The House Of Gaian

right now. She’s traveling east to a place called Willowsbrook.” Gwynith touched Selena’s arm. “Lady, please. Let’s get some food and get warm. Then we can talk about whatever you wish.”
    Selena nodded. A few minutes later she was riding beside Gwynith, the escorts who had come with Gwynith riding ahead and behind them, followed by Gwynith’s four companions with their escorts.
    As they reached the clearing that held the shining road that led to Tir Alainn, Selena said, “I think I’d like to meet Lady Ashk.”
    Gwynith replied softly, “I know she’ll want to meet you.”

 

     
     

Chapter 11

 

     
     

     
    new moon
     
    As night gave way to dawn, Breanna watched the storm swiftly coming toward them over the Mother’s Hills. She rose from the bench beside the kitchen door and stretched her stiff muscles, listening for any sound that didn’t belong. When the sun went down yesterday, she and Gwenn had spent an hour arguing with Liam and Donovan about needing to be outside in order to receive whatever message might come through the Great Mother’s branches. Neither she nor Gwenn had been able to explain well enough that the message wasn’t carried on the elements, it was in the elements—something felt on the skin, breathed into the body, tasted. They had to be outside to read it properly.
    An open kitchen door and the bench beside it were as much of a compromise as either man—and Falco
    —was willing to make, since there were still nighthunters in the Old Place. They hadn’t seen any of the creatures, but they had found more rotting, half-eaten animals beneath dead trees. So the men led the animals to pastures in the morning and led them back to the small pasture near the stables every evening, the children were confined to the house once the sun set, and some of her kin, armed with bows and crossbows, kept watch each night—and she and Gwenn had had to promise they wouldn’t step more than a few paces away from the house until the sun rose.
    Hearing quiet sounds in the kitchen, she turned toward the door. Liam stepped out, rubbing his neck.
    “Gwenn’s put the kettle on for tea and is muttering about toasting some bread,” he said quietly. He leaned toward her and added, “I gathered she doesn’t greet the morning cheerfully under any circumstances.”
    “Did you get any sleep?” Breanna asked, studying him. “You look a bit rumpled.“ Which wasn’t surprising since he’d kept watch with her until after midnight, when Falco took his place.
    “A couple of hours,” Liam replied, still rubbing his neck. “Which is more than you got, unless you dozed off out here. And since you so kindly pointed out my rumpledness, I’ll point out that you’re looking a bit disheveled yourself.”
    Breanna looked away, hoping the dawn light was still pale enough to hide her blush. Sleep had been the last thing on her mind while Falco was keeping watch with her. But she didn’t think her older-brother-the-baron wanted to know that.
    She ran her fingers up between her breasts, checking to make sure she’d retied the tunic laces Falco had untied last night.
    “Where is Falco?” Liam asked.
    Breanna jolted and tried not to look guilty. There was no reason to feel guilty. She was a grown woman and could take a lover if she chose to. Why shouldn’t it be Falco? Until she’d gotten to know him, she hadn’t met a man who made her feel ripe and ... juicy. The feel of his hands as he caressed her breasts and the way his mouth—
    “Breanna?”
    “Hmm?”
    “Falco?”
    “Mmm, yes.”
    “Where. Is. He?”
    Mother’s tits! Her mind had drifted, and now Liam was giving her that narrow-eyed brotherly stare.
    “Is there anything you’d like to tell me?” Liam asked.
    She really didn’t think so. “About what?”
    “About Falco.”
    “He went over to the stables to check on the men standing watch. Storm’s coming,” she added, changing the subject.
    “Maybe more than one,” Liam replied not quite cryptically enough.

    Breanna crossed her arms over her chest. Gran wasn’t making a fuss about Falco’s interest. Why should Liam?
    The thought of her grandmother brought other uneasy thoughts. “Liam?”
    He was watching the storm. “Hmm?”
    “Do you think Gran’s becoming ill?”
    That got his full attention. “Why do you ask?”
    Breanna shrugged. “Fiona said Gran didn’t eat much at dinner last night and she went to bed shortly after we came back here.”
    “She was