KNIGHT HALTED IN HIS tracks before the Font of the Changing Queen. Cassia bumped into him and stood
still. His side rose and fell against her skirts as he sniffed the air.
She listened. She heard nothing but the wind. But then, she wouldn’t hear or see the Hesperines
unless they so desired.
They would already know she was here, though.
She watched Knight for any sign of what he detected that she could not. The wild groundcovers in
the clearing rustled as he gave himself a quick scratch, then resumed his alert stance. She glanced
about them. It appeared that only dark, verdurous yews and bare-branched ashes watched them, but
Knight knew they were not alone in the woods.
Clouds passed in front of the moons, then away, then covered them again, turning the stone fountain
from gray to silver to gray. The fountainhead looked like a scavenger bird one moment, a proud falcon
the next. The minstrels said the Font had run with blood the day the Mage King died, but tonight the
bird was silent, and the basin beneath held nothing more than the remnants of yesterday’s rain.
Cassia considered the possibility the Hesperines would avoid her to protect their tenuous accord
with the king. The embassy would be wary that any blame fall on them, should some ill come of a
human violating the agreement tonight.
Which begged the question, what did one do to attract Hesperine attention, when they were
determined not to attend? She glanced at Knight. For what must be the first time in his life, he was not
a helpful deterrent. She would have to find a way to coax any Hesperines who were here tonight to
appear to her, despite the presence of a liegehound bred to hunt them.
Why did the task seem even more monumental now, when she had already managed so much?
When she realized the smudge of moonlight across the clearing was in fact a face, her heart jumped
in her chest.
Knight leapt a pace in front of her, and his warning growl rumbled through the night.
“Hama!” she called out.
Knight snarled and lowered his head, crouching to spring.
“Haama!” she commanded.
Growling and whining in continuous protest, Knight backed toward her, never taking his eyes off
his prey. In the long-dead tongue used to train liegehounds, there was no command that meant “go
against your nature.”
When he came within reach, she put her hand on his head. “Het!”
Knight obeyed and sat, but kept growling at the dark-clad figure lost in shadow.
One of the Hesperines had found her.
Cassia made herself blink. Her eyes shut and opened, and he was still there. She waited. He
neither disappeared nor stepped forward.
The clouds shifted again, and moonlight bathed the entire clearing. For the second time, the sight of
the Hesperine took Cassia by surprise. She had caught a glimpse of him when the embassy had
arrived, but that quick look from across the greensward had not prepared her to behold him up close.
She knew from personal experience how lovely they appeared. But he exceeded even the
impossible beauty she had witnessed in others of his kind. He seemed wrought of night sky and
moonlight. Both reflected in his dark, jewel-blue eyes, and they glowed brighter than a cat’s. His hair
fell across his forehead and twined around his collar, gleaming black. Had the sun ever touched his
pale skin? High cheekbones and a fine jaw graced his lean face, which tapered to a narrow chin. His
mouth was too elegant to exist anywhere but on a temple statue. A high-collared black robe fell
straight and long from strong shoulders down his slender body, making his height hard to judge. Much
taller than her, certainly.
She would have said he was recently out of his youth and into his full manhood. He looked
perhaps a year or two younger than she. And all his lovely features expressed that he was quite
startled. As he stared at her hound, he looked a great deal more unsettled than she felt.
That was how he looked. He might remember the death of the Mage King from personal
experience, for all she knew. She must keep that in mind and not let his godlike face misguide her.
And yet he had stood near the back of the delegation. The other Hesperines had appeared older
than he, and he had followed their lead. Perhaps he was young, or at least younger than they and less
experienced with humans.
If that were the case, she might have attracted the attention of the most useful Hesperine in the
embassy.