by Linda Howard
Ignoring his explanation just as she had numerous times in the past, Mercy asked, “Are you going to Reno to make sure he’s all right and see what you can do to help him?” If she didn’t have her hands full here at the Sanctuary, she could be on the next plane out of Asheville. But dealing with Judah Ansara was just about all she could handle right now.
“Dante said for us to stay put, that he can handle things without help from either us. But he’s going to be pretty busy for the next few days, so don’t worry if he’s not in touch with us for a while.”
“If you talk to him again, give him my love. Tell him…Gideon?”
“What’s the matter?”
“Nothing,” she lied. “It’s just…I worry about you and Dante.”
“We’re big boys. We can take care of ourselves. You just keep the home fires burning and take care of Eve.”
“I can do that.”
“I’ve got to go.”
“I love you,” Mercy said.
“Yeah, me too.”
Mercy replaced the receiver, then sighed heavily. Could she really take care of Eve now that she had to protect her from her own father? She hadn’t seen Judah since late last night and had no idea where he was this morning. He wasn’t in the house, that she knew for certain. She would have sensed his presence. For the time being Eve was safe from him. But where was he, and what was he doing? Plotting against me, Mercy thought. He’s probably making plans to take Eve.
Or worse.
The Ansara were not like the Raintree, but they weren’t like mere mortals, either. Given the right provocation, they could and would kill their own offspring. The evil that had taken root inside them centuries ago had altered the entire clan, making a once kindred tribe of the Raintree their sworn enemies. Judah was Ansara. He was evil. She couldn’t allow herself to believe otherwise, no matter how much she wished she could.
During the past seven years, she had tried countless ways to erase her memories of the night she had spent in his arms, a willing pupil, giving herself to him completely, yearning to learn all that he could teach her. Thoughts of his lips on hers, of his large, strong hands tenderly caressing her body, his heated words of passion, tormented her, reminding her what a reckless young fool she had been. And far too trusting.
But she would not make that mistake again.
7:00 a.m.
“What do you mean, you don’t know where he is?” Sidonia glared at Mercy. “Didn’t he stay here last night?”
Mercy set the table for four, instinctively knowing Judah would join them. Wherever he was, he hadn’t left the sanctuary. If he had, she would know. She felt the presence of every living creature within the boundaries of their nine hundred and ninety-nine acres. Her domain. Her responsibility.
“He didn’t stay inside the house,” Mercy replied. “But he is still here.”
“Humph.” Sidonia busied herself with meal preparations but kept glancing toward Mercy, checking on her. As Sidonia took ingredients from the cupboards, her back to Mercy, she said, “I heard the phone ring quite early this morning…”
“Gideon called. There was a fire at Dante’s casino. He’s fine, but apparently there was extensive damage, enough so that the fire will probably be reported on the national news.”
Mercy sensed Judah’s presence the moment he entered the room, only seconds after she had spoken.
“I’m surprised that one of your Raintree psychics wasn’t able to predict the fire,” he said.
Mercy didn’t respond as she crossed the room to the pantry, removed paper napkins and laid one at each place setting. Sidonia glowered at him but also said nothing.
“We need to talk,” Judah told Mercy. “Privately.”
“Sidonia is preparing breakfast. Will you join us? Eve will be down soon, and I assume you would like to see her before you leave.”
Judah’s lips curved slightly, as if he were amused with Mercy. “Interesting. A Raintree being hospitable to an Ansara.”
“Not just any Ansara. You are, after all, Eve’s father.”
“A fact you would prefer to forget, one that you kept secret from me and your brothers for six years.”
“I can be reasonable if you can,” Mercy said, finally looking directly at Judah. She wished she hadn’t. He was not a man she could ignore on any level. Physical, mental…sexual…
“And being reasonable would entail…?” he asked.
“I am willing for you to visit Eve. We can arrange a—”
“No.”
“If you prefer not to see her, that’s—”
“I prefer to take her with me.”
