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“I couldn’t wait any longer, and Mama said we could come a night early, so as soon as we came through the gate, I found you with my spyglass and stepped here.”
Zoe’s long, light brown hair was uncovered, a good sign that she wasn’t hiding her head in anxiety, but she was shaking with emotion. Cassia tucked Zoe’s favorite mantle, embroidered with dancing goats, closer around the suckling’s shoulders. Knight busied himself sniffing and nuzzling his smallest responsibility from her head to her toes. As Zoe petted him, her trembling began to subside.
The air around them grew warmer. Cassia felt Solia’s hand rest on her hair. And she knew in her veins that she would cross the Maaqul again for this.
“It looks like you have someone very important to introduce me to,” Solia said.
Zoe’s eyes were wide as she looked up, speechless, at her hero.
Cassia sought her elder sister’s gaze, willing her to understand how deeply this child connected them. “Solia, this is Zosime Komnena—my Grace-sister. She’s been longing to meet you.”
“Cassia told me everything about you!” Zoe burst out. “She’s the best sister in the world because you showed her how.”
Solia, Victor of Souls, knelt on the ground in the Empress’s orchard, and Cassia’s mind flashed to Princess Solia kneeling in a garden in her Tenebran finery. “How old are you, Zoe?”
“I just turned eight.”
Solia’s eyes flicked to Cassia’s again, and the memory passed unspoken between them. Solia had left just before Cassia’s eighth temple day.
“Where did you come from?” Solia wondered, as if querying the mysterious gods how this unpredicted child had become part of Cassia’s life.
But Zoe answered, looking at her feet. “Tenebra. I didn’t like it there. Cassia and Lio brought me to Orthros so I could be their sister.”
Solia paused. “Well, we have much in common, then. We both had to run away from Tenebra, and we agree that Cassia is the best sister in the world. I can see we’ll be great friends.”
Zoe blushed and reached into her pocket for three canvas pouches tied with garden twine. “I have a welcome gift for you! They’re just seeds because we can’t plant them yet—it’s too cold at home and Cassia’s greenhouse isn’t done—but when Papa and Mak and Lio build it, we can plant daisies and goldenrods and delphiniums, just like Cassia did for you.”
Solia fingered the seed pouches. “Cassia told you about our first garden, did she?”
“She told me all the stories! About lessons and the swimming pond and why you had to leave.” Zoe’s brow furrowed. “I know not everyone can come back, even if they want to. My human parents can’t come back. But you coming back is one of the best things I could ever imagine!”
Cassia watched the first fissure open in her sister’s armor. An expression of pure, vulnerable emotion appeared on Solia’s face. Cassia knew that look. She had seen it often as a motherless child, when Solia had been determined to fix unfixable hurts.
Solia held out her arms to Zoe in wordless invitation. For once, the shy child didn’t hesitate. She went into Solia’s arms, smiling with all her baby fangs and half of a new front tooth.
Solia held Zoe and stroked her hair. “I look forward to going to Orthros with you so we can plant your welcome gift.”
Cassia let out a sigh of wonder. No matter the unresolved questions between her and her sister, Solia did not have the heart to disappoint this innocent child.
There came a swell in the air, like an unseen crest of the ocean pressing on Cassia’s arcane senses. Magic, familiar, Hesperine. Then Komnena appeared in the orchard, dressed to impress the Imperial court, but with her fangs out as if ready to tear apart any threat to her children. Apollon and Lio stepped into sight in her wake. When their gazes landed on Zoe and Solia together, the magic eased, and their expressions of panic drained away.
“Oh,” Komnena said softly, putting a hand to her mouth. Behind her, Apollon smiled, resting his hands on her shoulders.
“Lio!” Zoe reached out to him, her other arm still around Solia.
He went to her, a sheen of tears in his eyes. “I’ve been so worried about you.”
She clutched him close. He and Solia ignored each other in a momentary truce for Zoe’s sake.
The next thing Cassia knew, Zoe was introducing Solia to Komnena and Apollon with a ceaseless commentary about how wonderful they and Lio and Orthros were. Cassia could not have gotten in a word about her Grace-family, and she need not try.
Komnena held Solia’s hands in both of hers. Solia glanced between Komnena and Lio, as if noticing the family resemblance between him and his mother by both Hesperine blood and birth.
“You are Cassia’s kin,” Komnena said, “which makes you ours. You are not to feel like a guest. I’m the Queens’ Chamberlain, so helping newcomers make themselves at home is what I do. There are no requests too large or small and no such thing as a foolish question.”
“Thank you.” Solia’s tone was gracious, but she wore her mask of discipline, a sure sign she was feeling overwhelmed. So much like the court mask that had once been Cassia’s own daily armor, before the Hesperines had made it unnecessary.
Let Solia be overwhelmed. Let the Hesperines’ otherworldly beauty and breathtaking kindness break down all her defenses.
