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Cassia shot a concerned glance at her sister and Kella. “Can you cast thelemantic wards on Solia and Kella before we go?”
“We won’t need them.” Solia patted her scarf. “Imperial theramancy protects us.”
Kella held up her wrist and shook a silver bangle she wore. “Tuura enchanted mine. Before we go, we’ll warn her and Karege that we may leave the perimeter. That way, she can keep watch over Patria in your stead, Lio.”
Cassia looked up at Lio again. “See there? We are well prepared for this enemy. And if anything goes wrong, you can step me back to the keep to stay with Tuura and Karege.”
He frowned down at her raised chin and the stubborn set of her mouth. “You will not protest if I step you back?”
“Not for an instant. I’m not a fool. You know I never go into danger without cause—and a plan.”
“You are the least foolish person I know. But you are also the most determined when you have a cause, even if it means putting your safety second to your goal.”
“But I won’t put your safety second, Lio.” She leaned into him. “And my safety is your safety.”
Cassia also knew what this cost him. And he knew she would never put him through this, unless they had no choice. She was right. Knight was the only way to find who had sent the undead.
They could leave their enemy in the wind and wait for him to strike. Or they could hunt him down. There were no safe ways forward. All they could do was spring the trap.
INTO THE TRAP
When they were all mounted around the bloodless, Lio reached over and gripped Cassia’s hand. “Ready.”
She squeezed back, then took firm hold of Freckles’ mane. “Ckuundat.”
Knight perked his ears, attentive to her commands.
The moment Kella pulled Tilili off the bloodless, the headless body sprang to its feet. Solia yanked the head out of the bag and hurled it away from them. The bloodless raced after it with uncanny speed. Before the head landed, the creature caught it from the air.
They all held their breaths, waiting to see which way it would go. And then it disappeared.
Lio had an instant to feel both relieved and frustrated, before Cassia called out, “Seckaa!”
And Knight was off, bounding in the direction the bloodless had gone.
Moonflower sprang forward in response to Lio’s Will, the horse’s long legs keeping them close to Cassia and Freckles. Knight raced between tents and past campfires, sure of his hunt. Tilili wove after him, Mak and Lyros’s Warmbloods following with the agility of immortal equines.
Under the crackle of burning logs and the murmurs of wakeful humans, Knight’s panting breaths guided them onward toward the prey Lio could neither see nor feel. No anticipation came over him, no thrill of the hunt like Tendo had sometimes described. Lio had been born without that human instinct.
But whatever they met at the end of the hunt, his Hesperine instincts would make sure it was no threat to his Grace.
He felt Cassia’s aura sharpen. Her presence expanded in the night as she reached with her arcane senses.
“What do you feel?” he asked over the pounding of the horse’s hooves.
“I have an idea,” she called back. “Join our minds.”
“How deep?”
“As deep as you need to sense what I’m sensing.”
He swept into the tense patterns of focus she held in her mind. Amid the rush of their ride, she felt as close as if she pressed her cheek to his.
Not close enough. He recalled the first night his mind had joined to hers on pure instinct, and he had looked at the world through her eyes. He surrendered a bit more of his control to their bond.
His need to protect her overcame all inhibition, and their consciousness blended. His heart sped up to match her mortal pulse. Scents dulled, sounds grew quieter, and when he looked out over Freckles’ auburn ears, he could not see nearly so far.
He was so close to Cassia that he didn’t even hear her words, but knew her question. Could he sense the bloodless?