“I won’t allow you to do that.”
“I didn’t say I would take her with me, only that it’s what I’d prefer to do.”
The kitchen door swung open. Wearing pink footed pajamas and carrying a seen-better-days stuffed lion in one hand, Eve bounded into the room. She rushed first to Mercy, who scooped her into her arms and gave her a good morning hug and kiss. With Eve on her hip, Mercy eyed Judah. “We will finish our discussion in private after breakfast.”
“Is Daddy going to eat breakfast with us?” Eve asked.
“Yes, he is,” Mercy replied.
Eve squirmed until Mercy set her on her feet, at which point she walked over to Judah and looked up at him. “Good morning.”
“Good morning.” Judah studied his daughter.
Eve waited. Mercy knew her child expected Judah to respond to her in some fatherly way, to ruffle her hair or kiss her or begin a conversation with her. When he didn’t, Eve took matters into her own hands. She held her stuffed lion up in front of her, showing him to Judah.
“I have lots of animals and dolls,” Eve said. “This one is my favorite. I picked him out myself when I was little, didn’t I, Mother?” She glanced at Eve, who nodded agreement. “His name is Jasper.”
Judah’s expression hardened as if Eve had said something that upset him.
“Are you mad at me, Daddy?” Eve asked.
“No.”
“What are you thinking?” Eve stared questioningly at Judah. “I can’t read your thoughts at all, but that’s okay. Mommy won’t let me read hers, either.”
“When I was a boy, I had a pet lion—a real one,” Judah said.
“And his name was Jasper, wasn’t it?” Eve beamed with delight, as if she had solved some important puzzle.
“Yes” was all Judah said.
Eve lifted her arm, reached out and grasped Judah’s hand. For an instant her eyes flickered, turning from green to gold and then back to green. Mercy’s heart stopped for a millisecond.
I imagined it, Mercy tried to tell herself. But she knew better. Something powerful had occurred between Judah and Eve, even if neither of them was aware of it.
Mercy knew. She felt it down to her bones.
All during breakfast, Eve chatted away like a little magpie, filling Judah in on her likes, her dislikes, her daily routine. Basically, she told him the story of her life. Mercy picked at her food, but Judah ate heartily.
“If you’re finished, we can go into the study now,” Mercy told Judah as she scooted back her chair and stood.
He glanced over his shoulder at Sidonia. “The breakfast was delicious. Thank you.”
Sidonia snarled, giving him a withering glare.
He chuckled, then tossed down his napkin and stood. He waved his hand in a gentlemanly gesture and said, “After you.”
Eve hopped out of her chair. “Me too.”
“No,” Mercy said. “You stay here with Sidonia. Judah…your father and I need—”
“You’re going to talk about me.” Eve planted her hands on her hips and frowned. “I should be there so I can tell you both what I think.”
“No.” Mercy shook her head.
“Yes.” Eve stomped her foot.
“You will stay with Sidonia.”
Eve looked at Judah. “I want to go, too. Please, Daddy.”
Before Judah had a chance to respond,
Mercy said, “Enough, young lady. You will stay with Sidonia.” She glared at Judah, daring him to contradict her.
Suddenly an empty glass flew off the table and crashed against the wall, then another and another. Within a minute, every dish, glass and cup on the table flew into the air, whirling around in a frenzy, then one by one crashed to the floor and smashed into shards of glass and pottery.
Mercy narrowed her gaze and concentrated on her daughter, using her powers to counteract Eve’s and put an end to the temper tantrum. With each passing year, Eve’s talents grew stronger, and Mercy knew that the day would come when her child’s abilities would surpass hers. She prayed that by that time Eve would be mature enough to handle such awesome power.
“You will do as your mother requested,” Judah said. “You will stay with your nanny.”
Knowing she had been defeated, Eve puckered her lips into a pout and managed to squeeze a single tear from one eye.
