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Her brother wouldn’t let it go "I told you never to shake her hand To know that you fu--"

"Brauidance far more than I"

"That remains to be seen" Her brother arched a brow "Where the bloody hell a MacTavish’s estate Mathias and the Anarki attacked our home The defenses were doith you unconscious We had no opportunity to build them back up before" She sed "I’rowled, then opened thelare She stepped back He was Bran, as if he wasn’t quite hiht "The healer, what did she do?"

For a longbut stand tall, his pose deceptively casual Finally, Braave Sabelle his attention

"You sent a witch into heal me?" At her nod, he frowned "So there was a female here I don’t knohat she did to heal lowed, a beacon of vitality and energy, the likes of which she had not seen since the asped Emma? "Was the feive her name?"

"No Did you see her, speak to her?"

"Not exactly"

Exasperation h "What happened?"

"A hooded woh the darkness inside ripped his head as if warding off pain "I fought, but it choked ickind, run it correctly The feelings … Overwhelhed "I don’t understand"

Sabelle gasped and gripped her brother tighter She didn’t knohat that er or aood Had Mathias’s spell infested hiht out his worst tendencies? or maybe this was all part of the dark cure? None of them knew, and now only time would tell Sabelle would watch Bram … just as she knew the others would as well

"Then she was there … naked under her robes She made love towas like a dream It must have been"

Because if it hadn’t been, thatmate

"Was Emma in your ‘dreaone and isn’t coain with no intent to return But who knew for certain? Maybe the dark witch had seeded a drea aze to the floor, a pang of despair filling her Would the darkness inside Bram slowly rot him without a mate’s love to save his soul?

"Drea to his feet "Big problems Welcome back from the relative dead, by the way"

Braain at Ice, then asked, "What problems?"

Duke quickly filled him in on MacKinnett’s murder and Blackbourne’s nomination of Mathias for the Council seat

"Has anyone else on the Council suggested a nominee?" Bram barked the question

Duke shook his head "Despite Sydney’s transcasts, most didn’t believe in Mathias’s return until yesterday, when he contacted them all and declared his intent Blackbourne’s nomination corroborated it"

"And still the rest of the prats have done nothing?" Angry incredulity exploded in his tone "Spineless cowards, the lot of them"

Lucan cleared his throat "You’re under my uncle’s roof, and he is quite shaken I’randfather"

"The truth can be painful," Bram spat

Sabelle inched away Bram was back with her … yet this was not exactly hirier, less patient, more confrontational He’d always been a diplomat A thinker She prayed this was aThat her brother wasn’t fueled by so will hardly solve the problem," she pointed out "A plan would be better"

"You know the cause of ain to Ice The promise there on his face to kill the wizard filled her with dread

Before she could protest, Braood one, and I think I kno to solve two problems at once Lucan, your uncle has heirs independent of your father and his line"

"Indeed" The wizard nodded, his dark hair looking glossy and shaggy as dawn filtered through the s "He had three sons of his own, the eldest of whom now has his own son"

"Excellent" Bram smiled "If I no the line of succession to the traditional MacTavish seat"

"That was Tynan’s suggestion as well," Lucan conceded "But will the Council protest two members from the same family?"

"In desperate ti lack of leadership? I hope not You’ve shown yourself to be a man of reason I know they respect you"

"Perhaps, butas someone like Alfred Hexham, as a mere boy when his father passed to his nextlife Alfred Senior had no other heirs to keep the seat in the family, and the Council voted to bestow the seat on MacKinnett precisely because he was old and had no heirs My uncle told me all assumed that by the time MacKinnett passed, Hexham would be ready"

"Alfred Hexham is an idiot who should not be allowed to make decisions about his own life, much less anyone else’s His presence on the Council should not be tolerated"

"He is not the wizard his father was," Lucan conceded, "But--"