The House Of Gaian

before answering. “Do you accept that you are a Lord of the Woods?”
    He shrugged, looking uncomfortable. “That’s not the same thing.”
    “Do you accept what you are?”
    “Yes,” he said reluctantly.
    Ashk nodded. “Yes. You’re Fae, Neall. Looks alone are not what determines who is and isn’t Fae. It’s the gift of the other form, and our command of the animals in our world, that separates us from the humans and the wiccanfae. And you, my young stag, cannot deny that you have that gift.”
    “But...”
    “Your mother was a witch, but she was born of a witch mother and a Fae father. And your father was born of human and Fae. Those matings made you what you are.”
    “Ashk...”
    “As the Hunter, I command you, young Lord. And as the Hunter, I am telling you what I require of you.”
    Looking troubled, Neall stepped forward and fetched his own canteen.
    Ashk took another mouthful of water, closed her canteen, and dropped it on the grass at her feet. She waited until he had slaked his thirst before speaking, keeping her eyes focused on the meadow, knowing intuitively that he’d listen with less protest if she wasn’t looking directly at him.
    “Padrick and I have talked,” she said quietly, “and we’ve decided some things that concern you. I’ve told the Clan bard, so he’ll stand as witness, but Padrick needs to do things the human way because of his estate and because he’s a baron, so he’s having his man of business draw up the papers naming you the guardian of Evan and Caitlin.”
    “Ashk—”
    “It’s necessary,” she said sharply, cutting him off. “If something happens to Padrick, Evan becomes the next Baron of Breton. But he’s still a child, and he’ll need someone who can teach him what it means to be a good baron. You lived in a baron’s house when you were growing up. You understand how to run an estate and what the people need. You can teach him those things.” She took a deep breath to steady herself, feeling her stomach clench at the thought of having to say the next words. “And if something should happen to Evan, Padrick has named you his second heir.”
    “Ashk—”
    “It’s proper,” she said, giving him a slashing look that silenced him. “It’s customary for the title of baron to be passed from father to eldest son, but a baron can name anyone his heir, whether he has sons or not.
    Padrick has cousins, but none that he feels would rule Breton and this county the way it needs to be ruled, none who would understand the wants and needs of all the people who live here—the Fae, the humans, the wiccanfae, and the Small Folk, too.” Watching him, she smiled at his discomfort. “The Small Folk have always been wary of the Fae, even here where we live in the world and walk the same woods, but they do talk to the Green Lady, and I’ve heard quite a bit about the young Lord of the Woods and the witch who has taken him for her husband. ‘Look here now, Lady Ashk’”—she lowered her voice to imitate one of the small men—“ ‘It’s a fine thing for Lady Ari to be giving us a bit of cream or butter that’
    s more than she has use for, and it’s a fine thing for the young Lord to offer us a bit of beef. It’s a treat to have them, so it is, but we’re a wee bit worried that they’re leaving their own table too lean, if you see what we’re saying.’ And I lie with an honest heart and assure them that I’ve never known the stew to be thin of meat or that either of you did without butter or cream,” she finished in her own voice.
    “We have enough,” Neall muttered.
    “And it harms no one if the stew is a little thin on meat every now and again. The fact is, the Small Folk feel easy with you and Ari, and that’s not something to dismiss.” Ashk hesitated, then sighed. “There’s one other thing. If the fight comes to Breton, I want you to take Ari up to Tir Alainn. I want you to take Evan and Caitlin and the other children as well. And I want you to stay with them.”
    Temper flashed in Neall’s eyes. “A baron’s heir, when he’s a grown man, doesn’t run from a fight.
    Neither does a Lord of the Woods.”
    “It would be easier to stay,” Ashk agreed. “I—and Padrick— need you to go.”
    “There are enough elders who stay in Tir Alainn who could look after the children.”
    “The Fae children, yes, but not the human ones. Tir Alainn will be strange to them, and they’ll need someone they can look to who understands their