weapons here…I know how deeply I’ve betrayed her.”

Aunt Lyta’s eyes narrowed. “That’s why this place is covered in her wards, is it?”

Mak looked his mother in the eye. “I found this place while she was away. It’s one of the First Circle’s old bolt-holes, where she, Methu, and Rudhira used to escape their duties and work on their crafts. It makes her sad to come here now. So I borrowed it.”

Cassia could have hugged honest, direct Mak for rising to the occasion. That was a masterful series of truths amounting to a lie of omission. “Mak and I have been sneaking out here for months. Then after I saw what my roses could do, I wanted to try adding their power to the weapons.” She turned to Lio and Lyros. “We should have listened when you tried to stop us.”

“They have nothing to do with this,” Mak reinforced her.

“This is the first time they’ve set foot here,” Cassia said fiercely. “They’ve been trying to talk us out of it all along, and they followed us here tonight to try one more time to stop us…before it was too late.”

Mak was more composed than Cassia felt. “They only know about this because we couldn’t hide it from our Graces. Underthe laws of Orthros, Grace Union alone does not make a Hesperine an accessory to their partner’s crimes. No Hesperine is required to testify against their Grace about something they learn through that private Union. Lyros and Lio committed no wrong, and we put them in the unforgivable position of being unable to report us for our crimes.”

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