by Vela Roth
This was the Craving.
In the silent moonlit sanctuary of his chambers, Lio went still and heaved a breath.
Cassia was his Grace.
Fear engulfed him, a second gnawing agony. Sudden, astonishing joy beat it back down. Frozen and wordless, he sat with the truth for a while.
He had found his Grace. Of all the people he had known and ever would know, this was the person to whom the Goddess had matched him.
Cassia. She was the one. The only one.
This mortal he had known for barely a season. This person he knew better than anyone, wanted more than anyone. It seemed beyond belief, a wondrous surprise, a fresh, strange reality. It seemed right, as if it had always been so, like the paths of the moons in the sky.
It had all been real. Everything he and Cassia had felt. How much they had wanted.
The floor tilted beneath Lio, and his stomach rose in his throat. A splitting pain in his head answered. As he scrambled to find a grip on the edge of the worktable, scraps of paper scattered and panes of glass hummed.
He knew now there was no way to heal this. Except one.
How much time did he have to find a way to Cassia before it was too late?
The answer lay within him. The collective experience of his people could only tell him each Grace was different. Lio’s own hunger was his calendar, his strength of Will his only recourse.
Until he had Cassia’s blood again. Cassia. Lio’s Grace—and the only obstacle between King Lucis and the Next War.
How could the Goddess have chosen this for them?
Cassia didn’t know. He had left her in Tenebra without a hope or a promise, without any real declaration of his feelings for her. He had bedded her for four nights and then left her. That was all. How could he?
It was too late. There was no way to make it right now.
Two of the most ancient mages in the world, the most powerful Hesperines in existence, had closed the border between Orthros and Tenebra, and Lio and his Grace were on opposite sides.
He was too near vomiting to cry out and shivering too hard to slam a fist onto the table. His frustration erupted out of him in a blast of magic.
Every pane of glass in his workshop shattered. An aurora of slivers hovered in the air around him, whining, then fluttered to the stone floor with a chorus of tiny chimes. His outburst of power echoed back at him within the confines of the veil that covered his empty residence.
In the following silence, he sensed the first whisper of the Queens’ spell. The appointed hour had arrived. It was midnight, and they were making the Last Call.
The most powerful magic in Lio’s world rose like a tide. Ancient and fresh, brilliant and dark, the Queens’ power sang into the night, and no Hesperine could listen unmoved.
From here to Cordium, all of Orthros Abroad would know. It was time to come home. The Queens never resorted to the Last Call unless cataclysm threatened. After tonight, wherever they were and however long they had been away, all Hesperines errant would understand the consequences of the Summit.
The Queens had closed the borders. No one could enter Orthros except in answer to their summons. And once you came back, you could not leave again.
Lio was trapped here, and the Last Call would not bring Cassia home to him. Even if the summons were for her…would it matter? He had tried to sway her with an invitation of his own, and she had refused.
Where was she at this moment? Goddess, was she safe? She who set herself against the most dangerous man of her time.
Did she feel Lio’s absence? As a human, she could not experience the Craving. But surely she felt their parting in her own way. She must. She was his Grace. He was her Grace.
What would she say to him tonight, if he could ask her again to leave Tenebra forever to remain at his side? Would her answer be different?
No panes rattled, no stone groaned, but the force of the Queens’ spell built pressure against Lio’s ears and made his heart pound anew. His own Gift leapt within him in answer to theirs.
Under any other circumstances, it would have fascinated him to experience the only Last Call the Queens had made in his lifetime. In the face of danger, he would have relied on his family for strength. He would have found solace in assisting with preparations for their imminent migration and looked forward to what the coming season in Orthros Notou would bring. Instead, he was locked away in his chambers under the cover of the most powerful veil he had yet woven.
He was out of time.
Within the hour, Orthros Boreou would be deserted. With the rest of his people, he would be on the other side of the world. Cassia would be out of his reach.
He had to do something. Anything. And he must do it now.
He scoffed aloud at himself. A heroic notion, but a useless one. What could he possibly do to communicate to her what she meant to him, much less repair his mistake of leaving her? There was no way he could go to her with the ward standing between them. All the power he possessed was not enough when set against a working of the Queens’.
Any spell of his would pale in comparison to theirs. In fact, his would go unnoticed altogether.
He truly wasn’t thinking clearly, or it would have occurred to him before. The same laws of magic that had helped him and Cassia accomplish so much together in Tenebra were on their side now. Under the cover of the Queens’ spell, Lio could attempt a working with no danger of implicating Cassia. Even mortal mages would feel the Last Call and tremble in their shoes at the power that came down from the north. Solorum’s temples would be astir over the great wave of blood magic and never notice if another Hesperine’s power reached into the palace and touched one particular lady.
Here in the final hour was Lio’s opportunity. His only one. He must make it matter.
