* * *

* * *

Daemon took the second driver’s seat in the Coach and settled Morghann on his lap. He couldn’t order her to stay in the passenger area of the Coach while he sat up here with Lucivar. He feared giving that order would break something inside her. Until he knew why she’d been left behind, he accepted that she needed to feel his hand on her, needed to take in his scent with every breath.

Lucivar closed the Coach and settled in the other driver’s seat. After guiding the Coach to the Webs of power that flowed in the Darkness, he caught the Ebon-gray Wind and headed for the Hall in Dhemlan.

٭What happened?٭ Daemon asked on a Red spear thread.

٭From what I pieced together from the things Marian and Daemonar told me yesterday, Morghann hid instead of going with Surreal and the others,٭ Lucivar replied. ٭At first, Marian thought she wanted to stay near Khary or had some other reason for staying at the eyrie and would show up when she got hungry. No one was concerned for the first couple of days, and no one mentioned it because you and I were dealing with larger problems.٭

That was one way of describing a decision that had shaken all the Blood in Askavi.

٭Daemonar searched for her every day,٭ Lucivar continued. ٭He even enlisted Tamnar to fly over the mountain with him in case she had left the eyrie and gotten lost. He and Marian told me about Morghann when I got home yesterday. I searched the whole damn eyrie and didn’t find her. Daemonar finally located her early this morning when hunger must have made her weak enough that she couldn’t maintain whatever Craft she’d used to hide from us.٭

٭Why did she hide in the first place? Did something happen with the children?٭

Lucivar looked at him. ٭No, not the children.٭

٭They left us,٭ Morghann had said. “Us” meaning her . . . and him.

Daemon petted the Sceltie, who dozed in his lap, not sure how to feel about such single-minded loyalty.

٭Best I can figure, she wasn’t leaving without you,٭ Lucivar said. ٭And because she couldn’t find you, she kept searching the place she knew without realizing you were at the Keep.٭

٭The three Scelties living with us hadn’t been to the Keep. There was no reason to take them there.٭

٭From what Daemonar could get out of her after he found her, she had decided that she must have done a wrong thing and that was why you had abandoned her.٭

٭I didn’t—٭

٭No, you didn’t.٭

Daemon closed his eyes. ٭She’s an insecure baby. I should have asked Khary to stay with her and Tagg, but he thought Jillian needed him more.٭

٭Wouldn’t have made any difference if Khary had been staying in my home instead of with Jillian. This was about you, old son. You’re Morghann’s special friend in the same way that Jaenelle Angelline was Ladvarian’s special friend.٭

Daemon opened his eyes and studied Lucivar. ٭What bothers you about this? Besides the obvious.٭

٭Your insecure baby, who wears a Purple Dusk Jewel, managed to hide from me in my own home. From me, Daemon. That shouldn’t have been possible.٭

Now Daemon studied the Sceltie. ٭How did she do it?٭

٭You had an Arcerian cat staying with you for a while.٭

٭And a unicorn. They went back to their home Territories soon after Jaenelle Saetien’s Birthright Ceremony. She liked them, and they seemed to like her, but . . . ٭

٭She wasn’t their dream,٭ Lucivar finished. ٭The Arcerians haven’t maintained ties to any of the human Blood, but they’re still connected to the Scelties.٭

Daemon nodded. ٭Yes, they are.٭

٭Well, I think your Arcerian visitor taught your furry baby how to sight shield the way the cats do. Unless you know what that particular bit of Craft feels like when they use it, you don’t know one of those cats is there until he kills you. I played enough games of stalk and pounce with Kaelas to identify the feel of that specific shield. If I’d known she’d learned from an Arcerian, I might have found her sooner—or not, since it wouldn’t feel quite the same with a Sceltie shaping that bit of Craft.٭

٭You’re worried about this?٭

٭An Arcerian uses the sight shield to hunt undetected, but they’re in their own Territory and have little contact with humans. Scelties live in the same villages as humans and are aware of a lot more than we want to believe.٭ Lucivar paused. ٭Let’s just say I’m relieved that Morghann chose you to be her teacher and special friend, because a Sceltie who is that skillful at hiding is not a witch I would want learning to do wrong things.٭

٭Point taken.٭ More than one point when added to Tersa’s warning to accept help offered with love. Unconditional love. Love without fear. Love that would do anything that was needed—including doing what everyone else had thought impossible. Ladvarian had felt that kind of love for Witch. Was Morghann offering the same kind of love to him?

They stopped at one of the family’s estates to give Morghann a little more food and water. While Lucivar kept an eye on the dog, Daemon talked to the estate’s manager and confirmed what he’d suspected: news that the Demon Prince once more walked the living Realms had already spread beyond Askavi.

Lucivar didn’t say anything for a while after they resumed their journey. Finally, he said, ٭They know?٭

٭They know,٭ Daemon replied, still keeping their conversation private. ٭Although the surprise seems to be that you’re just now laying claim to the whole of Askavi. The estate manager and housekeeper thought you’d done it years ago but hadn’t made a fuss about it.٭

Lucivar snorted a laugh. Then his amusement faded. ٭Things will change because of the choice I made, and not just for me.٭

٭Not everything will change, Prick,٭ Daemon replied softly. ٭And we won’t make the mistakes our father made or Andulvar made.٭

٭You sure about that?٭

He nodded. ٭They served the idea of Witch, held a line they believed the living myth would want them to hold. But I imagine, in the loneliest hours of the night, they must have wondered if they were holding on to hollow beliefs.٭

٭Hollow or not, they passed those beliefs on to us, taught us both where to draw the line.٭

٭And having lived under the corruption spawned by Dorothea, Hekatah, and Prythian, we’ll recognize that foulness before it sinks its roots too deep in Kaeleer. The biggest difference between us and our father and uncle is that we have someone holding the leash. She may not be flesh anymore, but Witch is still present, and our lives are still shaped by her will.٭

٭The Queen’s weapons.٭

٭Always.٭

A few minutes passed in companionable silence before Lucivar said, ٭If Perzha’s court complains about that damn Sceltie trying to rearrange the village to suit himself, you and I are going to have words.٭