The House Of Gaian

And Gran was more likely to confide in Elinore, who was only a generation younger and a mother herself. Yes, she needed to talk with Elinore at the first opportunity. And she’d keep a sharper eye on Jean. Fiona would help her with that.
    “I’m sure there’s nothing wrong with Gran that a good rest won’t cure,” Breanna told Keely with an assurance she didn’t feel.
    Keely nodded. “I’d better check on my helpers.” She narrowed her eyes and stared past Breanna’s shoulder. “Liam’s coming.”
    Turning, Breanna watched Liam, Donovan, Gwenn, and Varden striding toward the kitchen garden. Not wanting to waste time walking to one of the gates, she swung herself over the garden wall and hurried to meet them.
    Gwenn looked pale. The three men looked grim.
    “What is it?” she asked as soon as they met.
    “It’s begun,” Donovan said. “Thanks to Varden’s assistance, we’re hearing about it sooner than we would have otherwise.”
    “What?” Breanna demanded, her heart now thumping against her chest.
    Liam took her hand. “The barons of Arktos have crossed the border with an army. They’ve joined up with some of Sylvalan’s eastern barons.” His fingers tightened around hers. “They’re fighting in the north.
    ”
    Breanna tightened her own hold on his hand, finding comfort in his strength.
    Do no harm.
    The creed had shaped her life. Now it felt like a cherished luxury she had to wrap up and put away. The pang of regret was sharp enough to cut, and she hoped with all her heart that before too many seasons passed, she would be able to wrap herself in that creed again.
    “Come along then,” she said. “We’d better tell the others and make sure we’re as prepared as we can be for whatever the Inquisitors are aiming at us.”
    As she released Liam’s hand and walked toward the house, she suddenly realized Liam and Varden were following her, intent on listening carefully to what she was sensing, feeling, seeing in the world around her.
    She watched Falco glide toward the house, land, and change into his human form.
    Witches were the bridge between Fae and human. They’d always been the bridge, even if none of them had realized it. But she was the link here because her brother was a baron and the man who would soon be her lover was Fae—and because the Small Folk and the other witches in this Old Place would obey her commands.
    Nuala had been right. She carried a burden that went beyond her home and the Old Place in her family’s care. And now, as she reached the kitchen doorway, she felt the entire weight of that burden.

 

     
     

Chapter 24

 

     
     

     
    waxing moon
     
    Selena shifted restlessly, tangling the covers as the dream tangled her mind.
    The ground trembled. Not a disturbance that rose up from the land, but a force upon it. Rhythmic.
    Steady. Something that would be familiar if it weren’t so strong.
    Rhythmic. Steady.
    One-two. One-two.
    She recognized it now. Thousands of feet marching, striking the ground at the same time, making it tremble.
    Turning around, she saw the small waterfall and pool that was in one of the gardens at the school where the Grandmothers taught young witches. Now a small willow tree grew beside it. As she watched the play of sunlight and shadow on the leaves, she noticed a pink tinge to the water falling over stone. A pink tinge that deepened into bright red. The water thickened, splashing the willow’s leaves. Staining them red. Clots plopped on stone, slithered to the edge and clung there before falling into the pool that looked so dark it was almost black, hiding the things she sensed floating just beneath the surface.
    And the ground trembled.
    Stumbling out of bed, Selena half fell across the other narrow bed in the room, and gave Gwynith a hard shake.
     
    “What?” Gwynith mumbled.
    “Get up,” Selena said. She held a finger near the bedside candle. Fire leaped to the wick. Satisfied, she pulled off her nightgown, rolled it into a ball, then stuffed it into her saddlebags. Cursing softly, she pulled it out again to reach the clean underclothes.
    After pulling on her underclothes, she paused long enough to give Gwynith another hard shake. “Get up.
    Now .”
    Gwynith raised her head off the pillow. “Still dark,” she complained.
    “Fine. Then I’ll ride out without you. You can catch up when you can.”
    That roused Gwynith enough to prop herself on one elbow. “What’s wrong?”
    “I had a dream.” Out loud, it