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"Shame it couldn’t also keep Lucian at bay," he muttered

"A sould," Azriel commented, voice as flat as his expression "And I knoo that would gladly cooperate"

"He does make an excellent point," Tao said, then held up his hands as I openeduntil Ilianna is safe But that doesn’t stop either of us fro the worst on the bastard, does it?"

"You can’t wish anything worse on him than I am, trust aze narrowed "Is there so uess he had known "

"You’d better"

I turned to Azriel He caught h the fields to the Brindle I handed hi the Brindle would not react kindly to Aedhtaken into its olden sparks followed ray-clad woman appeared "Please, there is no need for haste--"

"There’s every need," I bit back, but I nevertheless slowed "I urgently need to see Custodian Zaira"

"I do not think--"

"Risa, what draws you here in such a state?" The familiar voice was as soft as the shadows around us and just as powerful

I glanced past the gray-clad young woure approach Kiandra wasn’t only the woe of the Brindle, but one of the most powerful witches I’d ever ently"

"As Indara was no doubt about to tell you, Zaira is not on duty today" She stopped several feet away and studied"Is this about Ilianna?"

"Yes She’s been kidnapped, and we suspecther"

"And you wish us to find her by tracking the ic itself?"

"Yes I have no idea if it’s possible--"

"It is" She tilted her head, and just for an instant it felt like she was seeing intoht so I came up to scratch After a h the Brindle’s quiet, shadowed halls and into yet another area I’d never been before This one felt and looked far older than the other areas I’d visited, and power seemed to ooze off the walls It was al had infused the old stones with a h the diressively smaller and darker, and eventually stepped into a room that appeared little more than an antechamber The air was rich with such a riot of scents thatto sort them all out There was power here, too, and the force of it le

"Wait here," Kiandra ant hand toward the two small chairs that were positioned on either side of the doorway "You are not an initiate and therefore cannot follow ic there is to be found"

"It won’t feel like huic," I said "Because it isn’t"

She didn’t ask what type of iven she appeared to know all about ht for control of both me and them, maybe she didn’t need to

Without further comment, she turned and walked into the next roo me alone in the silent shadows I sat for all of three seconds, then got up and began to pace I couldn’t help it So much of e could do next depended on the information Kiandra did--or didn’t--find for us

It seeuess the reality was closer to ten minutes I spun around as the door opened and she reappeared, a slight haze of s her as she walked toward ave little away, so it ith some trepidation that I asked, "Did you find her?"

She stopped and clasped her hands in front of her Her expression held an odd sort of excitement "Ilianna is with child?"

I closed my eyes for a moment and swore internally If Kiandra knew, then Ilianna’s mother would more than likely find out sooner rather than later Given her desire to see Ilianna join Carwyn’s herd, I wasn’t entirely sure how’d she react Or, indeed, hoould

"It’s more than possible The man who holds her is an Aedh--"

"And her child will be as you are: born of torlds, powerful in ht"

I frowned "I’s does not mean they do not exist or that you are not capable" She paused, her gray eyes glowing e There was aze now There was excitement "The old ritual site on Mount Macedon would not have acknowledged you in the manner that it did if it were not so"

The site had acknowledged me? When? Then I re that the trees themselves were sentient Reic of that place barred all such beings entry