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Lio smiled. “We met because of you.”
“Me? I’d been gone for years.”
“Yes. Cassia risked the king’s wrath to seek out a Hesperine in secret. It took her weeks to feel sure enough of me to finally ask the question she had wanted to know all along.” He sighed. “She thought I might know where Nike, Alkaios, and Nephalea had laid you to rest.”
Surprise flared in Solia’s aura.
“We didn’t know it was Iris, of course,” Lio explained, “but that does not change the fact that the tragedy of that night led to unexpected blessings. Cassia had never finished grieving for you, or for her mother. I suppose that is something Hesperines specialize in. Helping people mourn.”
Solia eyed him. “Mourning does not seem to be what occupied you and Cassia’s secret nights at Solorum.”
He looked at her innocently. “Mourning was not the only thing she had neglected. Your sister’s well being is always my highest goal.”
Solia gave a faint snort. “Tell me more about how you two became acquainted—the version appropriate for my ears, mind you. Politics can wait.”
91
Days Until
AUTUMN EQUINOX
8 Anthros’s Sword, 1597 OT
TRUCE
After the visit home, Lio found stepping back to Tenebra much harder. In Orthros, time’s power felt weaker, even for mortals.
He could forget his Grace lived on borrowed time.
But there was one consolation when he and their Trial brothers stepped Cassia and Solia back to Patria. Their guest chamber felt less like a battleground than before. The air no longer simmered with Solia’s resentment toward Lio.
Cassia tugged against his arm. “You might occasionally have to release me and let me breathe, my love.”
“I have no interest in doing so.”
Instead of protesting, she leaned closer to him, her aura full of affection. He was grateful to her for indulging his need to keep her as close as he could.
Kella trotted Tilili over to them. “Thank Ayur you’ve returned.”
“Thank you for holding down the fort.” Solia leaned down to embrace her.
Kella sounded more inclined toward violence than usual. “Keeping those lords entertained—and dodging their impertinent questions—is my least favorite sport.”
“I rather enjoy it,” Hoyefe drawled.
“Rather too much,” Kella said.
“There is no such thing as too much,” Hoyefe replied with a satisfied smile.
Tuura asked after Lio’s jaw, and Karege seemed ready to tell Cassia everything she had missed about Lio and Solia’s duel, but Lio held up a hand to interrupt their kind friends. “Time is not on our side. We need to tell you what we learned in Orthros.”
Hoyefe sat back, polishing one of his fine Imperial boots. “And I will tell you what I learned on my little forays among the loose-lipped lords of Tenebra. Their breeches are much looser than I was led to believe, too.”
Laughing, everyone gathered around the fireplace, which Solia lit for them. She and the Ashes sat close to the warmth, while Cassia joined Lio, Mak, and Lyros a safe distance from the flames. Even so, a sense of camaraderie settled over them all.
Lio and his Grace-sister were no longer at war. Everyone in this room would fight for each other and for Cassia.
After she and Lio explained what they now knew, Kella gripped Cassia’s hands. “Have no fear. I do not tolerate any threat to one of my Ashes, whether mundane or arcane.”
