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VIGILOF
MERCY
5 Nights Until Winter Solstice
ALKAIOS’S FAST
There were no bloodstainson Alkaios’s Sanctuary robe, but the smell of potent cleaning spells told Cassia the starving Hesperine had not been able to keep anything down tonight.
“I’m so glad I’m here now,” she said to Lio. “All these events transpired to bring Alkaios and me together on this night so I can keep the Vigil of Mercy at his side.”
With his chair pulled up against hers, Lio held her as he had during their vigil in the ruined palace garden on the anniversary of Solia’s death. “You are doing Alkaios a great honor. No Hesperine errant could ask for more than to have someone he saved bear witness to his deeds.”
“I wish my gratitude could feed him.” Cassia stroked the back of Alkaios’s hand. All she could see of Solia’s pendant was the tattered ribbon trailing out of his fist.
“My best intentions won’t feed him, either.”
Cassia turned to Lio. “This is not your fault. The Solstice Summit was our best hope.”
“Yes. Itwas.”
“We’ve done everything we can this week to keep our promise to the Queens to rescue the Summit. We’ll keep trying.”
“You’vedone everything you can. You’ve spent every moon hour at the guest houses trying to change minds, while I’ve been making arrangements for Winter Solstice events.” Lio rubbed his face. “So much time wasted with the culinary crafters for a guest banquet the embassy is unlikely even to attend, all while Alkaios lies here.”
“It was a good plan, to let me work alone among the embassy for now. The persuasions I’ve employed would have had them begging for scraps from your table, if they weren’t such cowards. Instead they brood in their cups and pray for their escape from Orthros.”
She felt she was back at the Equinox Summit, sitting helpless in a chair at Callen’s bedside while the threat of a war mage hung over everyone’s heads. Except this time, she had no more secrets to wield against the enemy. His secrets and theirs were all on the table. There was no trap to spring—they were in it.
Lio shook his head. “How neatly I cleared the way for Chrysanthos to corner us.”
“Forgive me. I should not lament our situation. It only rubs salt in your wounds.”
“And yours. Do you think it helps anyone for you to blame yourself?”
“No,” she realized. “No, it does not. It only makes you blame yourself more as well.”
He was silent for a moment. “Guilt won’t feed him either, will it?”
“You are right.” She released Alkaios and took Lio’s hands. “You and I are doing our best with the Summit. We must trust the envoys to find Nephalea and the others.”
Lio rested his head on Cassia’s shoulder, turning his face against her neck. “What a time for the one night of the year when Hesperines indulge a rare ascetic urge. It would feel wrong to feast during the Vigil of Mercy. But I wish I could drown my sorrows in you tonight.”
She caressed his head. “Let my gratitude to you sustain you through your fast.”
“Gratitude does feed something inside all of us.”
“No matter what happens, I will never regret the Solstice Summit. I will never believe for a moment you made the wrong decision. Because if you had done anything differently, I would not be here in Orthros now.”
Lio cast a glance at Alkaios. “I would be lost, if you had not come.”
She saw all her own despair in Lio’s eyes. They were drowning in it together. She repeated their creed, which had pulled him away from Chrysanthos’s door. “Together, we can fight better. Everything would have been much worse if we had not come together and tried.”
He bowed his head to kiss her palms. “You are right. I cannot regret what we have done together. The Goddess knows I cannot regret having you with me.”
