Anne Bishop - The House of Gaian

"Sons and Daughters who are willing to leave their homes in the Mother's Hills will take up stewardship of those lands. The boundaries of the Old Places will be walked again. The land will be reclaimed as a home for the wild things and the Small Folk— and the Fae. Other Sons and Daughters who have the strength and skill will do what they can to reopen the shining roads and free the Fae who were trapped there. This is what we have decided."

"And if we don't agree?" one of the barons asked.

The Crone raised one hand, palm up. "Earth. Air. Water. Fire. These are what we hold in our hands. Can you live without them?"

Aiden stopped writing, suddenly aware that his pen scratching on the paper was the only sound in the room.

"It is justice," Liam finally said, bowing his head.

The Crone nodded. "As we will, so mote it be." As she walked out of the room, she paused and looked at Breanna. "We will talk, Granddaughter."

"As you will," Breanna replied.

Ashk rose from the table. "Breanna? Are you nervous about talking to her?"

Breanna smiled weakly. "A little."

"She isn't really your grandmother."

"She and Nuala were cousins. So she is the elder most closely related to me now."

Liam stood up. "It would seem this meeting is concluded." He turned toward Breanna. "We can talk to her in the morning room."

"She wants to talk to me, Liam, not us."

"Well, she gets to talk to us." Pushing past Ashk and Selena, he strode to the doorway and stood beside it.

Breanna muttered, "Featherhead," and walked out of the room with Liam right behind her.

"Selena?" Donovan asked. "If I may ask a question? What makes the Crones entitled to make such decisions about the world?"

Selena hesitated, then raised one hand, palm up. "The Crones who rule the Mother's Hills are the ones whose power comes from all four branches in equal measure."

"Could she do what she implied? Could any of those women take away the world?"

Selena lowered her hand. "That is not a question you should ask of the House of Gaian. But there is a poem that gives the answer."

"I know it."

After Selena walked out of the room, the rest of the people trickled out as well until only Donovan, Aiden, and Lyrra were in the room.

Lyrra glanced at Aiden and gathered up her papers, quills, and ink pot. "I'd better make a fairer copy while I remember what all these scribbles mean."

When he and Donovan were alone, Aiden asked, "What is the answer?"

"If roused, their wrath can shake the world / And men will not see the light of day again,'" Donovan replied.

"Mother's mercy."

"That's what we all stake our lives on, Bard. The Mother's mercy. And the mercy of Her Sons and Daughters." Donovan struggled to stand up.

"Do you want help getting back to your room?"

Donovan gave Aiden a wan smile. "I wouldn't refuse it. Right now, I wouldn't turn down a bowl of chicken soup."

The Crone gave Liam a cool stare. He stared back, not sure why he was so primed to fight, except that Breanna had already been through enough.

"I asked to talk to Breanna," the Crone said.

"Then talk. But I'm staying."

"Oh, sit down, Liam," Breanna said.

He sat on the sofa, close enough to her that their shoulders brushed.

"Now, Granddaughter, since you have no family here—"

"She has family here," Liam snapped. "She doesn't have to live alone in the Old Place. She can live here with us."

"I'm not living alone in the Old Place," Breanna snapped back. "I'm living with Falco and a puppy."

Liam frowned. "A puppy? When did you get a puppy?"

"Yesterday. Falco brought him for me." Breanna squirmed. "Now that I've figured out what he meant about the salmon, I think the puppy was intended as a courting gift."

His frown deepened. "Courting gift? Giving a woman a pet is more a betrothal gift than a courting gift."

"Whatever. The point is, I'm not living alone. And the only reason you're being a featherheaded jackass about Falco is because you want to court Selena and don't know how to do it."

"I never said I wanted to court Selena!"

"But you do want to, don't you?"

"Yes, I want to, but I never said it!" He crossed his arms and muttered, "Stone-headed female."

Breanna crossed her arms in exactly the same way and muttered, "Featherheaded jackass."

Finally remembering they had an audience, he looked at the Crone sitting in a chair across from them. Her lips were pressed together and she was shaking with the effort not to laugh.

Breanna hunched further into the sofa. "You wanted to talk to me, Grandmother?"

The Crone laughed, shook her head, and rose. "There's no need. I've already learned what I needed to know. But remember, Breanna, I am your elder now. If you need my help—for anything—you must come to me . . . or ask me to come to you." She walked over to Liam and took his face between her hands. "And you, Grandson. A witch enjoys being courted the same way as any other woman."

Liam looked sulky. "I refuse to spend my evenings writing bad poetry."

The Crone sighed. "That's too bad. It would give her something to laugh over when she's my age."

They sat side by side for a long time after the Crone walked out of the room.

"Truce?" Liam finally said. "I won't nag you about Falco, and you won't nag me about Selena."

"Truce." Breanna smiled. "Besides, there are plenty of other things I can nag you about. Rhyann made up a list for me."

Liam hovered in the doorway, watching Selena pack her saddlebags. "You don't have to go."

"This is your mother's room, and she's coming back to live here with you and Brooke."

"There are plenty of other rooms. You don't have to go."

"Yes, I do."

It wasn't fair. From the moment she'd arrived at Willowsbrook, they'd been caught up in the fight to survive. Now, when they could finally spend a little time getting to know each other better, she was leaving. "Why?"

He found the color suddenly flooding her cheeks intriguing.

"Because my father would disapprove," she said, stuffing garments into the saddlebags with more speed than care.

So her father had gentry sensibilities when it came to his daughter. That he understood.

"Where are you going?"

"Not far. Across the brook, actually." The color in her cheeks deepened. "Breanna said they have plenty of room, and since her handfast to Falco was witnessed by the Bard, the Muse, and her family's elder, it would be proper to stay with them. And— And she mentioned that it wouldn't be that far for a . . . friend . . . to ride to come visit."

To hide his own delight, he muttered, "She's been spending too much time with Rhyann."

"Oh, Rhyann's going to live there, too." Selena looked up, her eyes filled with amusement.

"Mother's tits."

She laughed. "Rhyann does tend to produce that reaction." Picking up her saddlebags, she walked to the door, stopping when he didn't move aside. "Thank you for your hospitality, Baron Liam."

"It was my pleasure, Lady Selena." He took the saddlebags from her and smiled. "I'll see you to your horse. It's the least a friend can do."

After glancing at Lyrra, who nodded, Aiden reined in. "Ashk?"

She turned the dark horse and walked it back to them.

He understood her keeping the dark horse. She'd lost her horse, he'd lost his rider, and since there were two other dark horses at Bretonwood, he'd also be among his own kind.

But he didn't understand about the puppy.

When they'd stopped at that inn on their way back through the Mother's Hills, it had broken his heart when the innkeeper asked about Morag, explaining that he was keeping a bitch puppy for her—a shadow hound mix. Lyrra had burst into tears. Ashk had simply walked away. But the next morning, when they were getting ready to leave, she came out of the inn wearing an odd kind of sling with the puppy tucked inside.