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At last Master Gorgos was done describing fruits that appeared succulent and tempting on the outside but were filled with worms on the inside that would rot your gut and your soul. When Cassia saw Lio roll his eyes, she struggled not to laugh. Several lords and mages disguised sighs of relief behind coughs and murmurs of agreement. Callen had scarfed down his rations in record time, but Perita gave him her unfinished stew.
Chrysanthos said in summary, “My colleague has, at such descriptive and vivid length, emphasized a truth we can all agree upon. Everyone here wants to make it home.”
That roused adamant murmurs from all present.
“Our goal is the same,” the Dexion told them. “I hope you all recognize that I am well prepared to help you achieve it. Allow me to demonstrate my commitment as we go over the Summit itinerary the Hesperines have provided us.”
He lifted a hand, and Tychon went around the room handing out rolled documents that were tied with silver-and-white silk cord. The Dexion’s apprentice might be a scroll-pusher who licked his master’s boots until they shone, but he was also training as a war mage. Although serving as a magical channel between the Dexion and his vessel hindered Tychon’s spells, the apprentice’s warlike build suggested he took Anthros’s ideals of manhood to heart and knew how to use his fists, too.
Before Tychon reached her, Cassia turned in her chair to speak to Callen and Perita. “Didn’t we receive our own copy of the itinerary?”
“Yes, my lady.” Callen hesitated, then reached behind his back and pulled a scroll out of his belt. “One of the initiates brought it while Eudias and I were waiting in the hall, but I thought there might be some mistake. You wouldn’t think they’d run out of that fancy cord for the royal representative’s copy.”
Cassia took the scroll and tried not to look Lio’s way. Her copy was secured with a silk bracelet embroidered with dancing goats. She tucked the token from Zoe into her belt pouch, resolving to wear it when she finally got to spend time with Lio’s little sister during veil hours.
Cassia unrolled the itinerary and saw it was written in parallel Vulgus and Divine. What a wonderful opportunity for her to figure out Divine words based on the Vulgus she knew. Her only regret was that the dictionary Lio’s mother had given her must remain hidden at House Komnena.
“Now,” said the Dexion, “if you will all look with me at the first night on the itinerary.”
While all the mages in the room, male and female, studied the Divine text, the lords and knights fiddled with the scrolls, their gazes wandering. Only Benedict read the itinerary with concentration.
Cassia spoke up. “I must confess, my lords, I am a painfully slow reader. Of course I lack the refined education in the Divine Tongue allowed only to mages, as befits the servants of the gods. However, I do have some ability to read our own vulgar tongue and would gladly serve you and improve myself by acting as your reader. Allow me to impart the Vulgus portions of the itinerary to you.”
Chrysanthos looked up from his scroll, his expression affronted. “With all due respect, Basilis, I do not believe the lords of Tenebra need a girl to read anything for them.”
“Thank you, Lady Cassia,” said Lord Gaius. Free Lord Hadrian’s representative in the embassy was as gray-haired and plain-speaking as his liege. Not to be outdone by Segetia, he wore a surcoat emblazoned with the arms of Hadria, a fortress on a blue shield. “Not everyone here comes from a learned household. Most of us are men of the sword, not the scroll.”
Chrysanthos covered his surprise with one of his supercilious smiles. “I’m sure those who do come from learned households will be happy to oblige and spare the females of our party the burden.”
Benedict cleared his throat. “I believe I am the only man here who needed to learn both sword work and reading to fulfill his duties. As the royal representative, Her Ladyship is more qualified than I to read the itinerary.”
At last Chrysanthos must have caught on, for his smile turned snide. Did he think himself, the son of a Cordian princess, too highborn to be surrounded by illiterate warlords and the king’s bastard girl child?
This girl child out-warred the lords and outsmarted the king. Reading wasn’t all Solia had taught her. “Royal representative though I may be in these extraordinary circumstances, I am in no way royal. And yet I was blessed to be mothered by a princess. Although our years together were short, my elder sister, in her generosity, gave me a court education.”
Many of the Tenebrans murmured respectful invocations, and one of the Cheran mages signed a blessing for the dead.
Chrysanthos went back to his wine. “Let us begin. We enter the most treacherous territory of all tonight, but heed my council, and we will navigate successfully.”
Cassia smiled at the Dexion. “We appreciate your eagerness to serve our best interests, Honored Master, but I cannot imagine the terrain here could possibly be more dangerous than the pass, where some of us were surprised by an avalanche. We managed to make it out safely.”
Cassia could tell by the seemingly relaxed hand the Dexion wrapped around his goblet that she had gone as far as she could. But not too far. Just far enough. The free lords were looking not at Chrysanthos, but at her with expectant expressions.
“What is tonight’s order of events?” Lord Severinus was the first to ask.
Cassia knew the events in the pass were fresh in the mind of the young, pale-haired lord. He had nearly died in the avalanche at the hands of the heart hunters who served his own father—whom Cassia’s father had hired. She and Lord Severin had quite the common ground.
She cleared her throat. “Tonight at fifth moon, the Hesperines will officially introduce us to their royal family, which marks the beginning of the Summit proper.”
“The Hesperines have a strange way of telling time,” one of the older lords grumbled. “Why can’t they just refer to dawn and dusk like normal folk?”
“Polar night must require them to be creative,” Cassia suggested. “I believe fifth moon is our midnight, and Hesperines divide the months not into fortnights, as we do, but into weeks.”
“What’s a week?” the lord asked.
Cassia pretended to study the itinerary, as if she had not already had a lesson in the Hesperine clock and calendar. “A period of eight nights, it seems. According to the schedule, for the first week of the Summit, we are the guests of honor at a royal celebration at House Annassa, the Queens’ home. Each of the following three weeks will be devoted to one of the major areas of Hesperine life: magic, craft, and service. Then there will be several nights reserved for negotiations. Finally, the fourth area of Hesperine life, Ritual, will be represented by the ten nights of the Winter Solstice festival.”
Benedict visibly braced himself. “We’re to spend this entire week with the Queens of Orthros themselves?”