“Sidonia, be sure that Eve cleans up the mess she made,” Mercy said. “And I don’t want you to help her.”
“Daddy!” Eve looked to Judah to save her from her punishment.
Ignoring Eve completely, Judah grasped Mercy’s arm and led her out of the kitchen. As soon as they reached the hallway leading to her study, Mercy jerked away from him and paused to regain her composure.
“She’s quite a handful, isn’t she?” Judah said.
“You sound rather proud of that fact.”
“Would you rather she be some sniveling, weak little mouse?”
“I imagine you were a handful when you were a child, weren’t you?”
“I still am,” he said, his tone teasing.
This was the Judah she remembered, a charming man with a sense of humor. If only she had known all those years ago that beneath the charm lay a wild beast, one capable of ripping out her heart. She walked away from him, down the hall to the open study door. Without looking back, she knew he had followed her. Once they entered the study, she closed the door behind them.
“Please, sit down.” With the sweep of her hand, she indicated a specific chair.
He sat, lifted one leg and crossed his ankle over the opposite knee, then leaned back in the chair and looked up at her.
She sat across from him, on the sofa, and folded her hands demurely in her lap.
“Eve is my child. She is Raintree. I will not allow you to harm her, and I will never allow you to take her.”
“You aren’t leaving us any room for compromise.”
“You’re right, I’m not.”
“Then let’s say that—for the time being—I agree with you. I will leave Eve here with you, knowing you will continue to safeguard my child as you have done since before she was born.”
Mercy didn’t trust Judah. And with good reason. He had said, “for the time being.” Did that mean he intended to eventually claim Eve as his?
“Eve will stay here with me until she is an adult.” Mercy wanted to make sure Judah understood.
“We won’t argue over details of when and what. Not now,” Judah said. “I’m leaving this afternoon, and Eve will remain here with you.”
“But you plan to return.”
“Someday.”
“Don’t.”
“Don’t leave?” he asked, his tone light.
“Don’t ever come back.”
“I’d forgotten how spirited you are.” His gaze raked over her. “Actually, I’d forgotten many delightful things about you.”
Mercy willed herself not to react to his taunts, to show no sign of emotion. She stood slowly. “I don’t see any need for you to stay a minute longer. If you’d like, I can arrange transportation for you immediately.”
Judah burrowed deeper into the chair, relaxing even more. “I’ll leave this afternoon. And I’ll arrange my own transportation.”
“Why stay?”
“I want to spend a few hours with my daughter.”
“No.”
“Don’t make this a test of power.” Judah rose to his feet and faced Mercy. “We don’t want things to get nasty, do we? Not in front of our daughter.”
“If I allow you time with Eve, do you promise not to harm her in any way? And that includes any kind of mental or emotional indoctrination. And will you leave here without her and never come back?”
“I promise to leave without her. And there is no need for me to try to undermine the Raintree side of Eve’s nature. The Ansara part of her may, for the most part, be lying dormant inside her, but one day it will become dominant and Eve will be a true Ansara.”
Mercy hated Judah for painting such a frightening picture of Eve’s future, but he hadn’t said anything that she hadn’t thought about a thousand times since her child was born.
“You may spend a few hours with Eve, but not alone,” Mercy said. “Sidonia will stay with her.”
“No, not Sidonia,” Judah replied. “If you don’t want her to be alone with me, then you can stay with her. With us.”
Terrebonne, Monday, 10:30 a.m.
Cael enjoyed breakfast on the terrace. Alone. Although he and Alexandria had consummated their relationship and she believed she would one day be his Dranira, he had no intention of being faithful to her now or in the future. He preferred sex with human women, because they were so easily controlled. He kept a small harem of bewitched females in a secret brothel, solely for his physical pleasure. Often he shared his whores with the young warriors he wanted to woo into his service.
As Cael drank a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice, he glanced through the open doors and into the house, his gaze locking onto the television. The all-news channel was once again showing film of the raging fire that had swept through a Reno casino. Dante Raintree’s casino.
