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“Thank you. Yes they are.” Cassia blushed. “I understand the children are staying here tonight. Will you miss much of the festivities, after working so hard to help prepare them?”
“We have arranged everything so our students and tributaries will have no trouble carrying off the event. The initiates especially like to have their chance to shine. As for us, we are not missing anything.” As she stepped away from Apollon and let him twirl her, she cast a contented glance at the barn.
He pulled her close again. “The tireless ladies of the Stand have had all too little time with their Graces lately. Argyros and Javed are both mightily in need of a night of dancing. But Komnena and I both remember far too many winters spent without any children around us.”
Zoe bounced out of the barn with her goats at her heels. Bosko lingered behind her in the doorway, holding Thenie. Zoe climbed over the fence and came to Lio and Cassia’s side. Knight twined around the suckling, greeting her with a wagging tail.
Zoe held up a basket full of betony flowers. “Happy Festival of Grace and welcome to our family.”
“Those are for me?” Cassia leaned down to caress the child’s head. “They’re beautiful. Thank you so much.”
Apollon and Komnena left off their dance and drifted closer. He picked Zoe up and lifted her to Cassia’s eye level, then held her while the child wove the purple flowers into Moonflower’s mane.
“Now Moonflower is truly ready for the festival,” said Lio. “What a lovely idea, Zoe.”
She smiled, but her fingers were tense as she worked the flowers into the horse’s hair. When she was done with her decorations, her father set her down, and her mother relieved her of her basket. But Zoe stood there hesitating beside Lio’s big horse. The tumultuous conclusion of the Summit had shaken her fragile sense of safety.
Cassia glanced at Knight. He looked up at her with his adoring brown eyes, as eager as ever to please her.
“We’re going to be gone awhile tonight,” Cassia said to Zoe. “Would you like to keep Knight with you until we get back?”
Zoe gasped. “Your liegehound? But he is sworn to remain at your side.”
“He knows it’s all right to leave me alone with Lio. Don’t you, Knight?”
He sniffed Lio’s silk shoe.
“Ckuundat,Knight.Barda kaetlii. Barda loma.”
Knight wagged his tail again and sat on Zoe’s feet. She looked down at him with her hands clutched together. Slowly she unknotted her fingers and wrapped her arms around his furry neck.
Lio gave Cassia a squeeze. “There’s nothing better than a good dog to keep you company.”
“Thank you!” Zoe smiled at Cassia over Knight’s head.
Cassia leaned down, giving Knight’s chin a good scratch. “Oedann.Such a good dog deserves to have fun with hiskaetliion a festival night.”
The family waved to them as Lio guided Moonflower away from the terrace and toward the grounds again. Just before they rode under the trees and out of sight, she saw Knight bound after Zoe and her goats into the paddock.
“That was a wonderful thing for you to do,” said Lio. “I hope it was not hard for you.”
“Actually, it makes me feel better knowing he and Zoe are at home together.” She hesitated. “I think it would be good for him to learn how to be a companion instead of a bodyguard. Letting me out of his sight is the first step.”
“Well, you could not be safer tonight. The entire population of Selas is the embassy’s bodyguards, and I am yours.”
“You know how I love it when you personally guard my body.”
He tickled her behind her knee. “I will be thorough in my patrols, I assure you.”
Cassia glanced around them at the trees that had stood the test of time. “I can’t wait to be a Hesperine. I will be able to fully enjoy myself in the cold weather without fear of catching a chill.”
“Mm. I have many, many uniquely Hesperine enjoyments in mind for us, my love. We will start at a particular tree that will always live large in my memory, thanks to you.”
“That occasion lives very large in my memory, too. Very large indeed.”
“We’d better hurry to the dance. Otherwise I fear we will become distracted and never make it.”
He guided Moonflower into a faster pace once more. The Warmblood navigated between the trees and through the underbrush at breathtaking speed. A fallen log loomed ahead, and Cassia’s heart leapt into her throat, even as a thrill of recklessness made her pulse pound. Moonflower surged beneath them. For an instant, they were airborne. Then the horse landed, and the impact echoed through the trees.
