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“And so it was,” said Kia, “that although the Blood Errant had dwindled to two, they stole out of Orthros together once more, before their families could detain them with any more pleas. But Argyros and Lyta went looking for them to try once more to persuade Nike to come home.”
A smile came to Lyros’s face. “They didn’t find her, but they did find my Mak. They realized they had a different priority than talking their adult daughter out of her choices. Their new son needed them to help him heal and grow up strong. So they came home with Mak, not knowing where Nike and Rudhira had gone.”
“I could have told them,” Kia said. “The Blood Errant’s quest had led into the armpit of Tenebra once more.”
Nodora chuckled at her Trial sister. “They didn’t actually rescue Kia. She had already rescued herself.”
“My village was frightened of me. I suppose it seemed unnatural for a tiny child to have such intelligence. Of course they concluded I was possessed. They tried to expose me three times, devising ever more elaborate traps to keep me in the woods until the wolves came, but I always managed to find a way out. Every time I wandered back home, the villagers were more alarmed. It’s quite amusing, really. A whole settlement of adults beside themselves with fear over a little girl. In any case, the fourth time they tried to get rid of me, I decided not to go back. I set off through the forest in the opposite direction and ran into Rudhira and Nike on my way.”
“As for me,” said Lyros, “I have Basir and Kumeta to thank. They were gathering information about Methu’s captors when they encountered me on the streets of Namenti. See, Cassia?” He took her hand, holding their olive-skinned palms side by side, then gestured to his green eyes and dark hair. “I’m probably a bastard of both Cordian and Tenebran descent, like you. We can’t guess much more about my past on my own in the largest border city. That all came to an end when I tried to pick a Hesperine’s pocket. Imagine my terror when Basir caught me red-handed—and my surprise when he and Kumeta had mercy on a little urchin and brought me home.” Lyros grinned. “Someone important was waiting for me here in Orthros, although we were both too young to know it.”
“You have already heard Xandra tell her story,” said Nodora.
“The mage Rudhira killed to save her was the last,” Kia finished. “Her brother brought her back to Orthros. Soon after, he formed the Charge.”
“Nike did not return with them or join the Charge?” Cassia asked.
Lyros shook his head. “She stayed Abroad alone.”
Cassia hazarded a guess. “I have noticed Lio’s uncle is quite cold to the prince. Does he blame Rudhira for Nike’s disappearance?”
“I’m afraid so,” Lyros confirmed. “As if it does not grieve Rudhira just as much.”
“He still goes by the name Methu gave him,” said Kia, “Rudhira, which means ‘blood red’ in the language spoken by Kassandra’s father’s people.”
“It is hardly my place to say,” Cassia replied, “but Argyros’s grudge seems an injustice to both the prince and Nike. After losing someone you love in such a way, you cannot simply go back to life as it was. You must do something about it. Make it matter.”
“You understand.” Nodora’s voice was gentle.
“What about you, Nodora?” Cassia asked. “How did Methu’s destiny bring you to Orthros from the Archipelagos all those years later?”
“Prometheus’s legend is known across the Empire and even made it into our songs as far away as the Archipelagos. I should leave it up to Kassandra to speak of her life as a human. I will say only that she came to Orthros so she and her unborn son could escape a dynastic conflict. Centuries later, when my family faced similar troubles, we seized upon the hope offered by their story. We set sail for Orthros, the only place that provides refuge to, shall we say, politically significant figures who would be unsafe in any human land, where intrigue might erupt around them once more.”
Kia put an arm around her friend. “I’ll tell her the rest, if you need me to.”
“No, that’s all right. I want to be brave when speaking of my pain.”
“If only two of you are here,” Cassia said gently, “your losses must have been terrible.”
Nodora nodded. “My mother was the captain. Her ship was all the home and family I had ever known. But we weren’t prepared for the Notian seas. The weather…the ice… We wrecked upon the coast of Orthros Notou. Only two of us made it out alive—Matsu, who is my Ritual mother, and me.”
“I am so sorry. I know what it feels like to lose everything in one stroke.”
“Thank you, Cassia. It took me a long time to come to terms with what I lost. I will be the first to admit my transition into Hesperine life was an ungraceful one. But with a great deal of love and support, I eventually realized how fortunate I am. I consider it no dishonor to my human parents that I also regard my Hesperine fathers, Kitharos and Dakarai, as my parents in every way. This was what my mortal mother wanted for me, and what my mortal father would have wanted, had he survived to escape with us. Like Methu, my human family died so others could live.”
“It’s difficult.” Cassia paused. “To live with so much gratitude to those who made you who you are. It’s hard to know how to honor them.”
“You understand,” Nodora said again, with a nod.
At last Cassia found it in herself to look up at Prometheus again. He towered over them, powerful and joyous. His loss was the shadow under which all of these young Hesperines lived. But none more than Lio. The last surviving bloodborn in all of Orthros.
She’d had no doubt this was one of Lio’s father’s works, but Prometheus’s eyes confirmed it. One was a bolt of red, the other white moonstone. “So this is Apollon’s tribute to his fallen Ritual son.”
Lyros nodded. “When my sister Laskara approached Methu’s mother about a memorial for Bloodborn’s Path, Kassandra wouldn’t hear of it. Laskara didn’t dare speak to her for a year afterward.”
“You see…” Nodora sighed. “Kassandra believes Methu was captured, but not killed. She feels certain he is coming back.”
Lyros gestured along the cliff. “There’s a statue of Nike just north of here, at Victory Point. That’s why Kassandra felt all right about it when Apollon offered to sculpt Methu and put the work at House Komnena. He promised her it wasn’t a memorial, just a portrait.”
