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THE LION’S DEN
Geomagical warmth drifted upfrom the marble floors of House Komnena and filled the lofty, grand Ritual hall. An even warmer feeling came over Cassia at the sight of the comfortable chairs and the coffee table that stood around the mosaic Ritual circle in the center of the floor.
Lio’s mother lifted a dish of almonds from the table. “Have you had enough to eat tonight?”
Cassia smiled. Hesperines certainly took to heart their responsibility to keep their human guests well fed. “I had plenty at the banquet, thank you.”
Lio’s mother gathered her elaborate braids and the loose sections of her jet black hair and tied them away from her face with a simple ribbon. “I don’t usually work during veil hours, but these two returnees may need the immediate attention of a mind healer without even realizing it.”
The smooth, rich tones of her voice seemed to hold a soothing magic even when she wasn’t working. Cassia did not wonder why wounded minds followed the guidance of Komnena’s words out of their despair.
“I’m so glad they’re home,” Cassia said, “where they can receive the care they need.”
A kind smile graced Komnena’s elegant features, making the family resemblance between her and Lio even more apparent. “You are certain you do not need anything before I go?”
“I’ll be fine. Zoe and I will have a good time.”
“She’s with Apollon in his workshop. Let me show you the way.”
To hide her sudden apprehension, Cassia focused on Knight. “Dockk dockk.Time to see thekaetlii.”
With Knight wagging his tail beside her, Cassia followed Komnena into her study. Lio’s mother crossed the thick rugs and closed the stained glass door to the terrace, shutting out the cold. Her familiar, Anna, fluffed herself on her perch and continued to doze under the low spell lights. Knight cast a wary glance at the eagle, and Cassia rested her hand on her hound.
Komnena pulled back a silk drape across from her desk to reveal a doorway. She led Cassia into a larger room. Bookshelves and scroll racks peeked at them through the shadows, all the way to the ceiling.
“A library,” Cassia exclaimed. “Are there enough books and scrolls in the world to fill one so vast?”
Komnena sighed at the sparsely occupied shelves. “I’m afraid our collection is rather small compared to the other elder houses, to say nothing of the royal library. Lio and I are working diligently to catch up so our bloodline’s library will serve our tributaries as it ought. Apollon’s workshop is right through here.”
With a smile, Komnena pushed open a pair of doors and left Cassia alone to enter the patriarch’s domain.
Cassia smoothed the bracelet from Zoe on her wrist and stepped inside.
The Lion of Orthros’s den had a view of Zoe’s goat barn. The workshop was a bright, spacious chamber full of windows and spell light.
Cassia could not see anyone else from here. She would have to go in and look.
The big table covered in sketches and blueprints reminded her of Lio’s desk. Racks of tools, supplies, and carefully labeled mineral samples called to mind his bookcases.
Apollon was Lio’s father. She had no reason to hesitate to cross the threshold of this room.
But as she stepped inside, her knees trembled. She fisted her hands in her skirts. Her belly cramped.
She knew how to keep walking forward, even when everything in her rebelled at what she must face. But she had thought that in Orthros, she wouldn’t have to do that anymore.
This was nonsense. She should never feel this way in the first place.
She put a hand on Knight and made herself walk further into the room. The marble floor was smooth under her shoes. The air was pleasantly cool and smelled of stone. There were no weapons and martial banners on the walls, only a creator’s tools and maps of Selas.
One step at a time, Cassia approached the table. It didn’t face the door. She found herself standing next to an artist’s stool. She reached out a hand, then curled it back, then reached again. She brushed her fingers over a blank corner of the half-finished sketch he was working on. Right now, the figure there was only an outline, a vaguely feminine shape with a hint of long hair. She was on her knees.
Cassia snatched her hand back and hastened away from the desk. She stopped short in front of a red marble statue that dominated the center of the room. The work appeared to be a self-portrait of Apollon with his eyes closed, an expression of the purest contentment on his face. He stood behind a stone tribute to Komnena with his arms around her, and together they held her heavily pregnant belly. With one eye of white marble and one of red, Komnena’s statue smiled down at their unborn son.
“Have you ever heard the story of the first goats?” came Apollon’s voice from further in the room.
“The very first goats ever?” Zoe asked. “No, Bosko’s grandmama never told us that one.”
“It’s part of the story of the first people. Our elders have always told it, and our mages wrote it down. People and goats have been together a long time.”
