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“Have you really never seen it before?” Kassandra asked.
Cassia shook her head. “How strange. The fire is not behind the sword’s hilt, and the sword isn’t pointing downward. The flame and the sword are flanking the sun.”
“The original royal arms of the Tenebrae, the Mage King’s own design.” Kassandra rolled it up with care and handed it to Cassia. “You will need it.”
Those words struck Cassia like nails in her coffin. She didn’t want it. She didn’t want to need it.
She never wanted to go back to Tenebra. Queen Soteira had promised her she could stay. How could Kassandra present her with this vision of her future? “I can’t accept this.”
“Your Ladyship,” Benedict broke in, “this is an honor beyond compare! No one could be a better bearer than you.”
“Take it, my lady,” said Perita. “It does you justice.”
“It does you proud, my lady,” Callen echoed.
“A fitting gift,” Lord Gaius agreed. “But your modesty befits you as well. A true lady of Tenebra, you are.”
All Cassia’s allies pushed her closer to the precipice, and she could not make herself reach out and take the gift.
“A relic of a dead age,” came Chrysanthos’s voice, “and a forbidden one. When the Mage King’s successors made the sacrifice for Anthros and gave up magic, they changed the coat of arms. The sword was repositioned to signal an end to conflict, the fire placed behind it to symbolize that the Orders back the King of Tenebra’s rule. The drawn sword and wielded flame as depicted here are forbidden to be flown anywhere the Orders prevail.”
Cassia rounded on him. “Excellent. I have no plans to visit Cordium. I shall display this proudly in Orthros and Tenebra.”
Orthros was what they made of it. So was this gift, Cassia decided. She wouldn’t fly it for Tenebra, but for peace, and to wipe that smile off of Chrysanthos’s face.
This was nothing like the coat of arms she had seen over Lucis’s desk in his solar her whole life. Here was no sword pointed downward in submission, no flame of the Orders looming behind. This banner showed the fire and sword held high for the cause of the Mage King, who had united Tenebra under his sun and let the Hesperines escape its rays.
Cassia took the banner from Kassandra, and every Tenebran on deck cheered.
“As a mage of Anthros,” Chrysanthos said, “I feel it is my responsibility to express my concern for you, Basilis. That banner may not be so kindly tolerated by others of my cult, once we are no longer in these far-flung parts.”
“A lady such as myself is well accustomed to the censure of small minds,” Cassia replied. “I must be brave and act according to the demands of my honor, no matter what opposition I face.”
DRAMATIC ALTERATIONS
Cassia watched one manlift another on his shoulders to hang the historical Tenebran banner over the front doors of Rose House. Applause filled the main hall. Cassia stomped and cheered with everyone else, while she lifted her gaze past the banner to Lio’s rose window. She knew what she was fighting for.
Lord Gaius gave the banner a warrior’s salute. “We’d best keep this here…out of the mages’ reach.”
“Certainly, Lord Gaius,” Cassia agreed. “All of you may consider Rose House a refuge.”
Eudias leaned in the shadow of a pillar away from the gathering, worrying his mysterious gift in his hands, but a hint of a smile crossed his face.
Lord Adrogan ran a hand over the silk Kassandra had given him. “I dare the mages to try to steal from me. I’m keeping this where I can see it.”
Lord Severin hoisted the bag of grain onto the sideboard. “As much as I want to take this home to my people, I think we’d best make porridge of it here, given the state of our provisions.” He looked around at everyone. “Are we all satisfied by now that Hesperine food won’t harm us?”
Master Gorgos peered at the grain and sniffed it.
“Oh, come now. I’ve eaten their food,” Lord Adrogan confessed. “Try to tell me I’m enchanted.”
“No one would make the mistake of believing that,” said Benedict.
“You ought to try their fare,” Lord Adrogan retorted. “It might sweeten your disposition.”
Cassia went to a wine rack that had remained untouched since the ceremony welcoming the embassy to Orthros. “What do you say? While the Honored Master and his colleague are settling into their new quarters, shall we drink to the loss of the fine Cordian wine?”
Laughter went up through the hall. Cassia broke out the cups.
