Page 86 of Blood Sanctuary, Part Two

“Well, if he bewitched you, how would you know? I had to be sure. And there I was with a pouch full of every remedy my grandmother ever taught me to expose and banish curses, compliments of Ambassador Toothy’s own Ritual mother.”

“That’s what Kassandra gave you?”

Perita nodded. “A kit of all the substances that resist Hesperine magic. She couldn’t have possibly tampered with them. So I did what I had to do.”

“Is that why you made new bath salts for me?”

“That mix of minerals will turn the water red as blood when it touches the skin of someone touched by Hespera. But if you aren’t cursed, the water stays clear. Imagine my relief when you showed no symptoms of being under the thrall of wicked magic!”

“You need not have feared for me. Free Will is sacred to Hesperines, and Lio means every word he says about his reverence for human life. He would never abuse me so.”

“It wasn’t until the night your betrothal was official that I got really worried. I finally had to admit to myself it wasn’t just on his side, and your owl might not be a Tenebran bird at all.”

“That’s the beauty of him. He’s not one of the hawks.”

“Hmph. The stars in your eyes would thaw even your heart toward philosophy, I dare say. That’s why I’ve put enough faith in my grandmother’s wisdom for both of us. Her concoctions are as old as the Lustra and probably have leftovers of its magic in them. They’ve satisfied me he’s neither magicking you nor forcing you. If only they could satisfy me why my lady’s only champion is a fanged heretic.”

Perita’s protests did not fool Cassia, not after all they had been through together. She could hear the real despair under her friend’s words.

Cassia offered the best reassurance she could. “He loves me.Me, just as I am. I could ask for no finer champion.”

“But what can he offer you? A frozen wasteland!”

“Lio’s residence is a finer home than any lady could ask for. I will want for nothing there.”

“I suppose his family is quite important,” Perita conceded. “Status is one thing he can give you. Luxury doesn’t hurt, either. But that’s just cold marble and glass. None of that is what makes a home or helps a man’s wife feel welcome among his kin.”

“Perita, Lio has a sister. She’s only seven.”

Perita faltered. “The very age you were when you lost Her Highness.”

“Yes, and this little girl has suffered a great deal, just as I did. She needs me.”

Perita frowned, looking down at her hem.

“Their parents are so kind,” Cassia went on. “I’ve never had parents, not really. They’re thrilled to have another daughter in the family.”

“His mother isn’t the sort who will lord it over you, is she, and treat you like her precious boy’s servant?”

Cassia couldn’t help laughing. “Far from it! Do you know, she is helping me learn Divine, and she has given me her entire garden to do with as I will, down to the last twig. It’s enormous. It will take me the rest of eternity to weed it.”

Her friend paled. “As for that, I do my best not to dwell on what Hypnos has in store, but…”

“Yes, Perita. I do intend to become a Hesperine. Do not fear for the fate of my spirit. You have come to know the Hesperine spirit well in our time here, I hope.”

There came a hiccup in her friend’s throat. “I did think Callen and I would see you on the other side. We’d have followed you to Anthros’s Hall.”

Cassia swallowed hard. “I was never bound for there anyway, and you need nothing more than your own bravery and honor to win you your place there.”

Perita wrapped her arms around Cassia, and they held each other. Cassia felt no shame in their weeping. Parting from such a friend as Perita was worthy of a lady’s tears and a warrior’s elegy.

SOLSTICE RITUAL

Cassia stood under therose window and shut her eyes, listening to the bells ring midnight. As many times as she had heard their beautiful tones, none were so glorious as those that announced Solstice Ritual.

Deep peals invited her down into Hespera’s sacred darkness. High chimes seemed to bear her aloft, carrying her up into the gleam of the Harbor Light that shone crimson through the petals of Hespera’s Rose.

The bells fell quiet. Cassia held her breath and listened for something even more beautiful, the Queens’ magic. When they had called their people home upon Spring Equinox, their spell had awoken Cassia from a sound sleep as far away as Solorum. Standing here in Selas on Winter Solstice, she would surely feel them sharing their power among their people. If Cassia had magic, as everyone seemed to think, that must enable her to sense the Ritual.

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