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Lio levitated a slip of paper in front of him, wondering what in the world would convince the Second Princess to leave a critical circle with the Queens to hear out the young ambassador who opposed her vision for Orthros’s future.
He addressed her as he had all his life until the Summit, hoping to invoke that time not so long ago when no politics had stood between them.
Aunt Kona,
There is something I must confide in you right away. This is a family matter too private to discuss at the circle, too important to commit to paper, and too urgent to delay. Please. You can find me just beyond the terrace.
- Lio
Lio sealed the note with his blood, veiled it, and held it out to the courier. “Have you delivered a veiled blood seal before?”
“Yes, Firstgift!” The courier took the note with great reverence. “I know to deliver it without delay, only into the recipient’s hands, and never, ever reveal to others who the sender is. You can rely on me. Who is it for?”
“The Second Princess. She is up there on the Queens’ Terrace.”
The courier’s whole aura lit up. “For the Second Princess! She tips instorybooks.They say this week she’s giving outThe Adventures of Laiya and her Fanged Familiar.” She was gone in a blink.
Zoe had been over the moons when Lio had presented her with his entire collection of all the storybooks he had received from Aunt Kona as a boy.
The bells had not chimed another quarter of an hour before Konstantina appeared before him. She had come, and what she allowed him to sense through the veil over her aura was her concern.
“Thank you,” he said at once.
“Come to my garden.”
He stepped, following her powerful presence to her neighboring grounds. She halted in her greenhouse, where the ancient glass walls were foggy with veil spells and moisture. The spell lights reflected a thousand tiny sparkles in the damp panes.
“What could you need to confide in me?” she asked. “It must be dire, for you to call me out of this circle.”
“Ioustin needs help. He won’t ask for it, and I doubt he’ll welcome my effort to do so on his behalf. But if he continues to fight this battle alone, he’ll—he won’t win.”
“Which of my brother’s many battles has caused you to fear for him so?”
Lio took a deep breath. “Aunt Kona, he tried to end his own life tonight. I was there.”
She touched his shoulder and sat him down on a bench under the Sanctuary Rose. It wasn’t until then that he realized how his blood was pounding and his heart was aching. He had come here to offer help, not ask for it. It had not occurred to him that he, too, had been through something tonight.
“Who else was there?” Aunt Kona asked.
“Just him and me.”
“You say he tried. But he did not succeed, for he stands safely in the company of our mothers as we speak. Did you have something to do with that?”
“I…I believe so. I did everything I could think of to talk him out of it. I made sure he got to the circle. But the moment he sets foot off the terrace, he will be in danger again. There is no telling how short-lived his reprieve from despair might be. I know death could beckon to him again at any time, if he doesn’t get the healing he needs. He will try to keep it from everyone that he is in so much danger, but the veil be sunbound. I will cross it to protect him.”
“Would you show me what happened?”
“Yes. You should know exactly what he said and did so you can assess his mental state. If I only tell you, I might leave out details I don’t realize are significant.”
Her magic unfolded and filled the Union with deep, fragrant light. He sealed his plans for the Dexion behind his mental defenses, then offered up his memories of the night, showing her in stark thelemancy what had passed between him and Ioustin.
When his mind returned to the greenhouse, he tried to think of sufficient words to offer comfort and support to her. She had almost lost her brother tonight.
She spoke first. “That was a terrible situation to find yourself in. You did well, and you did the right thing to ask for help.”
Her hand on his shoulder was not seeking, but giving. In her eyes, he realized, he was a Ritual son in need of wisdom, a patient in need of theramancy, a Hesperine in need of leadership. The power of her sorrow was a mystery to him behind her royal veil, and when she confided her private pain to someone tonight, it would certainly not be one of the youngbloods.
“The only help I can give him isn’t enough,” Lio confessed, “but how I wish I had given it to him before. There’s no telling how long he’s been like this—whether we’ve come close to losing him before tonight—”
