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“When I give the word, Lord Deverran will come forward and reveal that Caelum is his son with the late queen, who was his betrothed before the king stole her from him.”
“Caelum isn’t Lucis’s son?”
“I have no idea, but it does not matter. My brother will be better off as Lord Deverran’s son. I have no qualms about taking the throne from him to give him a better life. I willnotmake him the Solia at my Siege of Sovereigns.”
“Then you have already cleared your way.”
“All the preparations are in place. I can put them into motion as soon as I return.”
“I have been so blind,” Lio said. “I, the expert on your deeds. All this was right there all along, and I did not see.”
“Neither of us wanted it to be true.”
“It can’t be true.”
“I am so sorry. I hope you will be able to forgive me one day. Because I am going to need you.”
“Are you really going to ask me to come back to Tenebra next spring for an Equinox Summit? You want me to swear the Equinox Oath with Queen Cassia and King Flavian?”
“Before the Solstice Summit, I thought that might be the only way I would ever see you again. I would have taken the throne just for that, Lio.”
“For one more spring? You think it would be worth it, to give up your life for one more tryst? You think it would be enough?”
“Nothing short of forever is enough. But I can promise you one more spring. At least we will have that.”
“I can’t do this.”
“Please, Lio. I can’t do this, either, if you do not help me. I cannot go back to Tenebra unless I know I won’t die there. When my work is done, when peace is secure, please. I need you to come back for me. I just need to know there is still a place waiting for me here. I need Orthros ahead of me, or I cannot take one more step forward.”
“And how long will that be, before your work is done?”
“I don’t know,” she confessed. “Only ten years, if I am effective. Fifteen, perhaps, if unforeseen obstacles arise. I will have to finish by fifteen. I would not want to try to last for twenty, even with a liegehound and a Sanctuary ward to protect me. There will be no threat of childbirth, thankfully, but there are still diseases, age, and assassinations.”
“Goddess,” he ground out. “How could you expect me to live like that? With you in constant danger, and me never knowing if Hypnos would snatch you from me before I had a chance to bring you home?”
“I don’t know. I am still trying to find how I will live with it.”
“I don’t need you in ten or fifteen or twenty years, Cassia! I need younow.”
“After we restore the Oath, it won’t be so dangerous for you in Tenebra. You’ve sneaked into the palace to see me before.”
He gave his head a shake. “I didn’t want to tell you until after I’d dried your tears. I thought the news would be easier to bear after we’d talked about our future here together.”
Her mouth had gone dry. “What news?”
“Konstantina is proposing the Departure.” Lio still held the white rosebud in his hand. “After the Dexion delivered his ultimatum about the hostages, she quietly set the formalities in motion. She moved so fast that many within the royal family didn’t even know until tonight, when Xandra warned me. Konstantina is only waiting for Solstice to be over to convene the Firstblood Circle for a vote on her proposal. She will cite the capture of our Hesperines errant as proof of why it is too dangerous to remain involved in Tenebran affairs.”
“She might lose the vote.”
“She has spent the entire Summit securing votes. Every time she and her Trial circle were absent from an event, they were behind closed doors with other firstbloods, negotiating pledges of partisanship. Konstantina has already secured a majority. Xandra is trying to change minds now at the last moment, but her influence can’t overcome her eldest sister’s. Ioustin is with the mind healers, in no position to try to sway the outcome. It’s too late. The vote is a foregone conclusion. As soon as the hostages are rescued, Konstantina will close the borders. There will be no embassy from Orthros in the reign of Queen Cassia. There will be no more Hesperines in Tenebra.”
There would be no Hesperines to come back for her when her work was done. Lio would live on. Without her.
Cassia let go of the last shred of the spell that had sustained them all these nights. All it left behind was a sick feeling deep within her. “Then I must save the mortals on my own.”
“Not again,” Lio warned. “Don’t tell me to be safe and happy in Orthros.”
“I wanted so much to make you happy. I wanted to be the one.” There it was, her anger, coming back to her now that happiness had quit the field. This time, she must not let the anger win. “But I know you are the one who will understand, when no one else will. You know politics, and you know heroism.”
