AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Kia patted the travel desk under her arm. “I’ll make note of tonight’s findings about his past.”
“Oh yes, please do.” Nodora’s smile was unusually mischievous. “I’ll want to refer to them as I compose. Every bard in Orthros will be jealous when I write a ballad about previously unknown deeds of the Blood-Red Prince.”
At that moment, Zoe popped into sight, wearing her new red-and-white courier’s sash. “I delivered all the notes you gave me in nine minutes!”
“Only nine?” Lio traded her a tin of gumsweets for the message she carried. “You’ve almost reached Ajia’s speed! And it’s only your first official night as a courier.”
At the mention of her new friend, Zoe brightened even more. “I can’t wait to tell her!”
Cassia smiled. “You’re helping Lio gather everyone for my magic research?”
Zoe nodded. “But my first summons was from Princess Konstantina. She told me I’m serving the Queens with honor, and she tipped me with a new storybook!”
Solia straightened Zoe’s sash. “You deserve it after training with such dedication.”
Zoe clutched her hands together around her candy. “I’m so glad you got to be here to watch me at tryouts.”
Solia smiled. “I had no doubt you would be chosen.”
“We’re so proud of you,” said Cassia.
“I’ll finish these in eight-and-a-half minutes!” the emboldened suckling promised before stepping away again.
Lio scanned the note she had brought. At last, a solid lead after scrolls full of dead ends. “Nike and my father are on their way, but Rudhira stepped back to Tenebra.”
Xandra’s face fell. “He promised a longer visit. But I suppose we should be glad he’s spending more time at home at all.”
Lio shook his head. “He says he’ll return shortly with another expert.”
“Oh, who is it?” Cassia peered at the message.
“He doesn’t say, but if there are any other Hesperines errant who have battled Lustra mages, perhaps they can give us more recent information.”
“Battled them?” Solia echoed. “The Blood Errant gained their knowledge of Lustra magic from enemies?”
“Yes,” came a voice from amid a flurry of snow and darkness beyond the edge of the wards. Nike crossed into the calm of the arena, her ginger braid and black fighting robe billowing around her. “We once battled a Lustra changer who could take the form of a forest lynx. His wife needed some help to get away from him.”
Lio’s father appeared beside her, brushing marble dust off his hands, but he had already changed from work robes into his golden athletic tunic. “You should tell the tale, Nike. You’re the one who made her a very relieved widow.”
Nike’s mouth tilted in a fanged half-grin. “But it was Rudhira who made her a happy widow.”
“Oh,” said Xandra, “we must pry this story out of him.”
As they all descended to the front row together, Cassia said, “It sounds as if the matriarchs of the Lustra would not be pleased with how this changer used our magic.”
“He was a possessive, bitter Tenebran male,” Nike replied. “You know the type all too well. I sent him to his ancestors with apologies to the Changing Queen, although I regretted the loss of his magic.”
Nodora drew her long, straight black hair over her shoulder with a pensive frown. “It’s sad to think of his traditions being lost. He shouldn’t have squandered his rare gift.”
Lio sat down beside Cassia, while Solia took the seat on her other side, now their custom by unspoken agreement. Their truce in pursuit of their shared goal gave him hope, despite how little they had actually learned so far. Solia seemed more and more comfortable at family events, like Zoe’s courier tryouts.
Lio dared anyone, even a Victor of Souls, to resist the fierce love of Blood Komnena. In fact, that was precisely the challenge he would issue Solia tonight, with some help from the warriors.
Nike leaned back against the railing that separated them from the arena. “What would you like to know about the changer?”
“Did you try using thelemancy on him while he was in lynx form?” Lio asked.
“I was able to reach his human mind within the cat. He lost hold of his lynx form and became a man again.”
