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“We won’t allow that to happen.” Lio stood back and drew Cassia further into their room. “I’m sorry the Empress took us by surprise tonight. I confess, I was so preoccupied with protecting you from her plans, I didn’t predict that she would try to pull your sister away from you.”
“Neither did I, but I should have.” Gripping Lio’s hand, Cassia slid her other one through Knight’s ruff. “Solia is the woman she has mentored, whose loyalty is proven. Of course the Empress would favor her for the throne over me, and there’s certainly nothing about Flavian that would impress her.”
“The Empress and Tenebra will simply have to make do with him.” Lio took a seat in one of the luxurious carved chairs, his hand lingering in Cassia’s.
But she began to pace. “How will we ever persuade the Empress of that?”
He let her go, his gaze tracking her as she moved. “Indeed. In this era, when isolation is ending, fate has offered her an unprecedented contender for her enemy’s throne.”
“And she has spent years perfecting her. A queen born of Tenebra but shaped by the Empire. Why would the Empress give up such an opportunity?”
“She never will.” Despite Lio’s grim words, his tone held anticipation.
“You’re right,” Cassia said, following his train of thought. “We cannot change the Empress’s mind. We will have to convince Solia.”
“Yes. An appeal to your sister’s heart will be more effective than negotiating with one of the greatest politicians of our time.”
Cassia tracked toward the windows and the glimpses of the orchard outside. “And yet, my sister has her heart set on me becoming queen. I hate how bitterly we argued when she told me I’m the heir. It was…not what I wished for our first conversation after fifteen years.”
“I know. But you have spent much happier hours with her since.”
“She still doesn’t understand that the world needs me as a diplomat, not a queen. That my mother’s magic is all that matters, not her right to the throne.”
Solia still did not understand Cassia and Lio’s bond.
Cassia paced back toward the bed where she had been convalescing. “We completely avoid these topics every time she comes to see me. That is hardly a solution.”
“I know.” Lio’s usually candid face was too neutral.
In that absence of expression, Cassia read the entire conflict between him and her sister.
What Solia had also avoided was visiting anytime Lio was awake. Cassia did not accept her sister’s excuses about being assigned night shifts, any more than she accepted Lio’s silence about her sister’s disapproval of him.
Cassia paused. That was when she realized Knight was not shadowing her, as he was wont to do when she paced. He had posted himself beside Lio’s chair, sitting there in stoic solidarity. If only humans had such keen instincts as dogs about who was a rightful member of the pack.
“Do you want to talk about what you and Solia said to each other that night?” Cassia asked, not for the first time.
Lio rested a hand on the liegehound, an immortal sitting easily with his natural predator. “When it comes to Solia, actions speak louder than words. You know I am determined to win her approval, but that cannot begin until her dream for your future ends. She must accept that you will, in fact, spend eternity in Orthros with me. I have an idea, a way we can demonstrate to her once and for all that you will never be queen.”
Once again, Cassia gave into her restless need to move, to think on her feet. “What do you have in mind?”
“A display the Empress will appreciate. It must take place before her entire court.”
“Making a show of removing me from the line of succession will keep us in her favor. But we must go into that encounter with a plan for how to remove Solia as well.”
“Yes, we must give her a compelling reason to resist the Empress’s plan.” Lio stretched his long legs out in front of him.
Cassia halted her furious strides, lest she trip over the very tall Hesperine in her path.
He gave a quiet laugh. “That is a beautiful scowl, my rose. Do not be cross with me. I know that sometimes, my Lady of Schemes needs to pace. Other times, you need to sit on my lap.”
“How can you be so cheerful when we’ve just learned that the Empress herself stands in the way of our plans?”
“Whenever we find ourselves facing a terrible threat, I will always offer my lap as a solution. Or any other part of me you might find helpful under the circumstances.”
Her hands unknotted.
“I also confess,” he added, his voice deep and soft, “very little could dim my spirits at the moment. You’ve made me too happy.”
