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“What about your pleas for yours?”
“She does not know what it will cost me. I had not told her yet, before she broke this news to me. Can you blame me for hesitating to reveal a truth so precious in the midst of our strife? Is it not understandable that I wish for her to choose me?”
“You now know I kept secrets from Lyta that were far less sweet than the truth you withhold from Cassia. It was wrong of me. It was not my failure, but my dishonesty that almost cost me her love.”
“But your love triumphed. Please, Uncle, tell me I may find hope in your history. You are two Hesperines who survived to be happy.”
“You need only look all around you for plenty of examples of that.”
“All I see is Bloodborn’s Path.”
“No.” The finality of Uncle Argyros’s word echoed in the Union. “That is not your path. Not you.”
“I’m losing her. You have confirmed all my thoughts about her plan. You see.”
“What I confirmed was the political situation. All I see is that Tenebra will have to do without her, because Orthros has a prior claim on her.”
“I cannot wrestle politics out of our way this time. What more can I do?”
“Stop wrestling politics.”
“What?”
“Forget politics,” said the greatest diplomat in the history of their people. “Devote all your powers to what you and Cassia need.”
“But can we, in good conscience, put our needs ahead of politics?”
“Try as we might, there are some things we cannot change.”
“But if wecanchange things, is it not selfish to do otherwise? Cassia could change so much, if I…”
Uncle Argyros shook his head. “Out of the question.”
“Are you saying this as my uncle or as an ambassador?”
“Both. Would you sacrifice Nike for the safety of the rest of Orthros? Would you sacrifice Nephalea—and thus Alkaios? Would you sacrifice any of the hostages?”
“Of course not!”
“May I also remind you that you are the one who talked our esteemed, reckless prince out of making just such a sacrifice?”
“Mak told you about that, too.”
Uncle Argyros sighed. “No. Ioustin told me about it.”
Lio straightened. “You spoke with him.”
“When I think of what might have happened, had you not stopped him that night… We have already lost one of Nike’s Trial brothers. I could not bear to forfeit another.”
“Uncle, I am glad to hear you say this.”
“Cassia is…a most beloved proof that I should not question my daughter’s decision to remain Abroad. I miss Nike so much that I have been unjust to her, and to her Trial brother. This Vigil of Union, I made things right between Ioustin and me.”
“That is an answer to many prayers.”
“Ioustin and Nike, just like you, have done right in disregarding my wishes. If any of you had acted differently, Cassia would not be with us now. Do not think I intend to let her out of my sight, not when she is so precious to us all.”
“I am not certain we have a choice.”
