Lupi 04 - Night Season

There aren’t many. There’s one about death magic, for example. It’s utterly forbidden. But other parts of queens’ law are, well, more like natural laws that are imposed on the realms by the queens.”
    Cynna was beyond skeptical, but kept her voice polite. “They can impose natural laws on several realms?”
    â€œSounds godlike, doesn’t it? I have to say, when I first came here, I thought that’s what the queens were—not actual gods, but a religious mythos used to explain the way things worked. I was pretty damned superior then.” He shook his head, rueful. “Didn’t I have the answers these backward souls lacked? But the queens are real, sweetheart, and they’re not gods, however they may seem to mortals like us.”
    She knew someone like that. Sort of. The lupi’s Lady, the one who’d created them and who they insisted they didn’t worship. They just did what she said on the very rare occasions she deigned to speak to them through their Rhejes.
    For a moment Cynna remembered a voice, the voice, the one she’d heard in a church one night…“They don’t, uh…I mean, these queens haven’t created any races, have they?”
    â€œNo!” Daniel was startled. “No, as I said, they aren’t deities. They’re High Sidhe, which means they’re both immortal and extremely powerful, but they can’t create life. Except in the sense all beings do, I suppose.”
    Cynna dragged her mind back on topic. “And these queens have imposed a natural law on their realms that affects human fertility?”
    â€œIt affects all fertility, I’m told, but the ones most affected are humans. If the population of any race in any of their realms grows too large, they stop having babies for a time.”
    â€œJesus.”
    He nodded. “Here, lacking queen’s law, the other races came up with a different way of limiting our numbers. In high magic realms, those with magic are more fertile than those without it. By sterilizing all humans born with Gifts, they limit our overall fertility.”
    â€œEveryone knows this, right? It isn’t some deep, dark secret, but they tried to keep it secret from us. From those of us from Earth, I mean.”
    â€œWere you likely to trust them, help them, if you knew about ashwa ?”
    â€œHell, no.” Not then, anyway. But she’d seen more of this world. Specifically, she’d seen the Ahk up close and personal. Cynna chewed on her lip. “You work for the gnomes. You wanted me to Find the medallion for them.”
    Daniel sighed. “The gnomes enjoy deceit. They prize a good lie, but they are basically fair. They say the medallion will cause havoc in other hands, changes no one can predict, changes that might devastate the people here. I think that’s probably true. They’re also the least likely to instigate a war over the bloody thing. They can fight, don’t get me wrong. But the Harazeed gnomes remember the Great War too well. They’ll go to great lengths to avoid open conflict.”
    She considered that and several other things in silence, rubbing idly at her stomach.
    Cynna couldn’t feel any change there yet. No pooch. She hadn’t had morning sickness or noticed any other physical sign of the little rider’s presence. And yet, the baby was becoming real to her. Still mostly a future reality, a matter of looking forward and thinking things would go a certain way and there would be a baby.
    Her baby. Hers and Cullen’s.
    She looked up. “Dad?”
    Daniel’s breath caught. His smile wobbled. “Yes, sweetheart?”
    â€œCullen said you had a bit of a Gift. A charisma Gift.”
    His face went through so many emotions she couldn’t sort them all. “Yes. Yes, I know about ashwa personally. That’s what you’re asking, isn’t it? You’re the only child I’ll ever have.”
    â€œDid the gnomes do it?”
    He gave a single nod.
    Cynna dragged in a huge breath and let it out slowly. He’d been sterilized by the gnomes, and he still thought they were the best bet to hold the medallion. “I need to think things over.”
    Tentatively he reached out and touched her hand. “You need some sleep, too.”
    She found a smile. “Of course.”
    But her mind, slippery thing that it was, didn’t help her line up plans for escape or locate any