Page 96 of Blood Feast

“And still denying how serious your wound was,” Cassia said crisply, “which is why I’m asking Mak.”

“I think they’re safe to step.” Mak gave Lyros a stern look. “But no unnecessary exertion.”

“Belly wounds aren’t as serious for us as heart wounds.” Lyros lifted his hands to ward off Mak’s scolding. “But I’ll save my strength for our next battle.”

Cassia pushed her hair out of her eyes, then appeared to notice the blood on her hands. She scrubbed them in the stream. She seemed tired. The sort of tired that could affect immortals, a weariness of spirit.

Lio didn’t want that for her. “That was more than enough violence for one night. We need to find another refuge and recover until tomorrow.”

Lyros nodded. “We won’t survive four Gift Collectors again without time to prepare. Now that we know they’re hunting us in groups, we need to rethink our tactics.”

“Four!” Mak said. “One is deadly enough, but we get a party offour.”

“I can scarcely believe it,” Lyros said. “They’re usually at each other’s throats too much to cooperate like that. It seems the Collector isn’t taking any chances against the four of us.”

“But we still managed to take his Overseers by surprise,” Lio said.

Cassia’s hand came to rest on Rosethorn. “We won’t have that advantage again. The Collector is always in the minds of his Overseers. He knows what we can do, now.”

Lio was silent, unwilling to confirm her fears. But he knew she was right.

The next battle against Kallikrates would be harder.

THE MOURNING CIRCLE

A growl from Knightmade Lio fumble for his fading veil spells. The hound faced the way they had come, leaning forward, his whole body alert.

Mak and Lyros already had their wards up. Lio levitated to his feet and summoned his staff to hand, pushing through a wave of dizziness and the weakness in his limbs.

With her fangs and dagger out, Cassia moved in front of him, a small, vicious obstacle between him and unnamed danger. Goddess, she was beautiful. Every protective instinct in him demanded he pull her behind him where she would be safe.

But if he kept treating her like a mortal, that wouldn’t encourage her to embrace her immortal power. He moved forward and stood at her side.

Knight let out a fretful whine, then barked.

“I think someone is following us,” Cassia said.

Lio cast veiled thelemancy across the moor. “I can’t get a sense of them.”

Mak fingered his morning star. “Anyone who can hide from your mind magic isn’t to be trifled with.”

“I don’t like this,” Lio said. “If they’re Gift Collectors, why aren’t they attacking?”

“Whoever they are,” Lyros said, “we’ve drawn them out here where they can’t harm any mortals. Now we should get to Segetia and look for shelter there. Cassia, do you remember a location we can use as a stepping focus?”

She nodded and shut her eyes. Her senses opened for Lio, letting him deeper into their Union.

She envisioned a road in her mind’s eye. He sensed her past emotions tied to that place. She had traveled through there with the king’s entourage on the way to the Solstice Summit, where she hoped she would meet a Hesperine.

That memory of her journey to him made a powerful focus. They stepped from Hadria’s harsh landscape to a road bordered by Segetia’s gentle fields.

As they picked up their belongings and mounted again, Knight sniffed their surroundings, pausing over refuse left behind by whoever had ridden here during the day. But few dared travel the roads of Tenebra at night in wartime, except Hesperines.

“This is King’s Road, which runs all the way from Namenti to Solorum.” Cassia pointed not far into the distance, where moonlight gleamed on water. “That’s where the Silvistra and Cerera Rivers meet.”

“So the knights will almost certainly have to bring the evacuees along here,” Mak said.

Cassia turned Freckles. “We should be able to intercept them.”

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