The Pillars Of The World

I have an answer to give Neall the next time I see him.”
    Lucian was waiting for her when she got to her rooms at the Clan house.
    “As we live and breathe, Dianna, what were you thinking of?” he shouted.
    Already worried, Dianna put spurs to her temper and let it run. As she slammed the door, she shouted back, “I could say the same about you!”
    “ I didn’t know she was a witch when I accepted the promise she made at the Summer Moon. And if I remember right, you were the one who encouraged me to accept it.”
    “You still wouldn’t have known if I hadn’t been visiting and found out.”
    Lucian’s voice got quiet and deadly. “But you knew before tonight. You knew before the rest of us. Oh, yes, I figured out where Aiden got his information about the pentagram. So tell me, sister, just why have you been visiting Ari?”
    “Because I was concerned about you !” Dianna stopped, paced, made some effort to rein in her temper.
    “You’ve never shown that much interest in a human female before. I wanted to see for myself what kind of person she was.”
    “That explains the first time you went there. It doesn’t explain the rest.”
    “What rest?” Dianna snapped, feeling more and more cornered.
    “You kept going back,” Lucian said, his hands curling into fists. “Why? And why give her a useless puppy? Did you think I wouldn’t recognize the little mongrel? Especially when I’d seen it right here in our own gardens?”
    “It has no value to us, but it’s not useless to her!” Dianna pressed her lips together.
    “It’s easy to give away something that has no meaning, isn’t it?”
    You should talk , Dianna thought furiously. And then realized that was exactly where some of Lucian’s anger was coming from. “I did no harm.”
    “No harm?” Lucian stared at her. “No harm ? She’s a witch! . You felt, and saw, the way she drew the magic out of the land. If she hadn’t released it again, would we have had a home to come back to tonight?”
    “You can’t lay this all on my shoulders, Lucian. You can’t .”
    “ Why were you there tonight ?” he roared.
    The truth burst out of her. “ Because I like her !” She tried to stop . . . and couldn’t. Tears filled her eyes, spilled over. “I like her. I didn’t want to, had never intended to go there more than once. I went the first time because I was concerned about you. I went back the second time because I was curious about her.

    But I kept going back because I like her.” She brushed the tears off her face. “Tonight I just wanted her to have a little fun. She told me there’s a Midsummer celebration in the village, with music and dancing, but she’s not welcome there because she’s a witch. And we would be celebrating the Solstice here, with music and dancing and a feast. And she would have been alone. I didn’t want her to be alone.”
    Lucian sat on the window seat. His shoulders sagged. He sighed. “I know. That’s why I went to Brightwood tonight.” He smiled wryly. “Poor Aiden. No wonder he was so tense when he told me you had already engaged him and Lyrra to perform at a special celebration.”
    Hopeful that the storm between them had passed, Dianna took a couple of steps toward her brother. “
    Aiden wasn’t nearly as upset as Falco. He’d threatened to tell you we were going to Brightwood unless we took him with us—and then you showed up.”
    Lucian chuckled. “Served him right.”
    As amusement and anger faded, she saw the hurt and confusion underneath. “You care about her, don’t you?”
    He wouldn’t look at her. “Yes, I care. I don’t want to. At least, not this much. But I do care.” He hesitated. “I did have another reason for going there tonight.”
    “I can think of one obvious one,” Dianna said dryly.
    He shook his head. “One of those louts from the village has asked her to marry him, and she’s actually considering it. I couldn’t see any reason why she would do that unless she couldn’t stand being so lonely anymore. So I thought. . .” He raked his fingers through his hair. “I’ve visited most of the Clans here in Sylvalan—the eastern and midland ones, anyway. I even visited a couple of Clans in Arktos before they completely disappeared. And in learning how to deal with the human world, I’ve seen a good part of Sylvalan as well. The farthest she’s ever gone is a coastal town a day’s journey from Brightwood. She knows little of stories and music. She knows