Page 58 of Blood Sanctuary, Part Two

Lio let out a breath of exclamation. The next thing he knew, his uncle closed the distance between them, pulled him to his feet and hugged him close.

Lio held on to his mentor. “I was so afraid I had lost you.”

At length, Uncle Argyros released him. “It takes more than a scandalous speech to deal me damage, Nephew. You might have told me the young lady was so important to you. I would have borne the shock. I can understand why you would confide in your friends and your parents first, of course. But I assure you, I too have the fortitude for the announcement.”

“I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you. My address before the Firstblood Circle was not how I wanted you to find out.”

Uncle Argyros sank back down onto his chair. “I wish I could have helped you prepare your proposal.”

Lio took his seat again, leaning forward over their coffee. “I should have trusted you. Please accept my apology for keeping the truth from you for so long.”

“No, do not apologize. Not for anything. This is not about my wishes. You have done the right thing, from start to finish. I wish I could have helped you, but I could not.Youhad to do this. Your way. Not ours. Not mine.”

Lio could feel that his uncle’s hurt remained. That open wound in the Union had not yet sealed. “Forgive me. I thought you wouldn’t consider such a dangerous scheme.”

“I wouldn’t. I would never have imagined it in my wildest dreams.”

His uncle’s stone expression was gone, and so was his veil. Lio beheld his uncle’s anger, anguish, and love.

“I have never been so disappointed in myself,” Uncle Argyros said. “I have robbed myself of taking part in what you have done this winter. I have let myself grow old.”

“That couldn’t be more untrue,” Lio protested. “You taught me everything I know.”

“On the contrary, your greatest triumph has come from doing the exact opposite of everything I taught you. No sooner had you made your address than I realized I must take my hands off your entire plan. As difficult as that has been.”

“I would have valued your involvement. I can’t count how many times I wished for it.”

“I would have run the risk of steering you in the wrong direction.”

Was this what Uncle Argyros had been thinking all this time? That he had…lost his touch? That his rudder was somehow not fit for this voyage?

Argyros doubted himself?

“You can’t mean that, Uncle.”

“Clearly, I have already misguided you somewhere along the way, at the very least about myself. I gave you the impression that I am so prone to disapproval, I would reprimand you for your genuine love for a worthy partner simply because it was against the rules. I come across as so heavy-handed that you believed I would interfere with her plans instead of appreciating them. I led you to believe I am reactionary enough to talk you out of what is clearly one of the most brilliant innovations in the history of Hesperine diplomacy. If this is how I seem to you, I have done something wrong. What is worse, I am not sure any of it is untrue.”

Lio had never known his uncle to have such a crisis as this. But then, until their journey to Tenebra, he had never heard his uncle express uncertainty about anything. “My intention in all of this was never to cast doubt on how I value your teachings, your opinion—your support. I meant what I said the night we all decided to stay and battle Dalos at the Summit. Do not imagine for a moment I love your teachings any less than I ever have…but think what else I have learned as your initiate. To that I must add, think what I have yet to learn.”

“The last time I attempted to share a life lesson with you, it was a complete disaster.”

Oh. One of the wounds that remained in the Blood Union was Lio’s own. “You are alluding to what you told me after Martyr’s Pass.”

“I thought it was time for you to learn the truth of what happened after my thelemancy saved my temple during the Last War. You outgrew the enthusiastic chronicles of my heroism very quickly that night and needed to understand the consequent tragedy. It seems, however, it was not what you needed to hear after all.”

“Uncle, youarea hero for taking control of the army’s minds and repelling them from your temple. It was not your fault they broke free afterward. You must never blame yourself for what they did to Aunt Lyta’s village. I’m glad she helped you see that, for I know no one else could convince you not to torture yourself these many years.”

“You defend your mentor to the last. Even though I hurt you when I revealed the truth.”

“I admit, that conversation still pains me. That does not change the fact that I am honored you confided in me.”

“I think I need to explain that I did not recount my most spectacular failure to you because I believed you had failed.”

“Why, then?” Lio shook his head. “At the gymnasium, what did the thorns on that rose mean?”

“That I was proud of you!”

“I took it to mean you approved of my self-control against Chrysanthos, because I had surpassed my previous lack of discipline at Martyr’s Pass.”

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