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The woman blinked at her, and then her face lit up. “Cassia? Why, it’s been years! Kyria bless me, how wonderful to see you again.” Agata crossed the room to set the tray on the bedside table. She patted Cassia’s cheek as if oblivious to the leather straps and Lio bleeding a few paces away. “Oh, my dear girls, together again. You must come to the kitchen so we can have a nice long chat. I’ll find a bone for Knight.”
Miranda took her by the arm and guided her gently to the door. “Thank you, Agata. We’ll be down later. I’ll bring a bottle of that Cordian sherry you like.”
“Oh, I really shouldn’t indulge…”
“You’ve earned it.”
“Well, I suppose a little sip would be all right.” Agata left the room with a contented sigh, and her pleasant humming receded through the corridors.
Miranda shut the door. “I honored her by turning her into a greater bloodless, so she is still herself. Be grateful to me that she has no knowledge of your betrayal. I let her keep our happy memories.”
Cassia shut her eyes, tears streaking her cheeks, and Lio wished he could hold her.
Miranda picked an apple tart off the tray. “I turned my parents into lesser bloodless, though. You should appreciate the poetry of it, Cassia. I have my father mucking out the stables. My mother cleans the castle, doing the work of the maids she used to terrorize. Do not imagine there is no justice in necromancy. Death is the ultimate balancer of the scales.”
Miranda sat down and shared her pastry with her crow while she stirred her alchemical brew. “I would offer you tarts, but you’ll have to forgive my poor hospitality. Cassia has a weak stomach, and I can’t have her vomiting in the straps. As for you, Lio, poison is all I serve to Hesperines.”
Picking up the dish in her gloved hand, she poured the steaming liquid into a goblet, then brought it over to Lio. “Remember that I’ll punish Cassia if you break the rules.”
“I’ll take the punishment,” Cassia said. “Don’t drink it, Lio.”
“What am I planning to do to you?” Miranda asked.
Lio met Miranda’s gaze over the dark liquid. Her hard eyes were as opaque to him as her aura. But just like the knife and apple, gauntlet and crow, she had been leaving them clues.
“You need me alive,” Cassia said, “so you aren’t planning to kill me.”
“I didn’t ask what I am not going to do to you.” Miranda dug her fingers into Lio’s hair and tilted his head back.
“Cassia is necessary to your master’s plans,” Lio bit out, “but I cannot understand why, Miranda. Your brilliant plot eludes me. My most educated guess is that you wish to ransom her to influence Solia.”
Miranda swirled the poison in the goblet. “Your training in diplomacy has prepared you well for the game. But in this case, don’t bother playing innocent. We all know Cassia’s magical value outweighs her political value. I know more about how her magic works than you do. I am rather an expert on feeding off of others’ power, after all.”
“Then you must know Lio’s magic is keeping me alive,” Cassia broke in, “and if you kill him, I will not survive to be useful to you.”
“Unfortunately for Lio,” Miranda said. “No quick death awaits him, I’m afraid.”
She forced his head back with astonishing strength. He braced himself and didn’t resist. The poison hit his throat, tasting of apples, honey, and burning rot. She kept holding his head until he swallowed and managed not to gag.
Within moments, magic tingled through Lio’s limbs and swelled in his chest. His magic. But it seemed to have a mind of its own, rising to the surface, uncontrolled and flowing freely.
Miranda stood back and tilted her head with a smile. “Excellent. It seems I have succeeded in adapting this drug for use on Hesperines. It strengthens your magic but weakens your control. It will make your power easier for me to work with—and impossible for you to use against me.”
No. Using his thelemancy against her dream wards was their only hope of escape. He could not sit here, full of power and yet powerless, with Cassia at her mercy.
Miranda set the goblet back on the table. “You haven’t finished answering my question. What am I planning to do to you?”
Lio swayed on his knees. “Hesperines are immune to possession…we must be immune to essential displacement too.” He blinked hard. “You aren’t planning to take my magic.”
But she might as well have. It wouldn’t save Cassia now.
Miranda sighed. “It’s a shame. I would love to add your thelemancy to my collection of affinities. Mind magic is one of my favorites to displace. It’s the darkness in your affinity, you know. The power. The temptation to control others. And the challenge. I enjoy hunting dangerous prey.” She looked him up and down with a voracious glint in her eyes.
“You are not going to make him your prey,” Cassia cried. “It’s my magic you want.”
“Ha. Correct.”
“That’s why you lured us to the letting site,” Cassia said, “so my magic will awaken and you can take it from me for the Old Master to use.”