Lio swallowed again, fighting down nausea and the fear he would fail. With each passing night, it became more difficult to accomplish routine tasks in his condition. He had no idea if he could manage an ambitious working. Even at his peak, causing his spell to manifest at a location on the other side of the Queens’ closed ward would be a monumental undertaking. He had never attempted anything like this, especially without time to research and prepare.
It didn’t matter how difficult it was. He had to try. No, he had to succeed. For Cassia.
They were Graced. They were each other’s future. He must give her a sign of how important she was to him, a promise to hang onto.
He must make sure she knew. Their last night together had not been the end. It had to be true that this was only the beginning.
Equinox Oath
Cassia woke with a gasp. The magic was an unseen flare of light, beckoning her to harbor. A siren call that filled her with such longing, she could not breathe for its beauty and her own pain. But it was also the tide of darkness, and it welled around her until she thought she would drown beneath it and never need air again, only the embrace of this spell.
Cassia stumbled out of bed and nearly tripped over Knight. He whined, then growled, then whined again, twining about her legs.
“Hama.” Cassia went to the window of the room that was now her bedchamber and threw open the shutters.
There was no light to be seen except the round moons above her. Blood and light, they were both full tonight, the Spring Equinox. Such an alignment had not occurred in many years, it was said. An ill omen, Tenebrans called it. But Cassia knew the Hesperines must be celebrating beneath the Goddess’s open Eyes.
Could anyone else besides Cassia feel this swell of magic? Her gaze darted along the wall, two windows over. The shutters of Perita and Callen’s new quarters stood closed. The newlyweds were apparently unconcerned.
The magic’s embrace pulsed all around Cassia. The working wrapped closer, wondrous in its power.
Across the greensward, the windows of the Sun Temple lit with firelight, although the spring observances had ended at dusk. The new royal mage must feel the disturbance. Every woman in the Temple of Kyria had sprung out of bed, Cass
ia was sure. Why was she the only one here in the palace who felt that clarion call?
“Cassia.”
She clapped a hand over her mouth to keep from crying out and spun to face the direction of his voice. But there was no one in her bedchamber.
“Cassia,” Lio said again. “Cassia.”
Nothing could feel this beautiful but Hesperine magic. Only magic could carry his voice to her here in Tenebra.
She stumbled farther into her room. As she moved out of the way of the window, the light of the full moons spilled in behind her.
In their glow, she saw him. Lio, with his jewel-blue eyes and beautiful face, stood before her in his veil hours robe, which she had pulled off of him the night they first made love. An instant before she threw her arms around him, she realized she could see the other side of her room through the swirls of embroidery on his robe.
Disappointment halted her in her tracks. An illusion.
But his illusion.
Knight sat down at her feet and cocked his ears at the apparition. She put a hand in his fur.
“Cassia,” Lio said a fourth time, his tone urgent. This time she saw his mouth move and his gaze on her. He looked stricken and joyful at the same time.
“Lio, can you see me? Hear me?”
“Listen,” he said. “Please.”
“Speak to me,” she pleaded.
“Can you feel the Queens’ summons? It is the Last Call, our warning bell in times of danger. Their spell will cover mine. I don’t have much time.”
The light in the room dimmed. A cloud passing over the moons. His image wavered.
“No,” she cried. She stopped herself before she reached out a hand to what remained of the mirage. What if her touch banished him?
“The Queens closed the border the moment the embassy returned. Those who answer the Call can enter, but no one can leave. I am bound here in Orthros.”
Cassia mouthed his name, listening.
“I should never have left you.” The clouds must have moved again, for the Blood Moon’s light hazed the room. Lio’s apparition stood stark and clear, cast in crimson. “By the Goddess’s blood, I swear I will come back for you. Trust me. I will find a way. I just need you to wait for me. Please.”
She held her breath. If only he would give her more words.
“Cassia. I need you.” The magic around her ebbed, and Lio’s image began to fade. “Wait for me.”
Silver moonlight flooded the room once more, twining with the tendrils of his unraveling illusion like veins of light.
“No!” Cassia burst out. “I will not wait for you. You think I would idle here in the palace walls in Tenebra and wait for you?” She took another step toward him, her fists at her sides. “Mark my words. I will not rest until I bring you to me. This I swear. I will make a way.”
She stared at the illusion until he became nothing more than a ghostly impression with blue eyes, then merely a brighter gathering of moonlight. A moment later she was alone again with Knight and the moons themselves. The powerful working was over. Lio was gone.
She could not hold him. Not tonight. But the night would come when she fulfilled the vow she had made to herself each night since he had left, which she had now spoken aloud to him.
She would hold him again.
END OF BOOK I
THANK YOU
Dear reader,
Thank you for giving some of your time and emotion to the beginning of Lio and Cassia’s story. Please accept my heartfelt apologies for where Book I leaves the characters. It hurt me, too, when I realized their journey had to end this way...for now. The good news is, Blood Solace (Blood Grace Book II) is already available!
