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But Lio knew what she was thinking. Lord Deverran had always had a vital role to play in her plot to overthrow Lucis. After everything that had happened, was he still committed to that dangerous course?
94
Days Until
AUTUMN EQUINOX
5 Anthros’s Sword, 1597 OT
SISTERLY LOVE
Lord and Lady Galanthian’s emotions were harder for Lio to bear than the painful pace of negotiations in the great hall. Sitting across from their grief for three nights wore upon him. But he had known the Blood Union would enact justice on him for his failure to save Pakhne.
He was not prepared for the wave of denial and anger that swept into the chamber when Lady Nivalis arrived with Lord Deverran. He bowed to Solia, and Lady Nivalis curtsied, her black gown pooling around her. Against her fair skin and pale blond hair, it made her look ghostly.
Her gaze settled on Lio and Cassia. She had Pakhne’s eyes, and they were filled with condemnation.
“That’s Pakhne’s sister,” Cassia whispered.
“I can tell,” Lio said.
“You shouldn’t blame yourself,” Mak reminded him for what seemed the thousandth time, as if repetition would eventually make it sink into Lio’s thick skull.
Lyros sat forward in his chair. “No, you shouldn’t…but do you get the impression that she does?”
“She knows something,” Cassia said.
“She must,” Lio agreed, taken aback.
Cassia gave Lady Nivalis a courteous nod. Pakhne’s sister turned on her heel and joined her mother in one of the back rows, while her husband took his seat beside her father. Lio would have to look them in the eye all night.
“How could she know you two had anything to do with Pakhne’s fate?” Lyros asked.
Mak shook his head. “That makes no sense.”
“Eudias and Ariadne would never betray the truth,” Lio said.
“Any mortal in Tenebra could ultimately betray us,” Cassia reminded him. “Hesperines and the Ashes are the only people we can trust unconditionally.”
Lio winced. “I don’t mean to sound innocent.”
“I don’t mean to sound callous,” Cassia replied.
“You do not, Lady Circumspect. You sound like a survivor of the Tenebran court.”
“And you sound like a Hesperine errant, My Champion. But in this instance, I agree with you—I do not believe Eudias or Ariadne told anyone about our involvement. Nivalis is clever. Perhaps too clever to swallow our story.”
Solia nodded and smiled to another lord, who bowed on his way to his seat. “Could her husband’s role in your plan be the cause of her ire? It is a great deal to ask of any wife.”
“He told me she was in support,” Cassia replied calmly, although her aura prickled with defensiveness. “He promised to follow through.”
“That was at the Autumn Greeting,” said Solia, “when he believed you would make yourself queen. It would be understandable if he felt differently, now that the candidate for the throne has changed not once, but twice.”
“I would not toy with him, not about this,” Cassia said, but then she sighed. “Not that he has any reason to believe that.”
Flavian commenced the Council, welcoming Lord Deverran and his lady. The newly arrived free lord attested to a quorum as the others had, then requested the right to speak. Flavian gave him the floor.
Lio’s ire was always close to the surface when Flavian was in the same room as Cassia. Now his unease rose. Was Flavian merely granting the latecomer a courtesy, so he could have his say, as many of the other lords had before his arrival? Or was Flavian involved?
