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Mak and Lyros haltedthe embassy at the front doors of the New Guest House. A bastion of soft shadow behind them revealed their Hesperine warding magic at work. The unruly men crowded behind Cassia, but with Knight’s help, she kept her position at the head of the pack.
“Stewards, what has happened?” she asked.
Despite Mak’s stern expression, a hint of amusement flashed in his eyes. “We have the situation well in hand.”
Lyros stood with his arms crossed. “We cannot allow any of you to enter the building until we ensure it is once more safe for mortals.”
Chrysanthos finally managed to join Cassia at the front of the throng. Skleros was the beast at his side who caused the other men to make way.
“I demand to know why we are locked out of our own quarters,” Chrysanthos said.
“You may thank your comrade.” Lyros leveled a glare at Skleros. “Your resident alchemist failed to properly extinguish his smoke.”
“In one of my father’s coffee cups,” Mak added. “Now I have to explain this to him and to my uncle, whose guest house you nearly burned down.”
“Half your wing went up in flames before we could contain the”—Lyros cleared his throat—“accident.”
“Was anyone hurt?” Cassia asked. A few puffs of one smoke had felled her. Now all the Gift Collector’s herbs had gone up in a bonfire. What if there was a medicine-turned-malady that could harm Hesperines?
“There were no casualties,” Mak assured her. “Thank you for your concern, Lady Cassia.”
“Orthros’s defenders are experts at dealing with hostile fire.” Lio emerged from the guest house and walked through his Trial brothers’ ward to join them at the top of the steps.
Cassia breathed again. “Ambassador, I cannot express my relief that we have not injured you, our hosts.”
He met her gaze, his own intense. “I am only grateful you, our guests, are safe and sound.”
There were politic murmurs of relief all around her. She could almost taste the lords’ fear of what the Hesperine retaliation might be should the mages go so far as to incite violence.
Mak loomed over Skleros. “Surrender any other smokes, tinderboxes, or alchemical materials you are carrying on your person.”
Skleros planted his boot on the next step up. “I will surrender nothing. Accuse me of the worst deeds you can imagine. I have committed them all. But one thing I am not is careless. I have never made such a thoughtless error as letting a smoke set fire to a building on accident.”
“Master Skleros,” Lio replied, “if you wish to propose any other possible explanation for a fire in the middle of a Hesperine city, please do.”
“It is the Stand who confiscated my tinderbox,” Skleros retorted. “Explain yourselves.”
Lio gave an unperturbed laugh. “Hesperines, use a tinderbox? Goddess have Mercy, even mundane fire strikes terror in our hearts.”
“Your princess seems comfortable enough with fire,” Chrysanthos said.
Lio’s amusement vanished, and Mak and Lyros bristled.
Lyros warned, “The Stand will do whatever is necessary to defend the royal family.”
“That means their honor, as well as their safety,” Mak added.
“Princess Alexandra is in the guest house as we speak,” Lio said. “It is she who has put out the blaze and done her best to save as many of your possessions from destruction as she can. You are fortunate to have the aid of the only Hesperine in our history with an affinity for fire.”
“Then we owe her our thanks,” Cassia spoke up. “How much was destroyed in the fire?”
“I am glad to report we succeeded in preventing the fire from spreading beyond the mages’ wing,” Lio replied. “Unfortunately, the chambers of Honored Master Adelphos, Master Skleros, and Apprentice Tychon were completely consumed. Apprentice Eudias’s rooms escaped damage, being nearer to the gallery to facilitate his role as your arcane bodyguard. The common room and the lords and knights’ lodgings were unaffected.”
Eudias stood on tiptoe and leaned around Tychon’s bulk. “Stewards, my affinity for water could be of some service in extinguishing the blaze, if you would allow me.”
Lio bowed again. “Thank you. We sincerely appreciate your eagerness to assist. However, Muse Menodora is already within, using her water magic in partnership with Princess Alexandra’s fire magic.”
Chrysanthos’s face was flushed. “This is an outrage. You expect us to tolerate the loss of the precious few belongings we were able to bring with us all the way to Orthros, then listen to your accusations that we are to blame for the damage? You treat my colleague like a criminal?”
