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She studied the pulse between haima and hulaia, between red lifeblood and the green forces of the wilds. Something stirred in Cassia, a hungry thing that had never shown an appetite for thrones or riches.
This was the only power she had ever coveted.
She wanted magic so vast that she could protect her Hesperines from anything and teach even an ancient necromancer to fear her.
“How do I find a letting site?” she asked.
“Some are hidden,” said Kalos, “some lost or forgotten, others protected. They’ve been there since ancient times. It’s believed that the Silvicultrixes made them.”
Cassia recalled the words of one of her ancestors, the first mage of her line, who had spoken to her in Btana Ayal. …magic had been like the trees of the untamed forests or the wolves that roamed the wilds. A force of nature we feared and respected, but could not control. The Diviner Queen taught us to make magic into our garden, to befriend it like the dogs that guard the homestead.
Could that ancestor, the original Silvicultrix in Cassia’s bloodline, have been one such sorceress who opened the letting sites? Could the Diviner Queen have taught her how?
Cassia’s wonder gave way to horror. Lio stiffened, and she knew the same thought had occurred to him.
“No Silvicultrixes ever came to Orthros,” she said.
Kalos met her gaze. “I’m so sorry, Cassia.”
“There cannot be any letting sites within the Queens’ ward, can there?” The words were so bitter on her tongue.
Kalos shook his head.
Lio said nothing. Cassia could not bring herself to say it, either.
Trust Solia to speak the words. “The only way for Cassia to awaken her magic is for her to return to Tenebra.”
THE LOST PARADIGM
Everything around Cassia seemed suddenly vivid and clear. The voices of her loved ones. The constellations above, bright against the deep darkness of the sky. The fragrance of her rimelace flowers, like fresh snow and verdant spring all at once.
It was all so precious and so ephemeral.
Somehow, she had thought she could hold on to this with both hands and still reach for her magic.
“Cassia cannot ever return to Tenebra.” That voice was the most familiar of all. Lio’s, rumbling with mind magic that was threatening to slip from his control.
Solia’s voice answered. “Her legacy has always been in Tenebra. Where else would she seek it?”
Lio’s arm tightened around Cassia’s waist. “Anywhere there is not an Old Master lying in wait.”
“I am not afraid of the Collector,” Solia told him.
Lio’s magic grew darker. “All that proves is that you have never battled him.”
Cassia realized she had no time for despair. Not when her Grace and her sister were about to undo the fragile progress they had made with each other.
She got to her feet and stood between Lio and Solia. Knight leapt to her side with his hackles up and his chest out. The look on Cassia’s face must have been effective, for both Lio and Solia stopped speaking.
“We need more information,” Cassia told them. “We must consider everything we’ve learned and make a plan.”
“The need to return to Tenebra has been clear from the beginning,” Solia replied.
“Not without a strategy,” Cassia said.
“I love you and your strategies.” The pain in Lio’s voice cut through her. “But plans don’t matter to an Old Master.”
His words cut her deeper. She could feel his dread, like a Craving chill, like a murmur of the Collector’s voice in their ears.
