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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 j
ob 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 night. 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.
SIX
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.
Is that what you are, my little Eve? The mother of a new clan?
Nonsense! The day would come when Eve would be completely Ansara, and even if he fathered other children in the future, she could still become the Ansara Dranira. It would be his choice to make.
But would Eve want to rule the clan that had wiped her mother’s people from the face of the earth? Would she willingly join forces with the man who had killed her mother?
“Daddy, watch!” Eve called, as she dropped her handpicked bouquet on the ground. “I can do a somersault.”
“Be careful,” Mercy cautioned. “Don’t show off.”
Ignoring her mother, Eve bounded up on her hands and flipped over, again and again, until she moved so quickly that her little body became a whirling blur.
Judah smiled. She was most definitely showing off. For him.
“Eve! Stop that before you hurt yourself.”
“Leave her alone,” Judah said. “She’s having fun. I used to do all sorts of things to make my parents pay attention to me.”
Suddenly Eve slowed, and the force she had used to create such rapid speed came to a screeching halt, projecting her small body a good twenty feet through the air.
