Page 75 of Blood Feast

Mak didn’t move to retrieve his creations. So Lio took it upon himself. He found the weapons resting on the benches. Whatever spell Aunt Lyta had used to bind them must have worn off. Apparently she had thought the door would be secure enough.

Or had she suspected a fire mage bent on protecting her little sister could break it down?

Lio shook his head. No time to puzzle out the elders’ motivations. He tossed Mak, Lyros, and Cassia their weapons and scabbards. He slung his chain across his chest, and the metal grips attached to it settled between his shoulder blades. He levitated his staff onto his back and felt it lock into the enchanted holder.

The magic in Final Word murmured to him like a friend. A temptation. It felt good to have it on his back, this aberration that had caused them so much grief already.

What did that make him?

“We’ll get the Blood Shackles off you after we escape,” Lyros said. “We’d better run.”

Cassia cast a worried glance between her sister and Tendo, who now stood as far away from each other as the room allowed.

“Well, Sunburn,” Tendo said, “do you want to take a slow, mortal stroll to our escape ship, or will you let me carry you so you can keep up with the Hesperines?”

She crossed her arms over her chest, her lips pressed together.

“The avowal celebration isn’t over,” he said, “which means our truce still holds. We agreed we wouldn’t let our past affect Cassia.”

“That’s not all we agreed to. I will fly with you, but if you don’t keep your hands to yourself, I’ll burn them off.”

Tendo smirked. “And ifyoubreak that part of our truce? Shall I give you a little distance from temptation? I’m sure dropping you over Orthros would cool you off.”

“Say that again when I have time to answer in the arena,” she snarled.

Laughing, Tendo scooped her up and marched out the door. In a rush of wind, his magic lifted them, and he spread his wings to carry her into the night sky.

Lio and Cassia took off running after their Trial brothers. They sped across the fields, and Stewards’ Ward faded away in a blur of white. Then they darted through the back streets of the arts districts, where revelers were more interested in their own veiled trysts than prying into Lio’s spells. All the way, Cassia kept pace with him, fleet and powerful at his side.

Soon they hit the beaches beyond House Kitharos, and they raced lightly across, the sand barely giving under their feet. Lio and Lyros led their Graces to the two boats waiting just above the tide.

“Our Trial sisters are in on this too?” Cassia demanded.

“And the Ashes,” Lio said. “Lyros and I tried to keep everyone else out of it, but they wouldn’t stand for it.”

Cassia pressed her lips together in silent protest, but helped Lio push their boat out into the water alongside Mak andLyros’s. They leapt in, and the waves rippled with Nodora’s magic, tugging them out to sea.

The beach had receded into the distance when her veiled ship emerged from the darkness ahead. Her flute trilled above them. The waves crested beneath them and lifted the boats gently onto the deck. Lio got out and reached to help Cassia, but she had already leapt nimbly out. Knight ambushed her, the water on her clothes soaking into his fur.

Tendo came in for a graceful landing on the starboard side. Solia jumped out of his hold as if she’d been burned, straightening with great dignity. Judging by his cocky smile, the flight had not been a waste.

“Thank the Goddess none of you got caught.” Nodora ushered Cassia toward one of the benches under the awning.

Tuura was already waiting there with her medicine bag. “Who needs a poultice?”

Cassia sank down onto the seat. The anger drained from her aura, giving way to misery. “I’m so sorry I brought all of this on you.”

“So am I,” Mak said.

Kia hugged him tightly. “Stop it, you overprotective oaf. I, for one, am proud of you.” She sat him down next to Cassia and took the seat across from them. “Can I hold one of these weapons that have the elders’ underlinens in such a twist?”

Neither Mak nor Cassia hurried to display their weapons, and Lyros hesitated, too.

Metal whispered on metal as Lio levitated his staff out of its grips. He rested the end on the deck with a soft impact.

Kia circled it, her face bright with fascination. “May I?”

Lio offered the staff to her. “Cassia named it ‘Final Word.’”

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