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“I don’t dare with the king this close. My scarf will hide small spells, but not a traversal. Can the Hesperines veil us?”
“I don’t want to risk it. They need to focus on their spells. Time for mundane stealth.” Cassia hurried forward along the back of the tent.
“What’s your plan?” Solia asked. “Why can’t you send Lio a mental warning?”
“I am.” Cassia Willed him to heed her. Don’t stop casting. “I’m telling him not to let the ward collapse.”
“You want them to finish the ward under the king’s nose? This is madness!”
“They must finish now. What if the king is trying to smuggle in one of the Collector’s victims—or worse, an Overseer?”
Solia swore, but followed Cassia between the next two tents. “What can we do to help them with the ward?”
“Does your scarf work on others besides you?”
“Yes, but—”
“We’ll need that. And my channeling—if it works the way I believe it will.”
At the sound of hoofbeats and voices from beyond the camp, Cassia skidded to a halt at the corner of a tent.
The king was almost here.
She kept her focus on the current of magic leading her to her Grace. “Can you sense the king’s aura?”
“Yes,” Solia said with disgust. “I’ve always been sensitive to his aura because of our shared affinity.”
Cassia shuddered. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. He doesn’t know about my magic, but I can always feel his. It gives us the advantage.”
Cassia was about to dart into an aisle between the tents when a band of Lord Hadrian’s soldiers marched into sight, heading toward the commotion at the edge of camp. Cassia caught Solia’s hand and pulled her behind a stack of supply crates.
Under the tramping of the soldier’s boots, Cassia murmured, “How much like an Aithourian is the king’s magic?”
“He was never formally trained,” Solia whispered back. “That’s why his magic is more unstable than mine. But he has learned some vicious skills from rogue apostates he studied with in secret.”
“Spells to detect Hesperines?” Cassia asked.
“I don’t know. It’s possible.”
Cassia sent up a prayer to Hespera before she and her sister ran across the aisle to the shelter of the next row of tents.
They raced through the night, dodging puddles from a summer rain. Ducking away from Lord Hadrian’s unsuspecting men, they caught snatches of the worried conversations from inside the tents they passed. The threat of the king loomed around every corner. The fear of losing someone she loved was a vice around Cassia’s chest.
It was so much like that night when she had lost her sister.
Cassia clutched Solia’s hand. Tonight, they were together. And they would not lose anyone.
Cassia would protect her Hesperines from the king.
Lio’s alarm filled mind ward. He knew the king was coming.
Don’t. Stop. Casting. She pleaded. Trust my judgment this time.
Blood magic throbbed in her arcane senses, growing stronger.
Just ahead, Cassia could see an opening, the central road through the camp. They would have to cross it to reach where the Hesperines were casting.
