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“I don’t know what came over me,” she whispered.
“The same thing that came over me.”
“Is there a word for it in Divine? For I know none in Vulgus.”
“You know the word.” But he did not say the one he was thinking. “Good, isn’t it?”
She groaned in agreement. “So good.”
SWALLOWED BY THE SUN
The goblet had tobe somewhere in the common room. Lio drifted about the deserted chamber. The air stank of the cured meat with which the Tenebrans had filled their hollow bellies upon returning from the Queens’ banquet. The oversweet perfume of Chrysanthos’s favorite wine lingered from earlier that night. But Lio caught no whiff of alchemy, and no hint of necromancy wormed across his senses.
He paused at the sideboard before a stack of dishes. Most had undergone a hasty scrub with a rag and still reeked of stale rations. But one goblet was spotless and redolent of vinegar and purging spells.
Lio let out a hiss. No amount of cleaning could erase the imprint of Cassia’s fear and Skleros’s sadistic gloating. The arcane scent of their opposing auras clung to the goblet. It was definitely the one. He should turn it over to the Charge, who would know how to handle it safely.
Lio went out into the courtyard, sensing about him for the nearest Hesperine aura. Another’s questing awareness met his in the Union.
“Rudhira,” Lio said in surprise. “I’m glad you’re here.”
His Ritual father manifested before him. Rudhira’s famous blood-red hair was escaping his long braid, and there was mud on his Tenebran riding boots. His steel-gray eyes softened, and a smile relieved the grim expression on his pale, hawkish face. “Well met, Lio.”
“I didn’t know you would be back in Selas again so soon.” Lio embraced him.
Rudhira clapped Lio on the back as he released him. “I just escorted two returnees home.”
“You found two of our missing Hesperines errant?”
“They are with their families as we speak. For the first time in eight years.”
“Goddess bless. Orthros needed that tonight.”
“I only wish they were more than two.”
“You will find the others.”
Rudhira hesitated. “This is a difficult time Abroad. Worse than I have seen it since—in a long time.”
“For you to say that, Rudhira, I know it must be.”
“Seven Hesperines errant. Gone. We were right on their trails, and then they disappeared.”
“They must have gone into hiding to avoid the Cordians. You sent out the warning that Chrysanthos’s war circle is in Tenebra.”
“I don’t mean they went underground. I mean Kalos reports that sometime between the Spring and Autumn Equinoxes, they disappeared.”
Lio fell silent. If the Charge’s best scout could not find the trail, there was no trail.
Rudhira’s gaze became distant, as if he were staring at something far beyond the safety of Selas. “All of us Abroad expect to bear the brunt of the mages’ forays, but this? It’s like the sun swallowed them whole. No last stand. No Mercy.”
“Alkaios?” Lio asked.
“No,” Rudhira answered, “he was not among the seven who recently disappeared. I still have a scout following the traces of his path.”
“Cassia will be so relieved to hear that.”
“I know how difficult it is for her to wonder if she will see the Hesperines she met in her childhood ever again. She bears it well, not knowing the fate of those who saved her life and gave the Mercy to her sister. Unanswered questions can be worse than bad news.”
