The House Of Gaian

Liam took a couple of deep breaths to steady himself.
    “You won’t find out anything until you open the door,” Donovan said, coming up beside him.
    Bracing himself for another encounter, Liam opened the door, took two steps inside the room, and stopped. The table was strewn with tea things and a large bowl of water.
    “Look,” Breanna said, giving him a sloppy smile. “It’s Liam. And he’s wearing his baron’s face.”
    Selena looked blearily at the men. “How can you tell?”
    “I’m his sister. I can tell. And if you don’t believe me, I will phoof you.” Breanna struggled into an upright position. “ Phoof .”
    A gust of wind lifted Selena’s hair.
    “Well,” Selena said. “I’ll phoof you back. Phoof .”
    A gust of wind blew Breanna’s hair around her face.
    They both collapsed in their seats, giggling.

    Gwenn stared sadly at the bowl of water. “I can’t phoof. I just burble.”
    The water in the bowl rose in the center, creating a small fountain that... burbled.
    Donovan just shook his head as he walked around the couch to get a good look at his wife. “What have you been drinking?”
    “Tea,” Gwenn said, spoiling the prim tone with a hiccup.
    Donovan picked up the cup and sniffed. “This isn’t tea.”
    “It’s in a teacup. Therefore, it is tea.”
    Donovan put the cup down, kissed his wife’s forehead, and picked her up. “Come on, Gwenny, you need to take a little nap now.”
    “Don’t want any chicken soup,” Gwenn said, pouting.
    “Just a little nap.” Donovan carried her out of the room.
    Liam looked at the two women who were staring rather owlishly back at him and raked his fingers through his hair. If anyone had asked him what he’d expected to find when he walked into the room, three tipsy witches wasn’t it. What was he supposed to do with these two?
    “Well,” Breanna said, slowly getting to her feet. “I’d better get home and give Gran a hand with things.”
    She took a step forward and teetered.
    Liam caught her, wrapping one arm around her waist.
    Selena stood up. “And I’d better... do something, too.” She took a couple of tottering steps and fell against him, almost sending the three of them to the floor.
    “The only thing either of you is going to do is take a nap,” Liam said sternly, trying to turn them around to head them toward the door.
    “Oh, phoof,” Breanna said.
    “No more phoofing,” Liam said.
    “Do you have children?” Selena asked.
    When he turned to look at her, he realized all it would take was bending his head just a little to indulge in a kiss. Heat washed through him. “No, I don’t have children.”
    “Funny. You sound just like my father.”
    Liam sighed. “Come along, you two.”
    He’d finally gotten them into the hall when someone pounded on the front door. Suddenly, Varden was there, an arrow nocked in his bow before Sloane could reach for the door.
    As soon as Sloane opened the door, a Fae woman rushed inside. The man with her, seeing Varden, grabbed her and pulled her behind him, shielding her from the arrow.
    “It’s Gwynith,” Selena said. “You missed tea,” she added— and hiccuped.

    “Lady Selena?” Gwynith stepped away from her escort. “Are you all right? I waited for you at the Old Place, but when you didn’t return ...” She frowned. “Selena?”
    “She needs a nap,” Liam said.
    “Yes, I can see that.” Gwynith hurried over to slip Selena’s arm across her shoulders. “I’ll help you—”
    She looked at Liam.
    “She’s using my mother’s room. Upstairs.”
    Gwynith sighed. “Stairs. All right then. Up we go.”
    Selena balked at the foot of the stairs. “I won’t take a nap unless you promise to do something.”
    “Whatever I can,” Gwynith replied.
    “Tell the Sleep Sister I don’t want to dream tonight.”
    “I'll tell her, Selena.”
    “Do you know where she is?”
    “No, but I’ll tell her anyway.”
    Hoping that wasn’t supposed to make sense, Liam half carried Breanna up the stairs, paused long enough to point out his mother’s room to Gwynith, then led his tipsy witch to Brooke’s room.
    He dumped her on the bed and knelt down to remove her boots.
    “It hurts, Liam,” Breanna said quietly.
    He looked up, wondering how undoing her boot laces could hurt. Then he looked into her eyes and realized she wasn’t quite as tipsy as he’d thought.
    “It hurts,” she said again. She pressed a fist over her heart. “In here. What Selena did, she did