Twilight's Dawn

front in a minute.” He closed the doors.
    Lucivar looked at Daemon. “Did you ask for a carriage to be brought around?”
    “Apparently.”
    “Did you think to ask for hot coffee and something to eat?”
    Daemon said blandly, “We’ll have to find out.”

    Surreal paced the corridor, guarding the guest rooms that held Beron and Haeze. At the midway point, she passed Ladvarian, who trotted in the opposite direction. At the end of the corridor, they both turned and resumed their patrol.
    The restless pacing wasn’t necessary. She could have sat in one place and used a psychic probe to remain aware of everything and everyone in and around those rooms, but she needed to move.
    All right, the truth was she wanted to go after the son of a whoring bitch who had hurt at least one boy she liked and a woman she considered a friend. She wanted to rip and tear and stab until the enemy was nothing more than a bloody pile of shit. Or find her prey and make the kill quietly, using one of those elegant death spells Sadi had taught her so many years ago.
    So damn hard to pace and wait. Since he hadn’t been with them, Rainier would have better luck coaxing information out of Haeze, and her presence in the room would interfere with that. She was more than useless in Beron’s room while Jaenelle was working on the delicate healing needed to restore the boy’s vision, hearing, and voice.
    Then Ladvarian froze. Surreal called in her favorite stiletto and stood still, listening.
    *It’s Tildee,* Ladvarian said. *She is tired. Mikal is upset. They are with Tersa.*
    *Sadi!* Surreal called. *Tildee and Mikal are with Tersa.*
    *We’re almost at the cottage,* he replied.
    *Any news about Sylvia?*
    A hesitation. *She’s with the High Lord.*
    He didn’t need to say more.

    “The Mikal boy is upset,” Tersa said, blocking the stairs that led to the bedrooms. “The Sceltie is upset and says they must hide.”
    Daemon wasn’t sure if she was asking for clarification or warning him not to push. He took her hands because sometimes physical contact helped her mind stay focused on the mundane world instead of wandering down a path in the Twisted Kingdom.
    “Beron is injured, and Sylvia is dead,” he said gently. “I need to see Mikal to make sure he wasn’t harmed before Tildee got him away from that place.”
    “Oh,” Tersa said softly. “He’s so young to lose his mother.”
    I was younger when I was taken from you , Daemon thought as he drew her away from the stairs.
    “Perhaps some warm milk?” Tersa looked at him, then at Lucivar.
    “Do you need help making it?” Lucivar asked.
    “No, I can warm milk.”
    She walked down the hallway to the kitchen, leaving them to climb the stairs.
    Mikal was in the “Mikal boy’s” bedroom, since he was Tersa’s most frequent guest. The covers were pulled out and rumpled, which Daemon found alarming, since it looked like a struggle had taken place. Then he saw part of Tildee’s head poking out from the covers at the bottom of the bed. She had done the rumpling to have a hiding place from which she could easily attack. And since Mikal was pressed against the headboard on the side of the bed farthest from the door and would draw a person’s eye first, an intruder moving toward the boy would put himself in a position to receive intimate damage from a pissed-off Sceltie with sharp teeth. Even if the intruder’s shield held against her Summer-sky, the clash of power would alert everyone nearby that there was trouble.
    “Lady Tildee, please attend,” Lucivar said. “Prince Sadi needs to speak to Lord Mikal.”
    Using the formal titles turned the request into a command.
    Tildee wiggled out from under the covers and followed Lucivar downstairs.
    Daemon sat on the edge of the bed near Mikal. “Are you hurt?” he asked quietly.
    Mikal shook his head. Then he frowned and pushed up one sleeve. “Well, my arm hurts a little, but Tildee didn’t mean it. She grabbed me and said we had to run and hide. Mother said so. I wanted to find out why, but Tildee wouldn’t let go of my arm, so we left, and she wouldn’t stop, and it took a long time to ride the Winds, and then we were here, and Tildee told Tersa that something bad had happened, but she didn’t know what the bad thing was, only that we were supposed to hide.”
    Daemon lightly brushed his fingertips over Mikal’s arm. The Sceltie hadn’t broken the skin, but she’d clamped down hard enough to leave bruises.
    “Prince?