“A hundred! How the hell did he-crap! He’s been recruiting these people for quite some time, hasn’t he? Which isn’t really a surprise.”

“Well, this will surprise you-according to our informant, Cael is planning an all-out attack on the sanctuary sometime within the next twelve hours.”

“Damn! What does Sidra say? Why didn’t she see this coming?”

“She’s not sure, but she suspects that Cael has somehow cloaked the details of his plan so that none of our Ansara seers were able to clearly foresee it. And he’s probably put some kind of spell on all the Raintree seers, as well.”

“We can’t let this happen,” Judah said.

“We can’t stop it.”

“We can try. Call in the Select Guard. Have as many as will fit on the jet come with you immediately. Have the rest follow as soon as possible. Bring them here to North Carolina. Fly into Asheville. Civilian dress for everyone. Understand?”

“Yes, my lord. We need to be as inconspicuous as possible. They can change into uniform on the way to the sanctuary.”

“I’ll arrange ground transportation for you, and when you arrive outside the sanctuary boundary, I’ll be waiting for you,” Judah said. “Contact me when you’re close. In the meantime, once I’m certain Mercy can safeguard Eve during the battle, I’ll make plans of my own.”

“I know your first priority is to protect Princess Eve. But once she’s no longer in harm’s way, it will be too late to turn back. It will be all-out war between the Ansara and the Raintree. Cael has left us no choice but to fight now.”

“Then we’ll fight,” Judah said.

“Where’s my daddy?” Eve asked as Mercy knelt in front of her daughter. “Where did he go?”

“I don’t know,” Mercy lied. She suspected Judah had either left to join Cael or was making plans to do so. “But you mustn’t worry about your father.” She cupped Eve’s beautiful little face with her open palms. “Listen to me, sweetheart, and do exactly what I tell you to do.”

“All right,” Eve said, her voice shaky. “Something really bad is wrong, isn’t it?”

‘Yes, something really bad is wrong. Your father’s brother is going to come here and bring some other very bad men with him. So I’m going to send you with Sidonia to the Caves of Awenasa, and I’m going to invoke a cloaking spell to keep you and Sidonia safe.”

“I need to be here,” Eve said. “With you and Daddy. You’ll need me.”

Mercy choked with emotion. “You can’t stay here. Your father and I can’t do what we have to do if you’re here. I’ll be-we’ll be too concerned about you. Please, Eve, go with Sidonia and stay there until I or Uncle Dante or Uncle Gideon comes and gets you.”

Eve stared at Mercy, a soulful expression in her true Raintree green eyes.

“Tell me that you understand and that you’ll do as I ask,” Mercy said.

Eve put her arms around Mercy’s neck and hugged her. “I’ll go with Sidonia to the caves. You can go ahead and do the cloaking spell. I won’t try to stop you.”

Mercy heaved a deep sigh of relief. “Thank you, my sweet baby girl.” She hugged Eve with the fierceness of a warrior facing possible death, knowing she might never see her child again.

When Mercy finally released Eve, she stood and turned to Sidonia. “I’m trusting you with the most precious thing in the world to me.”

“You know that I’ll guard her with my life.”

Eve went to Sidonia and took her hand. The two waited while Mercy spoke the ancient words, invoking the most powerful cloaking spell she knew of, one that would make it difficult-hopefully impossible-for anyone to track and find Eve.

Mercy stood at the kitchen door, and watched while Sidonia led Eve across the open field and toward the higher mountain range. The Caves of Awenasa were over three miles away, deep in the forest that covered the far western mountainside. Within minutes, both Sidonia and Eve disappeared, the cloaking spell in full effect now, protecting them from detection, guarding them from harm.

Believing that Eve was safe and that she would instantly know if anyone had penetrated the cloaking spell, Mercy hurried upstairs to dress and make preparations for what was to come: battle-perhaps the final battle-with the Ansara.

Fifteen minutes later, dressed in black pants, knee-high black boots and a crimson blouse, Mercy came down the front stairs and headed for her study. Dante would contact all Raintree within driving distance first, and then word would go out to Raintree around the world. How many could actually make it to the sanctuary before the Ansara attack, she didn’t know. There were only a handful visiting the home place right now-less than twenty in all, and some of them not at full strength. And her guess was that another twenty-five or so could be here within a few hours.

She also had no way of knowing how many Ansara comprised the forces Judah and Cael would bring down on the sanctuary, or exactly when the first attack would take place. Soon, certainly. Within a few hours? Before sunset?

After entering her study, she picked up the phone and dialed Hugh’s cabin. He answered on the third ring. “Hugh, it’s Mercy. I need you to gather up all the Raintree visiting here at the sanctuary and bring them to the house. Do this as quickly as possible.”

“All right,” he replied. “Can you tell me what this is about?”

“I’ll tell all of you as soon as you get here.”

Mercy could hardly believe what was happening. She felt like such a fool-for the second time in her life. Both times thanks to Judah Ansara. How much of what he’d told her had been lies? Part of it? All of it? One thing she didn’t doubt: he wanted Eve and was willing to kill Mercy to get her.

And she also believed that he had killed one of his own people to stop the man from killing her. Because Judah had claimed her as his kill and wouldn’t allow anyone else the honor of taking the Raintree princess’s life. No doubt Dante was also Judah’s kill. And perhaps Gideon, too.

How was it possible that she loved Judah, loved him as much as she hated him? Why had she let down her defenses, even for a few days, a few hours, a few moments?

All the while Judah had proclaimed Eve was in life-threatening danger from his brother, had it simply been a ruse, a plot the brothers had concocted together? Had Judah’s purpose in staying at the sanctuary been to keep Mercy distracted?

No, it wasn’t possible that he had fooled her so completely.

Then where is he? Why isn’t he here explaining himself to me?

Damn you, Judah. Damn you!

Reno, Nevada, 9:15 a.m. (Reno time)

Lorna hadn’t taken the time to make any calls while she’d still been at Dante’s house; instead, she’d grabbed his address book, checked to see that both Mercy and Gideon were listed, then run for her old Corolla. While she was on the way to the airport, she put her cell phone to use. She knew she didn’t have time to fly commercial, but she didn’t know how to go about renting a jet. She had a pocket full of cash and one credit card with a five-thousand-dollar limit. If that wasn’t enough money, she didn’t know what she would do.

The only person she knew in Reno who might be able to help her was Al Franklin, Dante’s chief of security. He wasn’t exactly on her favorites list, but Dante not only liked him, he trusted him-and this was an emergency.

Thank God, thank God. Al’s number was listed, too. She’d been afraid Dante would have all his numbers stored on his cell phone, which he had with him. Swiftly, keeping one eye on the twisting road, she punched in the numbers.

“’Lo?”

The sleepy voice reminded her that it was-she glanced at the dashboard clock-not yet ten o’clock on a Sunday morning.

“This is Lorna Clay!” she half yelled. “Dante’s gone-there’s trouble at Sanctuary-he might get killed! I have to get there. How do I hire a jet?”

“Whoa! Wait-what did you say?”