He almost slipped through the Green shield the male had placed around the room, almost decided to repay Morton’s death with a fast kill instead of the kind of death that was owed when the female cried, “But I helped you. I helped you!”

Remembering KaeAskavi’s she-kitten, who was now an orphan, and all the other pale humans that had belonged to Lady Karla and were now dead, Kaelas took a step back. The female had fouled her own den, had brought in poisoned meat. She deserved this winged male for a mate.

Careful not to disturb the Green shield and alert the male, he placed a Red shield around the room, caging the humans. He added a Red psychic shield so that when the male noticed he was trapped, he wouldn’t be able to warn the other winged males.

Slipping out of the building, Kaelas paused, listened. There were more winged males than cats, but that didn’t matter. The Green-Jeweled Warlord Prince was the only one of the winged males who wore one of the dark Jewels, and he was already caged. Among the cats here, Kaelas was the only one who wore a Red Jewel, but the shields from the Opal, Green, and Sapphire Jewels the others wore would protect them while they attacked with teeth and claws.

*Now,* Kaelas said.

Silent, invisible, the cats spread out and went hunting.

CHAPTER TWELVE

1 / Kaeleer

Lucivar and Falonar stood back at a prudent distance and watched the women at archery practice. Hallevar stood a few feet behind the women, giving instructions that could be heard in the still morning air as clearly as the smack of sticks coming from the arms practice field.

The weather had turned overnight, bringing the warm promise of spring. It wouldn’t last, but while it did, Lucivar intended to have the women on the practice field for a couple of hours every morning. This was the first day they were actually aiming an arrow at a target. Watching them would have been amusing if he hadn’t felt so edgy.

A day and a half had passed since Daemon’s order to “stay put and stand guard” had been relayed through the First Circle—an order which, a couple of hours later, had been reinforced by Jaenelle. The only other message he had received had been equally brief: Karla had been poisoned and Morton was missing.

He would have disregarded the order if Daemon hadn’t been with Jaenelle, but he knew that if anyone could protect the Queen better than he could, it was the Sadist.

So he’d stayed…and watched…and waited.

Falonar huffed out a breath as a spattering of arrows made a pathetic attempt to reach the targets. “Do you really think they can do this?” he asked doubtfully.

Lucivar snorted. “During your first six months in the hunting camps, you couldn’t hit anything smaller than the side of a mountain.”