Page 73 of Blood Sanctuary, Part One

Lio gave Cassia’s hand a squeeze, then stepped out of sight. Cassia joined Komnena on the path, and they headed back toward the house. Someone made this pilgrimage to Methu often, judging by the fact that the snow had not piled up on this trail.

“You had a scare tonight,” said Komnena.

Yes, Cassia had. For a brief time, she had faced the thought of losing Lio, when she had only just gotten him back. She searched for words. “Everyone has been very sensitive to what I’ve felt tonight. Since you’re a mind healer, you would see me even more clearly.”

“I find that what I learn from the Blood Union and my magic is merely a starting point. The real insight comes from speaking. That’s how I do most of my work. No spells. Just talking with someone until we sort out what troubles them together.”

“I’ve come to think of honesty as a powerful kind of magic. I see where Lio learned so much of what he’s taught me.”

“Here in Orthros, my methods are still a matter of some controversy. A mind healer is expected to delve into wounded thoughts and tidy up. My colleagues wonder what mere talking can possibly accomplish. But I persist, because I see how well my patients respond to our conversations, and their well-being is what matters. In another eighty years, perhaps, our scholars will decide what you have already realized—the power of words.”

“If all your scholars are like Hypatia, it must take a long time for new thoughts to become accepted.”

“The Queens say that the worst enemy of Orthros is not Cordium, but our own stagnation. I am fortunate in Annassa Soteira’s partisanship of my methods.”

“It sounds like you enjoy your work.”

“I love it.” A gust of wind blew in from the sea, and Komnena faced it with a smile, letting it pull her braids out of their elaborate arrangement. “My work healed me.”

“Lio said you wouldn’t mind if I asked you more about how you came to be a Hesperine.”

“Not at all. What would you like to know?”

“Did you…ask Apollon to bring you to Orthros? Or did he ask you to return with him?”

Komnena shared a conspiratorial grin with Cassia. “He seduced me.”

“Your story always did sound very romantic, the way Lio tells it.”

“It was. My Hesperine descended into all the ugliness in my life and helped me find my way out. He seduced me with the promise of feeling safe for the first time in my life. With the first happiness I had felt in years.”

“I understand. Your human life was very difficult.”

“I was alone. Growing enough to eat on our barren little plot was impossible for one woman, especially a pregnant one. And I was always pregnant. My husband came home long enough for that, and little else.”

“Your neighbors were not eager to lend a hand, I take it?”

“I wasn’t beloved by many, because I wasn’t beloved by my family, and they influenced others.”

“From the farmhouse to the palace, families behave much the same,” Cassia said.

“My parents died when I was young, and my aunt and uncle took in my brother and me. My brother, Leo, was the best mortal man I ever knew. Everyone who met him could not help but love him, even our bitter relatives. And he deserved it. He had an affinity for healing, as it turned out, and the mages of Akesios recruited him. To this day, I’m grateful his magic gave him a way out of that life. But I admit, I felt his loss.”

“It must have cost you to do without him.”

“He had been my defender against the family. They never liked me. I was too unruly and proud. They regarded my dreams as arrogance. They kept me just to get work out of me, so I married to escape. They predicted everything I did would fail.” Komnena looked out to sea. “They were right about one thing. I was proud. But by the time Apollon met me, my pride and my hopes for a better life had worn away. I was ready to do anything to keep from starving during the winter and losing another babe. So I bargained with a Hesperine.”

“You asked Apollon for help?”

“Indeed. A mage was troubling our settlement. I knew what he was there for, and I didn’t want to be his next target.”

“I keep thinking about what you said to Chrysanthos at the welcoming ceremony. How did you help Apollon defeat a member of the Aithourian Circle?”

“I beheaded the mage with a meat cleaver in my kitchen.” Komnena wore her confession as gracefully as her silk robes.

A smile of admiration overtook Cassia. “I’m glad you made it clear to the Dexion that you’re a hero of the Blood Errant in your own right.”

“He would do well to remember how I taught his colleague the price of trying to take my child from me.”

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