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“They weren’t asleep,” I said. “In fact, they were wide awake and in an anticipatory state.”
“Maybe they were waiting for the farmer to cruise by so they could dine in rather than take away,” Monty said.
“Or they expected us to track Jaqueline, and this is a trap.”
His amusement died. “That’s a rather unsettling thought.”
“And there’s only one way to confirm it,” Aiden said. “We need to check the bunkhouse and see what awaits. This way.”
We walked along the channel’s bank until we reached the rickety old wooden flume funneling water into the old channel, scrambling under it before continuing on. The tree line gradually crept closer to the channel but remained sparse and continued to offer little shade from the sun. As the channel swept around to the left, Aiden moved away from the bank and headed deeper into the trees.
“The shearing shed and stockyards are a couple of hundred meters ahead,” he said. “The bunkhouse lies on the far side of them.”
“Are we dealing with open ground around all three?” Monty asked.
Aiden nodded. “The bunkhouse did have a few shade trees situated close by last I saw, but nothing that’ll conceal our presence. The channel loops around the back of it but there’s open ground between the two.”
“Which will make approaching that building very difficult, given they’ll likely sense any concealment spell we attempt.”
“Yes, but we do have one thing in our favor—the sun.”
“Then maybe,” Monty said, “our best option is to just rip the roof off the fucking building and let them all fry.”
I glanced at him. “Thereby killing Jaqueline in the process. Not a good move, trust me.”
“We might not have any other choice,” Monty said grimly. “Especially if it comes down to a ‘them or us’ situation.”
And it would. Maybe not here, but the longer this “game” went on, the more likely it became.
“You’re also forgetting there’s more of them than us. They can counter any magic we raise longer than we can attack.”
“Yes, but not all of them will be as powerful as Maelle and Marie. Maelle has already said that Jaqueline isn’t.”
“Byherstandards, and her standards aren’t the norm. From what I sensed of Jaqueline when she attempted to snatch me, she’s still up there on the power scale.” I swiped at the sweat trickling down my cheek. “We need to find a way to keep Jaqueline safe while we deal with the others.”
“Maybewedon’t have to,” Monty said slowly. “Maybe our best option is to let Maelle deal with her daughter. She might not be able to walk about in sunlight, but Roger can.”
“Thatis a brilliant idea,” I said.
“And it comes with the bonus of her not being able to blame us if things go to hell and Jaqueline ends up dead.”
Amusement stirred. “Hate to tell you this, but I’m sure Maellewillfind a way to blame us if her daughter dies.”
Especially given her emotions when I’d been questioning her about Marie and Jaqueline hadn’t exactly been on an even keel.
Though, in truth, that wasn’t really surprising. While there was no doubt she loved her daughter, there was also no escaping the fact that not only had she killed her daughter’s lover but then left her in Marie’s care rather than taking her away from such a volatile situation. To worsen matters, it sounded like they’d had little contact in the intervening centuries.
In some respects, their relationship reminded me a little of my relationship with my father, though at least my father had only forced me into an unwanted marriage, not eons of eternal darkness and bloodlust.
I dragged my phone out and made the call.
“Elizabeth, what an unexpected pleasure to hear from you again.” Maelle’s tone was soft and decidedly husky, which made me suspect I’d interrupted a feeding or perhaps something more intimate. Or both, given she preferred to combine them. “I take it this call is not a social one?”
She was definitely doingsomething. She was in too good a mood.
Shame I was about to spoil it.
“We’ve tracked Jaqueline down and were wondering—”
