AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Lio thought Sabina would have Flavian’s head for that long before any wedding occurred. “Are there any grounds for a woman to dissolve her own betrothal?”
Ariadne counted them off on her fingers. “He’s already married; he’s convicted of a crime by her liege, his own, or the king; the Orders want him for apostasy or heresy.”
“Marvelous,” Lio muttered. “She could more easily break a betrothal to me. Getting Flavian convicted of a crime is tempting.”
“Perhaps we should have Lady Sabina marry him at sword point,” Ariadne suggested. “I think she’d rather enjoy that.”
“You could always turn him into a Hesperine,” Eudias added.
“And suffer his presence for eternity?” Lio shuddered. “No, thank you.”
“Men have many more options for breaking betrothals,” Eudias explained. “For example, competing suitors can try to outbid the bride price the groom gave to the lady’s father.”
Lio wrinkled his nose at the idea of bidding for Cassia like she was a horse at auction. “As distasteful as that is, outbidding him from House Komnena’s treasury would not be a problem—if the lady in question’s father were anyone else.”
Eudias nodded. “That’s the root of the problem. You aren’t in a position to persuade Lord Titus or the king to change their minds.”
“There must be something I can do!”
“In our professional opinions,” Eudias said, “the best option available to you is trial by combat.”
Oh, now that was tempting. “I can challenge him to a battle for Cassia’s hand?”
“It’s a time-honored tradition,” said Eudias, “but it has fallen out of favor in recent years, since King Lucis outlawed duels between lords of opposing feudal factions. But you aren’t in a faction.”
For once, Lio’s status as an outcast from Tenebran society had its advantages. He smiled slowly, his fangs lengthening.
“Oh, my.” Ariadne’s brows rose. “Lord Flavian really should not have underestimated you.”
“Alas, it would probably cause a political disaster if I beat Flavian to a pulp. Not to mention Cassia would never agree, nor would Solia.” And he had only just won his Grace-sister’s trust.
“Give it some consideration,” Eudias advised. “I don’t think it would be impossible to use it to your advantage, as well as Basilinna’s. It might win you the lords’ respect.”
“Lio, we’re ready to start,” Mak called.
He thanked the mages again, then rejoined his Trial brothers by the river. Eudias and Ariadne left with Tuura and Karege, who was to step them to another checkpoint.
Once they were gone, Lio tried to focus on the spell instead of fantasizing about putting his fist in Flavian’s face. “Explain the ward structure to me.”
Lyros pointed at the map. “We only need to step or traverse to key points around the perimeter. Then we can connect them into a complete ward.”
“It’s one of the Queens’ warding innovations,” Mak said. “We’ll model this on the nodes of their ward over Orthros. All the Queens’ spells are designed for blending manteia and mageia, so Annassa Soteira can add her mind healing to Annassa Alea’s warding.”
Lio nodded in understanding. “So this ward structure will be more receptive to Tuura’s theramancy and my thelemancy?”
“Precisely,” Lyros said. “Eudias will also lend us the river’s power to strengthen the spell. Karege will contribute his blood to Tuura’s casting to link her with ours. We’ll complete the circle when we all step to the final node.”
Mak clapped Lio on the shoulder. “Let’s begin. The sooner we finish, the sooner we can all get back to the Castra to replenish ourselves.”
Lyros shot Mak a fanged grin.
“Hear, hear,” Lio agreed.
They stood in a circle on the shore of the river and made a libation, forming a ring of blood that would serve as the first node. The familiar shadows of Mak and Lyros’s power joined with Lio’s. Some of his tension unwound. At last, they would be able to fully protect Patria.
He was aware of Eudias’s cool water magic enriching the river’s current and the distant reservoir of Ariadne’s healing affinity. Karege’s blood magic resonated in kinship with Lio and his Trial brothers. As on their patrols, the music of Tuura’s ancestral magic filled the twilight.
Lio held back his power at first, counting his heartbeats while Mak and Lyros’s ward waxed around him.
