Morag gave up the struggle, let sleep pull her down. And for the first time in too many days, the dream didn’t chase her.

Chapter 33

waxing moon

In the deepening twilight, Ashk watched cookfires bloom in the fields like exotic flowers. She was in the Mother’s Hills. The House of Gaian lived here. The House of Gaian ruled here. Power breathed here, in the land, in the water, in the very air. She drew in air slowly, savoring its richness—and caught the slight stink of fear from the army of humans and Fae that were spread out over the land.

Yesterday evening, she and her companions and huntsmen had ridden into that army camped near the hills. Thousands of men, human and Fae, waiting for the midland barons and the Fae leaders to decide how to reach Willowsbrook. The quickest way lay right in front of them, but none of them had dared send as much as a small party of men into the Mother’s Hills to request passage to the other side.

Then she rode up to the tents that were the barons’ quarters and both sides dumped the decision on her shoulders with a swiftness she’d found a bit staggering. The Fae would follow her because she was the Hunter. The barons would abide by her decision because, they were relieved to discover, she was Baron Padrick’s wife and, therefore, would not dismiss the safety of humans simply because they were humans. She had no idea how or why they came to that conclusion, even though it was true, but it had allowed all of them to get a few hours’ sleep instead of arguing half the night about choices that weren’t choices at all since they couldn’t go around the hills without tangling with another piece of the Inquisitors’ army. So, early the next morning, with Rhyann as their guide to show them the closest road, she led her companions into the Mother’s Hills—and an army marched behind her.

She took another deep breath. Power seeped into her, brushing away cobwebs of fatigue. She would sleep well tonight—and hopefully not dream too intensely about Padrick. It was a bit embarrassing to wake up aching and wet and wonder if she’d made any sounds that had disturbed the other sleepers around her.

“Does it feel strange to you?”

Relieved to have her thoughts pulled away from that particular path, she smiled at Rhyann. “No. It feels like home. It’s the first place since I left the west that feels like home.”

Rhyann studied her, looking slightly puzzled. “How does it feel like home?”