The House Of Gaian

fire.”
    “Yes, Master.”
    “But I must have some prisoners,” Adolfo said firmly. “Males.” He waited until the captain nodded. “You may tell the men one other thing. Today I will give fifty gold coins to every man who kills a witch.”
    “Fifty!” With effort, the guard captain regained his professional stance. “They’ll kill every female they encounter in an effort to claim the reward.”
    Adolfo smiled. “Yes, they probably will. But the foul creatures I want are easy enough to identify. Most of them wear an ornament hidden beneath their clothing. A five-pointed star within a circle. Any man who brings me one of those ornaments—and the tongue of the bitch who wore it—will receive the gold.”
    He saw a glint of greed in the captain’s eyes and did not disapprove of it.
    “I’ll tell the men,” the captain said.
    Tell the other captains , Adolfo amended silently. “Go on, then.”
    “We’ll have the Old Place cleansed by nightfall,” the captain promised.
    “A pretty thought,” Adolfo murmured as he watched the man leave with more haste than dignity. He drained his wine glass and set it aside. “A very pretty thought.”
    Breanna walked toward Nuala’s grave, Keely a few steps ahead of her. Keely, still grieving and displaying an unshakable stubbornness, had insisted on walking to the grave that morning. The men who stood the last watch until dawn had already left since it was safe to leave the grave unattended in daylight.
    Clay, Rory, and Falco had agreed to ride into the village for supplies they’d run short of with so many people to feed. Fiona and some of the other women threw themselves into household chores with grim single-mindedness, but work hadn’t provided solace for Nuala’s daughter or granddaughter. So the two of them walked to the grave in order to touch the earth, feel the air.
    A healthy walk, Nuala used to call it with a smile. It was that. For the first time since she’d found Nuala, Breanna felt a tightness in her chest and shoulders ease. Even in daylight, the grave glowed in its circle of moonlight. She wasn’t sure if that light simply offered some comfort to the living or was protection for the dead, but she was grateful for this gift from the Lady of the Moon.
    As they reached the grave, Keely stopped and cocked her head. “Do you hear something?”
    No, she didn’t, but her nose picked up an unpleasant smell in the air that made her uneasy. A ... decaying smell. Not wanting to think about why she might be smelling something like that, she summoned a light wind and guided it over the crescent of rose bushes Nuala had planted years ago. Even though the bushes were trimmed every year, they were chest-high now, and, despite being so late in the season, there were still enough roses blooming to scent the air.
    “I do hear something,” Keely said. “There’s someone behind the rose bushes, crying. It sounds like a child.” She moved toward the bushes, altering her course to come around the nearest end.

    Breanna wasn’t listening. The wind had stirred the long grass on the bank of the brook, revealing a patch of red cloth for a moment. Puzzled, she walked toward the spot where she’d glimpsed the cloth.
    “Hello?” Keely said, moving closer to the bushes. “Are you lost?”
    A small sound. A click of pebble on stone. Breanna looked toward the bridge and saw the three riders, still distant, heading toward her. Liam, she thought affectionately. Coming for his daily brotherly inspection.
    “Don’t cry. You don’t have to be afraid. Are you lost?”
    Another click of pebble on stone. Another small sound, muted but still filled with agony. Dismissing Liam and his companions, she turned her attention back to the brook and moved closer.
    Keely rounded the end of the crescent, stopped when she was close to the middle of it, and asked, “
    Who are you?”
    Ashk reined in so hard and fast her horse almost tumbled over in its effort to obey. She patted its neck as both comfort and praise, but her attention was on the light wind blowing in her face.
    Selena and Liam pulled up and looked back at her.
    “Ashk?” Selena said.
    “Can’t you smell it?” A tremor went through Ashk’s body. “That smell. That scent .”
    Selena turned her face into the wind. “I don’t—” She gasped, then twisted in the saddle to look at the Hunter. “It’s coming from the direction of Nuala’s grave. And there’s someone near there.”
    “Breanna,” Liam