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She gasped. “I’m not Cassia Basilis anymore. I’m just Cassia now.”
Knight sniffed her, investigating her unfamiliar clothes, then sat on her feet.
She scratched his ears until his tail wagged. “No one shall lock you in a cage tonight, my brave Knight. Let’s wait on the front balcony for Lio. He said the sight of the harbor during the Festival of Grace is not to be missed.”
She tossed her bespelled silk cloak around herself and left her lodgings carrying nothing but his braid upon her ankle. It took her a few moments to navigate the unfamiliar halls of the New Guest House. Finally she and Knight padded through a wide, deserted sitting room, past a lute and vases of ferns. She pushed open double doors of glass and wrought iron and stepped out onto the front balcony.
Rose petals of every color swirled around Cassia on the cold sea wind. She reached out and let them flutter through her silk-gloved fingers. Tonight the Harbor Light shone crimson in the goddess’s hands, casting a glow like the Blood Moon’s upon the crowd below.
The street that ran in front of the guest houses was packed with celebrants. Hesperines in robes, mortals in cloaks and garments of every origin, people of every color and every age. All danced or strolled arm in arm along the docks. Couples slipped off into the dark alleys between the guest houses or idled together eating food out of their hands before groups of musicians. A cacophony of songs both familiar and new rose up to Cassia.
She could not stop her gaze from straying to where Rose House had stood. Festival planners had cast wards and veils over the unsafe ruin so that no one would venture inside and an illusory festival pavilion hid it from sight. Amid the beautiful noise of the festival, Cassia observed a moment of silence for Lio’s lost work of art, for their memories there, for everything the Collector had broken.
Motion in the crowd called her back to the festival. A figure with dark hair and strong shoulders rode through the celebrants upon a tall white horse with neither a saddle nor reins. She leaned out over the railing and watched her champion halt his steed below her balcony.
Lio’s robe of deep crimson, split in front to reveal loose trousers in the Imperial style, suited a world-traveling diplomat. But with his windblown hair and his unshaven face, he looked every bit the part of a Hesperine errant.
His gaze traveled over her, then traveled over her again. He gave her no flowery flattery, as a certain Tenebran lord had once done before a different dance. The effect the sight of Cassia had on Lio was written on his face. He looked half stunned, half delighted, and entirely as if he wished to eat her up.
Cassia grinned down at him, resolving to thank Kassandra again. “Only festival attire of true Orthros silk is worthy of tonight’s occasion.”
“It is worthy of your beauty.” Lio lifted his hand, and for the first time she noticed what he carried. A flower crown of their roses.
She put a hand to her mouth. “Oh, Lio. Thank you.”
He held his gift up to her in offering. “Will you join me in the Goddess’s eternal dance?”
“I shall have no other partner, and I shall never leave you to dance alone.”
He tossed the wreath up to her, and it came into her hands with the graceful precision of Hesperine levitation. He had removed all the thorns. The pain of autumn eased, becoming as distant as Solorum itself, and Cassia’s heart lifted. She looked at Lio, letting him see all the love in her eyes, and crowned herself in Hespera’s roses.
Then suddenly Lio was there with her on the balcony. He tucked a strand of her hair under the wreath, and she shivered, relishing his touch. He slid two fingers under her chin, lifting her face nearer his. His first kiss of the night was a gentle, heated promise.
She licked her lips. “You are extraordinarily well equipped to storm damsels’ balconies, my champion.”
“I promise only to use my powers for your good.” His voice was low and ardent and a little rough. His hand drifted down one line of embroidery on her robe, then paused to trace the petals of a cassia flower right over her heart. “Cassia. Seeing you dressed like this makes it seem real to me somehow.”
“It’s really happening, my love.”
He scooped her up in his arms. When he levitated them over the railing of the balcony, she couldn’t help laughing, too. He descended with her slowly. Before they made it to the ground, applause rose up from the crowd. They landed amid the congratulatory calls of the onlookers.
It was so easy to smile tonight. Cassia could not seem to stop. She gave her true smile to all the kind faces around them. She didn’t even know most of their names, but they all had the most important thing in common. They loved under Hespera’s gaze.
But the friendly faces at the very front of the crowd were all familiar and dear. Mak and Lyros called out loudest of all, and Nodora, Kia, and Xandra waved, hand-in-hand with their Imperial shares. Waving back at their friends, Cassia had seldom felt more honored.
Lyros gestured at Cassia’s attire. “Look at you, all dressed like a Hesperine ready to dance wildly under the moon.”
Kia grinned wickedly. “We have succeeded in corrupting her.”
Lio gave a dark laugh.
“Incoming.” Mak shooed the crowd back.
Knight made a great leap and landed among them. The onlookers suddenly gave them plenty of room, although Mak had stopped trying to direct them.
Lyros stared at Cassia’s hound. “Now we’ve seen for ourselves that liegehounds can indeed make jumps to snatch a levitating Hesperine out of the air.”
“But not this liegehound.” Cassia smiled. “You’ve succeeded in corrupting him, too.”
