The House Of Gaian

waiting. She’d have a light meal with Padrick because he’d also insisted on seeing her fed before she began her journey, and then she’d be heading up the nearest shining road to race through the Clan territories to reach the Mother
    ’s Hills and travel through them to Willowsbrook, where the Hunter waited.
    Padrick gestured to his right. “The inn is this—”
    “Baron Padrick! Baron!”
    Padrick stopped, turned toward the Fae Lord striding toward him.
    Morag glanced at Padrick. It was clear by the expression on his face that he didn’t know the man and wasn’t pleased to be interrupted before he’d completed what he considered his duty toward her. But she
    ’d seen this Fae Lord before, so she gave Padrick’s arm a quick squeeze of warning.
    The Fae Lord gave her a quick, dismissive look before turning his attention fully on Padrick. “My apologies if I’m intruding at an inconvenient time, Baron, but the magistrate pointed you out to me. I don’
    t know how the message got to you so fast, even going through Tir Alainn, but I’m glad you made it here in such good time.”
    “Message?” Padrick raised one hand to forestall further explanation. “If you’ll tell me where to find you, I
    ’ll join you as soon as—”
    The Fae Lord wasn’t listening to him. He was staring at her in an almost comic doubletake. “Lady Morag?”
    She smiled. “Blessings of the day to you, Lord Murtagh. Padrick, this is Murtagh, Lord of the Selkies.
    Murtagh, this is Padrick, the Baron of Breton.”
    “I didn’t recognize you,” Murtagh blurted out. “You look like— I thought— Mother’s tits.” He raked a hand through his hair. “The last time I saw you, you looked Fae and you were with the Hunter.”

    “I had to return to the west. Now I’m on my way back east to join the Hunter.”
    “A long way to travel,” Murtagh said.
    There was something calculating in the way he looked at her now, but she couldn’t figure out what he wanted. “The Lightbringer is dead.”
    “You came all the way back to take his spirit to the Shadowed Veil?”
    “I came back to gather him.”
    It only took Murtagh a moment to understand the difference. The smile he gave her was sharp and feral.
    “Then you might want to postpone your journey for a short while and take a look at the prisoners I want Baron Padrick to see.”
    “Prisoners?” Padrick said.
    Murtagh nodded. “Survivors of the warships the Inquisitors had sent to deal with the west. They were attacking a convoy of ships that had fled out of Seahaven. The baron here does well by his people, but he’s young and didn’t feel easy about passing judgment when the attack hadn’t occurred in waters that are under his rule and the people harmed weren’t his people. So a message was sent to you, asking that you come here and offer your advice.”
    “There are other experienced barons that could have offered advice,” Padrick said.
    “But they aren’t Fae as well as gentry. And they aren’t married to the Hunter. You’re respected for your own strengths, Baron Padrick, but there’s not a baron in this part of Sylvalan— or a Fae Lord or Lady, for that matter—who doesn’t realize you have more influence than any other man in the west.”
    Morag wasn’t listening to the men. A cold fist settled in her belly. Seahaven. Ships fleeing from Seahaven. “Mihail,” she whispered.
    Murtagh studied her a moment before nodding. “If you’re meaning the captain of Sweet Selkie , he doesn
    ’t need your gift. He was wounded, but he’s healing well. His ship needs to be fitted with new sails, which I promised to bring back to Selkie Island once my business here is done.”
    “You said the prisoners are survivors,” Padrick said. “What happened to the rest?”
    “Mihail’s sister is a witch who commands the sea,” Murtagh replied. “She was staying with us to watch for her brother’s ship. When she saw the attack ... Let’s just say she let the sea speak for her.” He waited until Padrick nodded. “Among the prisoners are barons’ sons, minor gentry, sailors, warriors—
    and two Inquisitors.”
    “I want to see them,” Morag said tightly.
    Murtagh gave her another quick, assessing look. “They’re in the warehouse right over there. The Fae are guarding them. We aren’t influenced by the Inquisitor’s Gift of persuasion, as they call it, but humans can be manipulated by it in the same way they can be influenced by the Fae’s gift of