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Damn him. “You’re an ass.”

“I thought we already established this.”

I rolled my eyes. “All right, what else do we do? You’re bleeding everywhere.”

With a look like he’d won some grand victory, Kage turned to Gwyn and hovered his palm over her cupped hands. “You shall not fear the blade in my hand.” One drop fell, hissing against the flakes in Gwyn’s palms. “Nor deceit from my tongue.” Another. “My ambition, hope, protection, and fealty is yours to command until we meet the end of our desire.”

With a final drop, Kage removed his hand and quickly wrapped the gash with a strip of cloth.

When he faced me again, my body trembled against a warm hum in my veins. He dipped two fingers into Gwyn’s makeshift bowl, coating the ends with the blood and herbs, then marked my brow, murmuring his soft words again.

“You must do the same, then mark me,” he whispered.

I’d nearly been too lost beneath his touch, he had to speak my name before I took note of his stare. Cy took up Kage’s knife and with a dangerous grin, sliced over my palm. I winced, but hurried to follow the same steps, with Asger as my herb bowl.

Asger grumbled out the incantation I was meant to speak. Much the same as Kage’s only with an added vow to honor the sacred ground on which I was about to step.

“Now, you mark me.” Kage stepped closer than was necessary, but I had no protests.

Under the guidance of his hand curled around my wrist, Kage dipped my fingertips into Asger’s offering, then slowly moved my hand in a motion that left a crooked symbol across his brow, like a broken letterNwith a line through the center.

The moment I lifted my hand, I doubled over. As though a dozen hands pressed against my heart, tension mounted until it snapped. I let out a rough gasp when the sensation faded.

“What was that?”

“My desires melded with yours,” he said, rubbing the space over his own heart. “It’s done. I cannot lie to you, I cannot betray you.” His face hardened. “And you are my responsibility while we are within the gates.”

I held my breath for a heartbeat, two. Stunned did not fully show what I was witnessing. Where bare fields of blossoms and grass had been, now a fortress had taken shape.

Built behind a sphere of mounds and wooden fences, small cottage dwellings surrounded a main towering structure with slanted peaks and turrets and spires. Made of slate bricks and stone, of black oakwood and iron.

The sanctuary was divided into six main buildings, some shaped as longhouses, while others rose over the grounds with three levels. All were connected by covered cross halls or bridges; all had a tower with guards armed in axes and knives and arrows; all were large and exaggerated.

The Sanctuary of Seers was not bright or welcoming. Dark walls with flames in harsh iron sconces proffered a message to those entering the gates they were stepping into a formidable structure, and it seemed the seers were willing to take up in battle for anyone who dared desecrate their lands.

“You see it?” Kage whispered from behind me.

“It’s amazing,” I said, breathless.

“Come.” He took my hand, and once the others sent their steeds away much the same as Sleipnir, we stepped through the gates.

People were everywhere. Men, women, and youth walked along cobbled paths through the structures of the sanctuary. Most men wore deep crimson cloaks and hummed strange incantations with their gazes lifted to the heavens. Women wore gilded gowns and circlets around intricate braided hairstyles.

They were delicate and powerful, and seemed to float through the roads and alleys with a regal air.

Any children were kept in disciplined lines, boys and girls clad in neutral tunics of dusty cream or sky gray. They dressed simply, spoke little, and seemed intent to please either a man or glittering woman who guided them through the township.

A few gazes looked our way, but most did not linger. Occasional nods of greeting were offered, where even Cy would tilt his head in a sort of respect.

“There is the House of Pupils,” Kage told me, gesturing to oneof the longhouses with bluegrass sod for a roof. “Young mage acolytes study and search for their talents there. When they’ve discovered their gifts, they are led to that side of the sanctuary.”

One of the towers on the main building was draped in gilded banners. “What happens?”

“They’re named into the different clans. From there, they will develop their deeper talents.”

Like Gwyn developed her cunning hexia spells, or Cy bolstered his draw to creatures, and Asger grew his mind manipulations as an animai. If I tried, I could almost recall my own lessons as the blood mage.

“Where do herbalists and mages like Gaina fall?”