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I hope you’ll stop by my website at fivethorns.com to find out more about the Blood Grace series and connect with me via email or social media. I would love to hear from you.
For a taste of what will happen in Book II, continue reading!
You have my gratitude,
Vela
BLOOD SOLACE
Blood Grace Book II
He'll die without her blood. But countless people will die if he claims her. Can she save him without starting a war between immortals and humans?
Lio is out of time. He must reunite with Cassia, his beloved Grace, before his Craving for her blood kills him. But they are trapped on opposite sides of the border between Orthros and Tenebra. To get her to safety, he must convince his fellow Hesperines to take the most dangerous risk in Orthros's history.
Cassia has made herself the King of Tenebra’s worst enemy. Her father has no idea she secretly sabotages his every move. But he will stop at nothing to make war upon the Hesperines. She cannot keep Lio’s people safe much longer. To protect the Hesperine she loves, she must take matters into her own hands as never before and make the greatest sacrifice of all.
Can Lio and Cassia restore their broken alliance and once again work together to protect Hesperines and humans? If they save Orthros and Tenebra, can they still save each other?
Blood Grace Book II is a paranormal vampire romance full of epic fantasy lore, featuring both worldbuilding and pleasure building. Ancient queens rule as living legends, and a rebellious diplomat enjoys explicit, consensual intimacy with a notorious traitor. Bring an enthusiasm for complicated names, political intrigue, and love bites.
EXCERPT
A gust of wind whipped across the deck of the Observatory and struck Lio head-on. He sucked in the bracing air, hungering for any hint of scent from the south. But all he smelled were the fresh snows and evergreens, ice caps and ocean depths of Orthros Boreou. Not enough to give him relief from the aftertaste of his last drink. The fetid remnants of deer blood threatened to gag him. He kept swallowing and focused on the horizon.
The Umbral Mountains stood sentry on the rim of the world, guarding the border between Orthros and Tenebra, between his nocturnal homeland and the mortal realm. Polar twilight cloaked the range in indigo, while the snow on the peaks gleamed under the lights of Hespera’s night sky. Vivid aurorae veiled the constellations named for those whom Orthros had lost, who would have lived forever with their fellow immortal Hesperines had they not given their lives for others. The Goddess’s Eyes, the twin moons, looked on. The shadow of her lashes had just begun to descend over the smooth white orb of the Light Moon, while the Blood Moon was a crescent iris of liquid crimson.
No fire lit the mountains.
At this great distance, the Summit Beacon must appear as nothing more than a candle flame. But the bonfire the Tenebrans lit atop their fortress on Mount Frigora was visible to keen Hesperine eyes from Hypatia's Observatory, the tallest tower in the capital. Orthros’s ambassadors always came here to look for the Beacon.
Tonight, only Ambassador Deukalion. Alone, Lio stood his elders’ watch and saw no fire. The King of Tenebra had not ordered the Summit Beacon lit.
Yet.
A few hours remained before dawn. The Beacon might yet appear. There was still time for Lio to behold the sign he prayed for: an invitation from the king for the Hesperine embassy to return to Tenebra in the spring and reconvene the Equinox Summit. Another chance to renew the Equinox Oath that would secure peace between their two peoples.
Lio’s chance to keep his promise to Cassia that he would return to
her.
The Tenebrans would light the Beacon before the night was through. They must. Because she intended for them to, and Lio had never known a plan of hers to fail.
He looked again at the scroll in his hands. It was the best portrait he had of her. Not nearly enough to remember her by. But he added each additional detail with great care, as if he could make this some kind of antidote to the months, the miles…the hunger. As if the cure for that was not out of reach.
The Goddess’s Eyes looked with him, illuminating the paper with moonlight. Lio re-read the neat, black lines of his own handwriting in search of one more pattern he might have missed, one more revelation that had not yet struck him.
He was sure there were many who would not feel particularly flattered if a lover immortalized them in a list. But somehow he thought Cassia would appreciate this effort far more than any work of art designed to capture the physical beauty she worked so diligently to hide. Here in this documentation of seemingly unconnected events lay her true beauty, which Lio had beheld with his own eyes.
Each of the events he had recorded here, which he had meticulously gleaned from the reports trickling in, had occurred in Tenebra in the last half year. To the Queens of Orthros, their envoys, and every diplomat besides Lio, these were political developments of great import, but of no specific significance except for their potential impact on Hesperines. Lio, however, could see Cassia’s hand in each and every one.
What tantalized him was the knowledge he had missed some. No doubt word of many of her deeds simply never reached him. And in the piecemeal information he did manage to gather, more developments for which she was responsible might lay hidden, while he lacked the insight to recognize them. She only became more creative; there was no telling what she might try next. These were only the events he knew of and felt certain he could attribute to her, and it was already a generous list.
Her clandestine victories against her father reassured Lio time and time again. The king did not suspect her.