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Cassia clutched her spade on her lap. “Does this mean I must go into a temple?”
“Is that what you want?” Agata asked.
No one had ever asked Cassia what she wanted, not since Solia had died. Cassia made a point not to think too hard about what she wanted. It only led to disappointment.
Miranda scratched Knight’s ears, his head resting on the bench between her and Cassia. “That’s not what I would want. Being trapped in veils and walls? All those rules and praying on a schedule? That’s even worse than here.”
“Are there any temples nearby?” Cassia asked. “Could I still visit Paradum?”
“Of course, my dear,” said Agata. “I’m good friends with the mages at the Patrian temple. As soon as I tell them about you, they’ll want to snatch you up before another temple can. If you take the veil there, we would see each other often.”
That new feeling began to shake up inside of Cassia, more powerful than ever.
“Would they let me in, even though I’m a bastard?” she asked.
Agata patted her hand. “That won’t matter, sweetling. They’ll let you in because of your magic. And respect you for it, I dare say. You’ll learn all about how it works, and you’ll get to work in their gardens every day.”
Miranda touched her arm. “If that’s what you want, Cassia, you should do it.”
“It’s the only way I won’t get sent away from Paradum. We wouldn’t have to say goodbye…as long as my father will allow it.”
Agata’s expression became more serious. “It’s the law. If he wants to keep in the good graces of the Orders, he’ll have no choice but to dedicate you to the temple. You will belong to the mages of Kyria, not him.”
A future Cassia had never imagined opened before her.
Freedom.
She wanted it. She ached for it. And she would not let him take it from her.
“I’m a mage,” she breathed. “I’m going to enter the temple.”
The king would never be able to hurt her again.
Lio of the present held out his hand to Cassia of the past. “I wish you could have had that.”
She clutched his fingers. “What if I had? What if I’d been in a temple instead of at the Equinox Summit, and I had never met you?”
“You would have, I’m sure of it. Hespera would have found a way. I wish you could have had an easier path to me.” Pain filled his eyes. “Do you realize what this means?”
The happiness of the memory began to fade, replaced by her dread of what must come next.
“That…that was my plant magic,” she said. “The letting site gave it to me. Eight years ago.”
Shouting from outside the kitchen pulled Cassia back onto the path of memory. She and Miranda leapt up to look out the door to the orchard. But Miranda hung back where she couldn’t be seen.
The lord of the castle was disrupting the peace under the apple trees, brandishing his hunting bow. His ale-belly heaved over the edge of his belt as he cursed. “Filthy scavengers, always stealing what’s mine!”
“Come back inside,” Agata murmured. “When he’s in his cups, he doesn’t care where his arrows land.”
Miranda’s father took aim at a small black form sitting on a branch. Cassia recognized the bird Miranda had been feeding at her window.
“No!” Miranda raced outside. “That’s my crow.”
Cassia hurried after her with Knight barking a warning. But her present mind could have told her past self it was too late.
The crow fell to the ground, an arrow through its breast. Miranda went down on her knees beside it, her hands hovering over it helplessly. She lifted her tear-streaked face to her father.
Cassia could feel the scream of rage that was about to come out of Miranda. It was the same scream Cassia held in every time she looked at the king.
