Page 114 of Blood Sanctuary, Part One

“Your duty,” said Lord Gaius, “is to keep this embassy safe, and your privilege is to represent Tenebra. Do you forget where your loyalties are supposed to lie?”

Chrysanthos’s hands fisted on the desk. “Do you forget to whom you are speaking?”

“What authority do you have here?” Lord Gaius challenged.

“Let him play with dolls,” Cassia declared. “Let him leave the real work of the Summit to those of us who know our duty.”

With that, she turned on her heel and swept out of the room. Despite her wobbly knees, she achieved a graceful and dramatic departure. Lio never left her side.

She must not lean on the wall of the corridor. Someone would notice. If only she could reach out and take Lio’s arm. He felt awfully far away. For that matter, the carpet felt farther and farther away. Cassia’s eyelids drooped.

Spell lights and metal sconces danced and intertwined on her vision, as if Lio were crafting a glass window before her very eyes. But the heavy fog over her mind obscured his working.

She reached for a decorative table right under her hand and discovered it was out of reach. Her knees buckled. She clutched at Knight as she went down, but then his fur slipped through her fingers.

Her mind fixed on only one fact. She had lost control. She clung to her anger to keep the fear at bay, but then she lost the strength to cling to anything.

THE SICKROOM

Cassia opened her eyes.She peered up through dust motes and wan shreds of sunlight at the gray stone ceiling over her. She recognized every rock, seam, and groove, although she had not seen them since she was fourteen. She had spent hours staring up at that ceiling, too sick to get out of bed, while her garden outside died from neglect and she wondered if she would follow.

No. No, this couldn’t be happening.

Her gaze darted around her. Small windows. Casements shut tight. No light. No air. No way out.

No. She could not be back in Tenebra.

Knight wasn’t with her. She couldn’t feel the glyph shard around her neck. She was alone. Defenseless. Just like Martyr’s Pass. Just like when she was fourteen.

Cassia made to spring off the bed. She couldn’t move her legs. The blankets bound her. She stared at herself. No, not blankets. Straps. She strained against the bonds. Leather cuffs jerked at her wrists.

Cassia let out a howl of rage.

Orthros. Lio.

What had the mages done? How had they taken her away?

“Don’t cry, child. You’re not out of my reach.”

The beauty of that voice defied the sickroom.

“Annassa Soteira?” Cassia gasped.

She took Cassia’s hand. “I’m right here. All of us are right here. Just look around you.”

Holding fast to the Annassa’s hand, Cassia turned her head. Queen Soteira sat on the edge of the bed, as if the night sky had descended into this little, squalid chamber. Behind her, the door of the room hung off its hinges. In the doorway stood a short figure with a long curtain of white hair.

“Annassa Alea,” Cassia cried.

“She will make sure no one disturbs us,” said Queen Soteira.

Beyond the door, a crowd of people struggled and shouldered and shouted to get through to Cassia. She spotted her old nurse, the crone who had pretended to comfort her the night Solia had died. There was the king’s old healer, holding up a jar of leeches and extolling his qualifications. Perita shoved past him, her face streaked with tears. Callen was right behind her. Lord Gaius and Benedict were locked in a scuffle, too busy wrestling one another to get near the door. The Semna and her attendants stood on the threshold in grim conference. But none could get past Queen Alea.

“This can’t be,” Cassia said. “My nurse succumbed to old age just as I recovered from my illness. The king replaced his old healer that year with a new mage from the Order of Akesios. I didn’t even know Perita then. The Semna wasn’t there. But Knight was. He never left my side. Where is he now?”

“Do not be afraid. You are not alone.”

Cassia looked from the sunlight creeping through the casements to the Hesperine Queen who was her lifeline.

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