Hoping to put the man at ease, Cael sat across from him, doing his best not to seem overeager. “I’m pleased that you have worked so quickly to compile a report on Mercy Raintree.”

Horace took a second sip of whiskey, then set the glass aside. “In the outside world, little is known of her. She seldom leaves the sanctuary, except in local emergencies and occasionally to visit her brothers.”

“That is what I expected. After all, she is the Keeper of the Raintree home place.”

Horace nodded. “A position she acquired when the old guardian, Gillian, died six and a half years ago. Before that time-”

“I’m really not interested in what was happening in the princess’s life before then,” Cael said, growing impatient.

“Very well. Where shall I start, my lord?”

“With the present,” Cael said. “With this year.”

Apparently perplexed, Horace stared at Cael. “As I said, little is known of her. Our psychics have tried to study her, but she has a powerful protective cloak around her, as do her brothers. We know only that she is the Keeper, the Guardian, and the greatest Raintree empath.”

“She is the greatest empath alive, Raintree or Ansara,” Cael corrected.

“Yes, my lord.”

“Has she ventured from the sanctuary this year, other than to help in local emergencies?”

“No, my lord. She has not. Dranir Dante and Prince Gideon visited her in late March, as they do every year, but she has not visited either of them since last year. Her last trip was when she and her daughter went to Wilmington to visit Prince Gideon.”

Her daughter? “Did you say her daughter?”

“Yes, my lord.”

“Mercy Raintree has a child?”

“Yes, my lord. A six-year-old.”

“And her husband?”

“I’ve found no evidence of a husband,” Horace said.

“Are you telling me that the Raintree princess gave birth to a bastard child?”

“It would seem so.”

“Who is the father?”

“I don’t know.”

“Hmm…”

“If you’d like, I can e-mail you the complete report.” Horace fidgeted nervously.

“Before the child was born, where was Mercy living? Who were her friends? And in what hospital was the child born?”

“There is no record of the child’s birth at any hospital. We assume she was born at home, at the sanctuary.” Horace swallowed hard. “Princess Mercy grew up at the home place, as did her brothers. She was home schooled. When she went away to college, several Raintree were sent with her, to protect her.”

“Protect her from what? From whom? The Raintree have not considered the Ansara a threat in two hundred years.”

“It is tradition that an underage princess has escorts. And just as with our empaths, any young Raintree empath must be protected from the outside world by others of her clan who can absorb the thoughts and feelings of humans before they reach the empath and flood her senses.”

“Yes, of course.” Cael’s mind went into overdrive, processing various tidbits of information. “Do you know of any time when the princess was out in the world on her own, say seven years ago, before she became the Guardian?”

“No, my lord, but if you wish, I can dig deeper and see if I can find out for you.”

“Dig deeper.”

Horace nodded.

“Are there any photographs of the child?”

“No, my lord.”

“What about a description?”

“No, but I can try to get that information, too, if you’d like.”

“Yes, do it.” When Horace started to get up, Cael motioned for him to sit. “Finish your drink before you leave, then let yourself out.”

Cael stood, crossed the room and opened the doors to the patio. Until only a few moments ago, he had believed there was no Raintree heir, that if all three royal siblings were killed before the great battle, there would be a fight among the royal cousins, each possibly claiming the throne. But now he knew that Princess Mercy had a daughter, a successor.

The child is a bastard.

No matter. She would not be the first bastard child to become a ruler. He, too, was a bastard, and one day he would be the Dranir.

Cael was uncertain why the news of Princess Mercy’s daughter concerned him so greatly. After all, the child would be killed along with her mother and uncles in The Battle that was to come. And once the Ansara took the sanctuary, they would prepare to go throughout the world and eliminate all Raintree everywhere.

Suddenly Cael heard a voice, as clearly as if someone were speaking nearby.

The child…the child. She could be our downfall.

Where had those thoughts come from? Not from him. Whose thoughts had he picked up on? Was it possible another Ansara knew about Mercy Raintree’s child and was thinking about her? If so, why would anyone believe the Raintree child was a threat to the Ansara?

SEVEN

Monday Night, 10:30 p.m.

Mercy looked down from her bedroom window at the patio where only last night Judah Ansara had stood. In her mind’s eye she could see him glancing up at her, and she remembered the way his heated gaze raking over her body had made her feel. Desired. Ravaged. Ashamed. How could she still have feelings for such a man? Why did her traitorous body still yearn for his touch?

Until only a few moments ago, when Eve had finally fallen asleep and Sidonia had decided to rest in the adjoining room, Mercy had been too busy to think about her feelings for Judah. After he left today, she’d had to deal with Eve’s tears. Her mother’s heart understood her daughter’s dismay over losing the father she had only just met. And there was no way Mercy could make Eve understand what sort of man Judah was. How could she tell her child that her father was an Ansara, a member of an evil clan, a deadly enemy of the Raintree?

By the time she had pacified Eve by allowing her to try out several of her powers to a limited degree-something Eve loved to do-Mercy had been faced with a Raintree crisis. Sisters Lili and Lynette had arrived at the sanctuary, both overwrought and greatly concerned because suddenly and without warning each had lost her most powerful ability: her psychic ability to look into the future. Lili and Lynette, distant cousins to the royal family, were in their late twenties and had mastered their gifts, but neither possessed the psychic power that Echo did. Once Echo matured and learned to harness her great power, she would be the premiere Raintree seer.

After working with Lili and Lynette, Mercy’s first impression had been that someone had cast a spell to blind the sisters’ sight. But who would have done such an unkind thing, and for what reason? She had assigned the sisters a cabin and promised to work with them again tomorrow to help them regain their lost talent. If she couldn’t heal them, then she would have no choice but to contact Dante and inform him that someone in their clan was playing wicked tricks. But she wouldn’t bother her brother this week. He had enough problems of his own, dealing with the aftermath of the casino fire.

As if having to pacify Eve and begin the healing process with Lili and Lynette hadn’t been enough for one afternoon, she had been called upon to deal with a human who had tried to enter the sanctuary. He had been rendered unconscious by the force field protecting the acreage, so Mercy had restored him and sent him on his way after convincing him that he had received a severe shock from an electrified fence. It had been easy enough to plant the false memory in his mind. He wasn’t the first human who had tried to trespass, and he probably wouldn’t be the last.

Mercy was mentally and emotionally weary, as well as physically tired. She doubted she would sleep much tonight. She needed to devise a plan to deal with Judah.

You mean a plan to kill him, an inner voice said.

But she didn’t have to figure out a way to eliminate Judah tonight, did she? After all, it wasn’t as if he would return for Eve tomorrow. It could be months, even years, before he came for her. But what if it’s not? What if…?