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Thank the Goddess he was still capable of Union with Cassia. His thelemancy fixed on her thoughts, the music in his utter silence, and he was home, in the embrace of her mind.
“Spend a moment in this memory of mine,” she said.
Lio felt soft ground under her knees and soil in her hands. Her back ached, and her limbs were weary, but a satisfied contentment filled her at the sight of the long rows of pea seedlings she had succeeded in planting. She was halfway there. She patted the soil down around the latest planting and straightened, stretching.
Together, they shut their eyes, relishing the warmth on her back. The gentle, sustaining heat seemed to sink into her bones and chase away the aches. She got to her feet and turned toward the warmth. Golden light shone beyond her eyelids.
Lio gasped and opened his eyes on stained glass and moonlight.
“That is a long afternoon in the garden,” Cassia said. “Hard work, but good work.”
“Is that what the sun feels like to you?”
“That’s part of gardening.”
Lio turned his head to look at her. “Do you…miss the sun, since you came to Orthros?”
She cuddled closer to him. “Not if you don’t miss my freckles.”
He studied her face. “They don’t look a bit fainter to me. My magic is working.”
“What?”
“The light spells I set up for our roses. They have the same effect on your freckles.”
She laughed aloud and kissed him. “See there. I don’t need the sun.”
He breathed a sigh of relief and found the strength to hold her mouth to his.
She eased her body over him. “But I will be your sun, if you need one, my Hesperine.”
“You are far better than a sun. You are my rose.”
She bared her throat over his fangs. Her essence flowed into him, warmer and more life-giving than any sun.
He would fight as many rounds as the mages demanded. He would take as many hits as necessary to teach the lords the meaning of peace. Lio would do whatever he must so Cassia could bloom forever in the light of Orthros, right here in his arms.