Cael smiled.
He had sent several of his most talented warriors to Reno, with one objective—Raintree destruction. Dante was still alive, but they had hit him hard. Mission at least partially accomplished. And Cael had sent a very special Ansara to Wilmington, North Carolina, to kill a very special Raintree. Tabby was such a vicious little bitch, which made her perfect for the job he had sent her to do. Before The Battle with the Raintree, which was now less than a week away, Cael wanted the royal siblings and a few key members of the Raintree family disposed of, by whatever means necessary. Unfortunately, the siblings were still alive—but only for the time being. At least Echo, the premiere Raintree seer, was now dead, thanks to Tabby.
Cael had cast a spell that clouded the vision of the other Raintree seers and psychics, but Echo had been too powerful for his spell to be fully effective, and so she’d had to be eliminated. Although Cael believed that the Ansara were more than ready to battle the Raintree and win, he wanted to maintain the advantage of a surprise attack. That would be more easily accomplished with Echo Raintree dead and unable to foresee the future annihilation of her people.
Revenge against the Raintree. What a sweet victory it would be.
Cael’s plans were coming together nicely, although he had only a handful of faithful followers. Already it was too late to turn back, too late for Judah to stop the inevitable. With the strikes that had already been made against the Raintree, it would be only a matter of time before they realized the Ansara were responsible. The high council would see that the time to strike was before the Raintree suspected the Ansara were once again a strong and powerful clan. And Judah’s pleas to wait another five years would fall on deaf ears. Even he, the seemingly invincible Dranir, would have no choice but to go into battle at Cael’s side.
Judah would die in battle, of course. Cael would make certain of it. And the people would mourn Judah. But on the wings of sweet victory, Cael would be swept up into his rightful position as the new Dranir.
He couldn’t allow anything to interfere with his plans. He was so close to getting what he wanted that he shouldn’t allow any doubts to enter his mind and make him second-guess himself.
But he could not forget that momentary glimpse into Judah’s mind last ni
ght. If only he had seen more before Judah had shut him out, but he had seen just enough to worry him. Why had Judah not returned home? What was keeping him in America?
No, not what, but who? Whoever it was, they had green Raintree eyes.
Mercy Raintree, perhaps.
Had Judah done more than save the princess’s life?
Whatever Judah’s secret was, Cael intended to find it out. He picked up his tiny digital phone from where it rested on the glass table and hurriedly placed a call. The moment Horace, one of his faithful minions, answered, Cael said, “I need to find out as much as possible about Mercy Raintree and anyone else living at the Raintree sanctuary. Your inquiries must be discreet. We can’t risk Judah finding out. Do you understand?”
“Yes, my lord, I understand.”
“I need the information immediately.”
Cael laid the phone back on the table, picked up his fork and devoured the eggs Benedict his cook had prepared for him. Perfect. To his exact specifications. Once he was Dranir, everything would be done to his specifications by every person on earth. Not only every Ansara but every human, would worship him as the god he was destined to become.
Chapter 6
Monday, 11:00 a.m.
Judah had always known that, as the Ansara Dranir, he would one day be expected to provide the clan with an heir to the throne. But he hadn’t actually given fatherhood a thought, and if he had, he would have seen himself as the father to a male heir. Females were different, be they human, Ansara or Raintree. A daughter needed a type of protection that a son didn’t. Protection from men such as he had always been.
As he watched Eve picking wildflowers in the meadow, he thought about what she represented, not only to him, but to the Raintree. A mixed-breed child had not been born in many centuries, and none had been allowed to live beyond infancy in thousands of years. During his studies as a youth, he had thought the ancient tales of such children were little more than fabrications by the venerable Ansara scribes. Supposedly such a child possessed not only the unique abilities of each parent, making him or her more powerful than either parent alone, but if the parents were royals, the child would possess the ability to create a new and unique clan that was neither Ansara nor Raintree.