The House Of Gaian

or insisting there was a difference. Instead, he’d pointed out the Clan was too nervous about giving offense to any of the Mother’s Daughters to be able to shrug off getting caught by a love charm’s magic. And he’d added brutally that no man would want to endure Jean any longer than it took to have her.
    “She can’t stay with Liam,” Breanna said. “Besides, he’s letting Lord Varden’s men use his home as a resting place since we’ve no room for them here.” And having Jean among those men would be begging for trouble—especially when Liam and Falco were cautiously introducing some of the Fae Lords to the human gentry in Willowsbrook so that both sides would recognize the other as an ally. And Varden and Donovan, with Gwenn’s help, were working out a way to send messages from one side of the Mother’s Hills to the other by using the bridges in Tir Alainn to shorten the time required to travel from one place to another and Gwenn’s connection to kin in the Mother’s Hills to give messengers a route through the hills instead of having to go around them.
    Breanna sighed. She was glad to have their help and their company, but Gwenn and Donovan should have left with the other midland barons who had come to Willowsbrook. A war was coming, and their own people needed them. But Gwenn had insisted that she needed to stay, that there was something she needed to do here before she could go home. She couldn’t explain it, wasn’t even sure what it was—but she was certain it had something to do with Selena.
    A common enemy hadn’t brought human and Fae together to make a determined effort to work together.
    A witch, powerful enough to shake the Fae’s world and threaten their way of life, had frightened them into coming down from Tir Alainn and making their presence felt in the world. Because of Selena, the world would never be the same—for humans or the Fae.
    “Of course, we went and told Elinore and Mother right away,” Keely said, pulling Breanna back to the conversation she didn’t want to have. “That’s why Jean had to help Glynis with the washing.”
    And that explained the new lock that Clay had put on the pantry door.
    “Gran didn’t mention it,” Breanna murmured, trying not to feel hurt at being excluded by her grandmother from something that affected her home.
    “Elinore said they should tell you, but Mother said she’d tell you later,” Keely said. “She said she and Elinore could deal with the household—both households, since they have to take care of things for Liam, too—but you were shouldering the burdens of dealing with the world beyond the Old Place and didn’t need the burdens of the household added to it.”
    “What burdens do I have?”
    Keely chewed on her lower lip. “The Fae,” she said thoughtfully. “Every time Liam makes a suggestion to them, they want to know if you approve of it. They’re afraid of you, so they won’t do anything if they think it will make you angry with them.”
    Breanna’s mouth fell open. “Why would they be afraid of me?”
    Keely gave her a look that was both childlike and wise. “You were going to shoot them.”
    Suddenly feeling uncomfortable, she shrugged. “Yes. Well.”
    “And you made that Lightbringer man go away, and he’s very powerful. So they don’t want you mad at them.”
    She wasn’t sure she liked being feared. After all, she’d only done and said those things to protect her home and family. And while the information was certainly useful, she was going to have to talk to Nuala about Keely’s sudden habit of listening to conversations Breanna doubted she was meant to hear.

    “Is Mother sick?” Keely asked abruptly.
    Tension slammed into Breanna, tightening muscles until she had to work to breathe. “Why do you think that?”
    “She gets tired so much. She never used to get tired until nighttime.”
    The tension turned cold, shivered through muscles. She’d noticed the same thing, and Liam’s reassurance that Nuala’s fatigue was a reasonable reaction to the strain had dulled the worry but hadn’t relieved it.
    Her grandmother had been her emotional anchor, had provided the practical wisdom that had taught her how to be a witch and a woman. Was Nuala ill and hiding it? Or was it simply a need for more rest to deal with the turmoil? Had Elinore noticed anything?
    Gran would deny whatever she didn’t want to reveal, but Elinore ... Surely Elinore would tell her if there was anything to tell.