She was glad she’d made the decision to make her first appearance as male, however. The Clans had been startled, and uneasy, about the Hunter’s sudden reappearance—especially when the Hunter rode into their Clan territory with the Gatherer, the Bard, the Muse, the Sleep Sister, and fifty huntsmen from the western Clans who had come with her to be her personal guard and fighters. Despite their uneasiness, the midland Clans had been resistant to her command that the Fae go down to the human world and join forces with the witches and the humans to defend Sylvalan from the Inquisitors’ army. Resistant and surly, each Clan insisting that their Clan was safe and they were keeping a close watch on the witches as the Lightbringer had told them to do, so there was no danger for them—and no reason to soil themselves with further contact with witches, let alone humans.

There wasn’t time to argue, so she and her companions traveled through the Clan territories with as much speed as possible. When necessary, they stopped to rest themselves and the horses for a few hours, or left the others to rest while Ashk and a few escorts went down the shining roads to deliver the letters Padrick had written to particular barons he thought would join them in the fight.

Soon, though, she would stand in a Clan’s territory and issue one command that would be sent to all the Fae. They would either obey that command…or discover how much power the Hunter truly had over them.

But there were other concerns tonight. A bard had ridden in a short while ago and had been terribly relieved to find Aiden guesting at this Clan. Perhaps now they would finally have some news about whether or not Dianna was still the Lady of the Moon. Something must be going on, because Aiden and the bard had been standing in the garden far too long, and the bard delivering the message seemed too agitated for the news to be a simple announcement.

Aiden would bring the news to them when he was ready. Since there was nothing she could do except wait, she turned her thoughts to her biggest concern—to the woman standing a few feet away from her, watching Aiden with dark, troubled eyes.

With every day they traveled, Morag became edgier, moodier, more unpredictable and volatile. That’s why Ashk had stopped arguing with the Clans about sending fighters down to the human world. The last “discussion” had become heated, and when an arrogant Fae Lord had insisted that witches were the Fae’s servants, Morag had turned on him and would have ripped out his soul if Ashk and Morphia hadn’t intervened.