“Which only means it wasn’t the Sylvalan Clans who had ignored those men when they were young. What about the children here? There are some. You know there are. Mother’s mercy, Aiden, the Huntress is one of them. So I don’t blame Liam for being reluctant to accept that I’m staying.”

Aiden stumbled as he reached Minstrel. Leaning against the horse, he noticed how his hands shook while he tried to open the saddlebag. “We’ll talk more about it later, Falco. Right now, I need you to go into the woods and fetch Lyrra.”

He waited until Falco changed form again and flew off toward the trees before he pulled the letter out of the saddlebag. After he closed the saddlebag’s flap, he leaned over and rested his forehead against the leather.

As soon as she got back from her ride with Selena, he would have to tell Ashk what he’d learned about the Inquisitors. She needed to know about every weapon the enemy could bring to the fight—including their ability to control people through persuasion. But, right now, he had to do his best to smooth things over between men and women, brothers and sisters, gentries’ sensibilities and witches’ feelings. And he was gambling that the piece of wax-sealed paper would help him do that.

As he walked back to the others, he noticed they’d split into two groups. Breanna and Gwenn were talking with Rhyann while the barons stood a few feet away, probably making plans for the army. He also noticed that the dark-haired man he assumed was the Baron of Willowsbrook—and Breanna’s brother—kept glancing her way, as if to keep an eye on her.

“Breanna?” Aiden held out the folded paper. “This is for you.”

Looking puzzled, Breanna studied the blob of sealing wax, then looked at him. “What is it? A song?”

“I don’t think so. We met up with a messenger heading east. Since I was coming to Willowsbrook anyway, he entrusted me to deliver this to you in exchange for taking messages back to the west.”

Still puzzled, she turned the paper over—and stared at the writing.

“Mother’s mercy.” She broke the wax seal, opened the paper, and started to read. Her eyes filled with tears. Then she laughed. “Jenny. It’s from my cousin Jenny. She and Mihail have found safe harbor somewhere in the west. And Tremaine’s sons are with them. They got out. They escaped.”

As Gwenn slid a comforting arm around Breanna, Aiden saw her brother break away from the other men.

“Breanna?” he enquired, his voice sharp with concern, his eyes fixed on Aiden with suspicion.