Page 81 of Blood Sanctuary, Part One

Chrysanthos and his lot would be on the front lines and bear the brunt of Hypatia’s debate.

“I’ll be on the first row on the Hesperine side.” Xandra pointed across the divide. “I mustn’t let my eldest sister represent the royal family alone. Thinking caps ready, everyone?”

She crossed over to take up her post. That was one ally of the Summit on Hypatia and Konstantina’s side of the room.

“Where is the royal representative to sit, Ambassador?” Cassia asked.

“In the second row, along with some Hesperines who will remain on the embassy’s side to facilitate the discussion.” Lio showed her to her chair.

She settled in with Knight on her feet. “Excellent. I was hoping I could rely on your translations again tonight.”

“Certainly.” Lio took the chair beside her.

Benedict halted in his tracks and glanced from Lio to the chair on Cassia’s other side, which was occupied by a pile of Kia’s scrolls. But the man said nothing and stepped around to the next row to take the chair right behind Lio. Lovely. He would be breathing down Lio’s neck the entire night, literally.

Nodora sat down on the other side of Kia’s chair, and Perita and Callen took the seats behind Cassia. Initiates offered cups of coffee and fruit juice, compliments of Lio’s uncle, which the Tenebrans had to refuse.

Eudias turned in his seat to look back at Cassia and Lio. “How generous of our hosts to provide me with a seat in the front row. As an apprentice, I am uncertain I should be here, Ambassador.”

“I assure you,” Lio replied, “that chair is yours. Hypatia has invited all mages in the embassy to sit with her as peers. If you wish to speak, you need only extend your hand, palm-up, in the circle petition, the age-old gesture of scholars and mages engaging in debate among their equals.”

“Oh, yes. I know the circle petition…although we don’t use it much anymore.”

The Semna’s attendants seated her, and Ariadne ended up in the chair beside Eudias. Above her veil, her brown eyes smiled at her fellow apprentice, and not the way she smiled at everyone else. The young man did not appear to notice. Perhaps his vows of celibacy were welcome to him, or there was a lady or lad at home in Cordium for whom he reserved his heart.

Kia’s scrolls levitated. She landed in her seat, and the scrolls landed on her lap. Her eyes were flashing.

Nodora leaned forward. “What’s the matter?”

Kia cast a glance at Eudias, then took a deep breath, then put on a smile sharp enough to cut. “Honored Master Adelphos decided to peruse the shelves a moment longer. We discussed theNew Cosmology. He was kind enough to explain it to me in terms a child could understand.”

Eudias looked dismayed. “Sophia, does the Honored Master not realize your mother wrote it?”

Cassia’s eyebrows shot up. “Apprentice Eudias, are the works of Elder Firstblood Hypatia still read in your cult?”

“Well, of course, Basilis. Have you not heard of her?”

“Not until my time in Orthros.”

“She was one of the most dazzling lights of the ancient world. She began her career in Corona itself. Her works remain the seminal texts on many subjects.”

Kia let out her breath. “They are so fundamental to magical study, it would be impossible to ban them.”

“After a thorough examination of all her works by the Akron’s inquisitors,” Eudias explained, “it was decided that some portions of Hypatia’s texts were pure and faithful to the tenets of the Orders. Although I am afraid certain of her works were judged too…” He cleared his throat. “They reflected the changing times, which led to the unfortunate falling-out between our cults.”

“It’s all right, Apprentice Eudias,” Kia assured him. “You don’t have to apologize that your cult sanitized and censored my mother’s works and now continues to distribute them in mutilated form to young apprentices. That wasn’t your decision. I shall not apologize for the fact that she was utterly heretical. During her time in Hagia Notia and Hagia Anatela, anyway.”

At that moment, the legend in question made her grand entrance. With her olive skin and thick, artfully curled black hair, Hypatia would not have looked out of place among Cordian sophisticates of any epoch. She took a seat on the front row opposite the mages. At least her Grace was at her right hand. Khaldaios might buffer the helpless mortals from his beloved.

Next to him, Konstantina and Adwene took their seats, and the other Hesperine scholars filled the rows behind. Xandra’s attendance was a statement for peace, but her presence alone could not moderate the strong opinions closing ranks around Hypatia and Konstantina.

When Uncle Argyros sat down on Hypatia’s left, Lio breathed a sigh of relief. With Orthros’s greatest diplomat on the front row, the Summit would not end in disgrace tonight.

The circle began, and Lio ran the race of translating for Cassia. Within the first half hour, she glazed over in the eyes. Kia exchanged a sympathetic, amused glance with Lio. Hypatia could still best all her students at being a walking dictionary. Eudias, however, watched like a bright-faced boy cheering on his favorite athletes at the games.

When Phaedros’s name entered the discussion for the first time, both Lio and Kia tensed in their seats. He hesitated over his translation.

Cassia’s attention sharpened. “I beg your pardon, Ambassador? Who do the Hesperines say must answer for his crimes against sacred principles?”

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