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But there was still a lingering fragrance of roses, as if they clung to her. She thought she could feel an echo of Sanctuary magic. But that was impossible, wasn’t it?
She opened her eyes. Spell light shone through the deep twilight. She glimpsed a broad, open pavilion and a long table. Beyond that, tidy crimson tents. Hesperines going to and fro with silent grace. Chargers approaching Rudhira to welcome their prince back to the field.
Solia was beside Cassia, leaning heavily on her sword, lifting a hand to Mak in thanks. “Still better than a traversal, I admit.”
Cassia shut her eyes again. Changing hemispheres in one step was always miserable. If Lio hadn’t been holding on to her, she would have suffered a wave of dizziness.
Then she felt him take her hand and set something silky smooth on her palm.
“Look where we are.” A hint of wonder had lifted the dread from his voice.
She forced her eyes open once more. In her hand was a scarlet rose with an abundance of petals. She lifted it to her nose, desperate to breathe in its sweet, wild scent.
The vibrant blooms climbed up the stone columns all around them. The pavilion’s foundations looked ancient, as did the statue before them. The woman in white temple robes must be Hespera, for she had one eye of red stone. She held a scroll pointing up toward the sky, with her bare foot treading on a fallen sword.
Cassia was safe here. She knew it, because although Knight sniffed the air with perked ears, he did not perform a patrol of the area to check if there was any danger.
Lio touched Cassia’s hair. “This is the Summit Sanctuary.”
Rudhira pricked his thumb on his fang and made a libation on Hespera’s open palm, stroking his hand lovingly over hers. “This is where the Hesperine founders and refugees made camp during the original Equinox Summit.”
“I thought that took place at Solorum,” Cassia said, “like all the Equinox Summits since.”
“Solorum was a construction site at the time,” Lio explained. “The Mage King was still cleaning up the debris of war and building his capital. Most of the actual negotiation during the first Equinox Summit was held at Patria, after the Full Council confirmed the Mage King’s reign. He guaranteed our people protection here until everything was agreed upon.”
“My mother Alea placed the Sanctuary ward on this place herself,” Rudhira told them. “Of course they are weaker in her absence, but this place still gives Hesperines errant refuge, after all these centuries.”
“This is one of my father’s statues,” Lio said.
“Of course,” Rudhira replied. “He built the pavilion, too.”
Cassia held out her hand to Lio. He pricked both their fingers, then rested his hand over hers as she smeared their combined blood onto Hespera’s palm. Familiar power pulsed up her arm, straight to her heart.
There was still Hesperine-built stone under her feet. Roses still thrived here. The Goddess watched over this place.
They stood on the last cusp of safety. Tenebra loomed beyond.
Mak and Lyros made their libation next, but Karege didn’t join them at the statue. He was guiding Tuura to a chair, and she sank down into it as if about to topple.
“Does our healer need a healer?” Hoyefe asked in dismay.
Tuura shook her head. “No, I only need a moment to adjust.”
Solia gathered around her with the Ashes. “Are you all right?”
“Oh, I am.” Tuura drew a deep, shaky breath. “But this side of Akanthia most certainly is not.”
Kella looked grave. “The magic that cuts the shadowlands off from the spirit phase must be affecting you.”
“I cannot describe the Silence.” Tuura reached out and took Cassia and Solia’s hands as if there had just been a death in the family. “I’m so very sorry you had to grow up here where you cannot hear the voices of your foremothers.”
Cassia hated the Old Masters for this. If not for their evil, the Diviner Queen would never have had to close off this continent from the spirit phase and all communication with the ancestors. The Collector and his hex of necromancers had ruined so much in the shadowlands. They had stolen the chance for Cassia to ever speak to her mother’s spirit again.
Worst of all, the Collector had put that haunted look in her Grace’s eyes.
“I am sorry for your discomfort, diviner,” Rudhira said respectfully. “I have it on good authority that you will still be able to use your ancestral magic, although your spells must be adjusted.”
Tuura nodded with a thoughtful expression, her breath coming steadier now. “I won’t be able to directly channel from the spirit phase, of course, but my soul’s connection to my own ancestors should sustain me from within.”
