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Lio ran his hands over her shoulders. “Cassia, did you really think yourself incapable of scholarship?”
“I’ve had my doubts,” she admitted, “but this encourages me. Perhaps you all can read the most important portions of the scrolls aloud for me?”
“Of course,” Lio said.
“I’ve also found a number of songs with references to Lustra magic,” Nodora offered. “We can learn so much from listening to sagas and ballads.”
“And there are some things you can only learn to do by, well, doing,” Xandra added. “Book learning isn’t very helpful with certain affinities. Fire magic takes quite a bit of practical training, doesn’t it, Solia?”
“That’s true,” Solia agreed.
“Thank you for going to such lengths for me,” Cassia said.
Nodora touched Cassia’s arm. “You may not have been through Trial with us, but this is our opportunity to see you through your own sort of initiation.”
Solia gave Lio a look that, while not exactly approving, no longer made him feel as if she wished to set him on fire. “You have carefully considered which peers to consult in our research, I see.”
“Only the best for Cassia.”
She was about to have three of the most powerful and poorly understood magics tearing through her. She needed her Trial circle. She needed her sister. And most of all, she needed her Grace.
23
Nights Until
NOTIAN WINTER SOLSTICE
33 Ourania, 1597 IS
OPPOSING MAGICS
Lio had intended for their research to lead them to Hippolyta’s Arena eventually, but not after two weeks in Orthros’s libraries. It had taken only sixteen nights to go through every scrap of written evidence they had about Lustra magic. And he had thought he appreciated how little they knew about Cassia’s magic.
“What answers do you expect to find among the warriors?” Cassia asked with a puzzled expression.
Lio kissed the furrow between her brows. “Since we exhausted the scrolls, it’s time to turn to other sources.”
They stood with Solia and their Trial circle just inside the wards that bordered the arena. Wild gusts of snow obscured the sky, but here within the Stewards’ spells, the air was still and merely cool. Solia’s gaze traveled down the tiered, carved benches to the ring of sand below, where generations of Orthros’s warriors had practiced the Hesperine battle arts. Although Lio couldn’t sense how she felt about setting foot here, he knew a look of reverence when he saw one.
“Welcome to Hippolyta’s Arena, Victor of Souls,” Mak said.
“It is an honor to have you here.” Lyros, like his Grace, already wore his black battle robe, ready to support Lio’s plan.
“The honor is mine,” Solia replied.
Aunt Lyta waved to them from the arena floor, where she and Kadi appeared to be demonstrating advanced tactics for Alkaios and Nephalea. Knight wagged his tail, his ears perked, as if hoping for another game of chase in the ring with Kadi.
“Which sources are we here to consult?” Solia turned to Lio, and he took heart that there was no doubt in her tone.
“Eyewitnesses to Lustra magic,” Lio explained. “The Blood Errant. After that, Uncle Argyros is expecting us in his library to tell us about the Changing Queen firsthand.”
“Ah. All of them will certainly have insightful accounts.” Coming from Solia, that was practically a glowing endorsement of Lio’s idea.
Xandra’s aura sparked with anticipation. “I wonder what Rudhira will reveal about his adventures. He doesn’t talk about his past very often.”
“Why does everyone call the First Prince ‘Rudhira’?” asked Solia. “I thought his name was Ioustinianos.”
Xandra explained, “Methu—Prometheus—gave my brother the name ‘Rudhira’ on their adventures, and his admirers adopted it.”
