“You were giving the girls a little time to figure out what to do about those bad instructions,” Daemonar said. “And Auntie J. does give good advice, even if she sometimes adds a whack upside the head to make sure the advice sticks.”
Daemon sipped his coffee and studied the boy. It hadn’t been a flippant decision to help the girls. The choice of leaving in the middle of the night was also not a flippant decision. It would be hours before most of the people in the Hall knew Zoey was missing and might guess a young Queen was seeking help beyond the rules of the game.
But once someone knew and might start to worry about being discovered . . .
Daemon raised his right hand and released a ripple of power from the Black Jewel in his ring. That ripple engaged all the Black shields in the Hall’s exterior walls, trapping everyone inside. Then he released more Black power to create a Black shield around part of the estate, starting at the bridge and creek that formed a boundary between the estate and Halaway and extending to the north woods, where the wolf pack would keep watch for anyone attempting to enter or leave. It was by no means the whole of the estate, but he hadn’t sensed any humans anywhere they shouldn’t be, so shielding that much would do for now.
“Uncle Daemon?” The boy sounded worried.
The High Lord smiled. “We don’t want anyone else scampering off, do we?”
Daemonar looked wary but said, “No, sir, we don’t. With your permission, I’ll pull the Warlord Princes out of the court exercises to patrol as a group.”
“Under your hand?”
“Under my command, but under your hand. We’ll report to you, Beale, or Holt—and receive information from the three of you so that we can assist in . . . suppressing . . . trouble before it goes too far.”
Pulling the Warlord Princes out of the exercises and keeping them under control would reduce the possibility of someone like Raeth snapping the leash and hurting another boy because a cruel command had pushed a Warlord Prince too far.
“Very well.” Daemon thought for a moment. “Where is the tiger?”
“Still in Grizande’s room. I’m going to ask Allis to keep him company. That will keep both of them from fretting while the girls are gone.”
Oh, he doubted it would keep the Sceltie from fretting, since Zoey had broken the rules by not taking Allis with her, but it would delay Allis’s announcing to everyone that Zoey wasn’t where she was supposed to be.
And once Zoey returned and Allis got done explaining things, he doubted the girl would break that particular rule again.
Brenda sat up in bed, shivering and unsure as she hesitantly sent out a psychic probe. Something had roused her from sleep.
Her probe hit an unyielding Black shield.
“What?” Raine said, resting a hand on her arm.
“Something’s wrong,” she whispered.
He propped himself up on one elbow. After a minute he said, “Black shield?”
“Around the whole of the Hall.”
“That’s not good.” Raine scrubbed a hand over his hair. “I wasn’t at the Hall during that disastrous house party, but I saw some of what Sadi—what the Sadist—could and would do in response to someone putting children at risk.”
“What should we do?”
“Nothing. The Black is awake and aware—and may already be hunting.” Raine paused. “And Daemonar is already awake and aware—and declining to answer any questions right now. But he suggests we remain alert for any behavior that comes close to crossing a line.”
Brenda didn’t resist when Raine nudged her back under the covers. Resting her head on his shoulder, she said, “Maybe the servants and I were a bit too enthusiastic creating Lady Dumm’s faults. Maybe crude manners and bad behavior gave someone the idea for going further and doing actual harm.”
“Maybe,” Raine agreed. “But if they did, the tendency to do harm was already there, and the person suggesting a Queen do that harm puts a whole court at risk, to say nothing of the damage done to the people under that Queen’s hand.”
“But what happened in the middle of the night to have Prince Sadi locking the Hall?”
Raine kissed her. “We’ll find out in a few hours.”
SIXTY-SIX
Lucivar stood on the flagstones outside his eyrie and watched the sun rise. There were mornings when he enjoyed standing here watching the lights go on in the village of Riada—and watching the sky fill with light. There were other mornings—like this one—when he was damn well going to kick someone’s ass for dragging him out of bed at this hour for what amounted to a pissing contest instead of a real threat to his home or the people under his hand.
His only satisfaction, for the moment, was knowing that Daemon had been awake long before a chilly psychic tap on an Ebon-gray thread had rousted Lucivar out of bed. Two witchlings had scampered off in the wee hours of the morning, heading for Ebon Askavi to have a chat with Witch, and should reach the Keep anytime now.
Lucky for the girls that Witch no longer had a physical body. When Jaenelle had been alive, she had not been friendly first thing in the morning.
The eyrie’s front door opened. Marian came out holding mugs of coffee.
“Is someone in trouble?” she asked, handing him a mug.
“Probably,” he replied.
“Our children?”
“Oh, I’m sure at least one of them had a hand in whatever has Daemon stirred up so early in the day.”
“It would be smarter to let him get enough sleep before dumping trouble on him.”
Lucivar laughed softly. “It would have been smarter if they hadn’t started the trouble in the first place, but since they did start it, I guess this is another day we start early.”
“Do you want breakfast?”
Lucivar drew her to him and gave her a warm kiss. “I’ll get something at the Keep once the witchlings . . .” He didn’t see a Coach arriving at the Keep, but he knew the moment the Sapphire set foot on Ebon Askavi. He handed the mug back to Marian. “Looks like I’m heading there now.”
“Bring them here after their audience with Witch. You won’t want to be in a Coach very long with girls that age until they have time to settle.”
“Yeah.” At least there were only two of them. Of course two, full of girl drama, could make a man feel like he was dealing with two dozen.
Before he stuffed them into a Coach for the return journey, maybe he should find out if Daemon really wanted them back.
Blowing out a breath, Lucivar stepped away from Marian, spread his wings, and flew to Ebon Askavi.
Keeping one hand around Zoela Queen’s arm to prevent her from bolting back to the Coach, Grizande pounded on the door. Big door. She wondered if there were still beings in the Realms that needed a door that size. Best not to think of that right now, since she didn’t know what actually lived in this mountain.
She banged her fist against the door a second time before it opened silently.
She stared at the Seneschal. Human, but in a way that had Grizande’s hackles rising, had her claws flexing.
The Seneschal stared back and said, “Yess?”
When Zoela Queen remained mute, Grizande growled, “Zoela Queen needs wisdom from Queen who is more than a Queen.” She shook Zoela Queen’s arm. “Show coin.”
Zoela Queen held out the coin she’d been clutching all the way to the Keep.
The coin vanished. The Seneschal turned and said, “Follow me.”
Given how long it took them to reach the part of the Keep that she remembered from the last visit, Grizande figured she must have chosen the wrong landing web. But she’d guided the Coach to the only landing web that had a beacon she could detect, so maybe the landing web near the Queen’s part of the Keep was only for Warlord Princes like Yaslana and shielded against everyone else.