The Pillars Of The World

spinning and weaving.”
    Morag smiled. “I’d guess that if a horse doesn’t need it or can’t do it, he hasn’t paid any attention to it.
    So you might want to draw rough sketches of things while you finish that list. It’ll save you both frustration.”
    Ari laughed. “That’s a good thought.” She paused, and asked shyly, “What are you going to do now?”
    Some subtle shift of expression altered Morag’s face, making Ari shiver. This was not the Gatherer who would gently release a spirit from a suffering, dying body. This was the face Ari imagined men would see when Morag rode for vengeance. “I have to go to Tir Alainn for a little while.”
    Adolfo finished his cup of tea and dabbed his lips with a napkin that had Felston’s family crest embroidered in one corner. He looked at the teapot, as if debating having another cup. In truth, he was simply enjoying the way Baron Felston squirmed with impatience—a captive host chained to his own breakfast table by a show of good manners.
    And he also wanted a little more time to consider what he’d been told yesterday.
    Felston’s daughter, Odella, had needed no persuasion to spew her story about the witch who had stolen the Fae lover who had gotten her with child. He didn’t believe for one moment that a Fae Lord had pleasured himself with a girl as repulsive as Odella. Oh, she was pretty enough, but the moment she opened her mouth, any man with sense would have realized the pretty face and comely body weren’t worth enduring the girl herself.
    But the story about the Fae Lord had been a sharp reminder that the Fae were in evidence around here.
    If one of them had been enjoying himself with the witch, he might cause some trouble. If he found out what happened to her. But it would be simple enough to focus his attention elsewhere.
    Out of the corner of his eye, Adolfo studied Royce, the baron’s son. A thwarted lover, perhaps?
    Whatever the reason for Royce’s sullen anger, the young man could be easily persuaded to create a diversion while the witch was brought back to the baron’s estate to be dealt with. Not that he would explain it that way to Royce.
    “You say this man, Ahern, takes an interest in the witch?” Adolfo asked.
    “He tends to know what’s happening at Brightwood,” Felston replied sourly.
    Adolfo pushed his chair back and rose. “In that case, I think it would be wise to take a look at this man and determine how much trouble he might be.”
    “And how are you planning to do that?”
    Adolfo smiled gently. “I’m going to buy a horse.”
    Dianna looked at Morag expectantly. “It’s done?”
    “No,” Morag said quietly. “Nor will it be done. Neall is a young man with a full life ahead of him. I will not gather his spirit before his time.”
    Anger rushed through Dianna, swelling until it filled her. “Ari has to stay. He has to be eliminated. For the good of Tir Alainn—and for the good of the Fae.”
    “The Fae can hold the shining road through the Veil.”
    “We’ve never tried. You don’t know that for sure.” Dianna paced, turned back to face Morag. “Even if we can, how many of us will it take? How many would have to stay in the . . . human . . . world, sacrificing themselves?”
    “You won’t give anything but you’re willing to sacrifice two young people’s lives?”
    “They’re not Fae! Besides, we wouldn’t be sacrificing Ari. We’ll take care of her.”
    Morag stared at her until Dianna had to resist the urge to squirm.
    “As what?” Morag asked softly. “A favorite pet? Someone whose life is contained so that it fits what we want? Is that what it comes down to, Dianna? We are the Fae, and the humans, the witches, the Small Folk, the world are there for our amusement and our pleasure?”
    “We are the Fae,” Dianna insisted. “We are the Mother’s Children.”
    She wasn’t sure what to think when Morag suddenly shivered and wrapped her arms around herself.
    “Where is your loyalty, Morag?”

    Oh, the change in that face, in those eyes.
    “That is not a question you should ask me, Huntress,” Morag said.
    “He has to be eliminated.”
    “The Fae can hold the roads.”
    “How many of us?” Dianna demanded. “Do you know?”
    “No, I don’t. So you would be wise to pack food and whatever else you value the most and bring it down to the human world. You would be wise to have the Clan come down to Brightwood in case the road does close. Then the Clan will be safe, and you’ll