Daddy.

Judah.

What the hell?

He heard Eve’s voice. And Mercy’s.

Daddy, please answer me. I have to warn you.

Stop this now! Judah sent the mental message with harsh force, enough to startle Mercy without harming Eve. If you must contact me, call me on my cell phone. He recited the number. Once. Then, using all his power, he blocked his daughter and her mother completely.

By the time Judah reached out and picked up his cell phone lying on the round table near the French doors that led outside to a second story balcony, the phone was already vibrating.

He answered immediately. “Yes?”

“Judah, Eve insists on speaking to you,” Mercy said.

“You must never allow her to contact me telepathically again. Do you understand?”

“No, I don’t understand,” Mercy said. “Explain it to me.”

Judah huffed. He was the Ansara Dranir. He explained himself to no one.

“I have enemies.”

“Enemies with the ability to intercept telepathic messages?”

How did he respond? Half-truths were always best. Neither a lie nor the complete truth. “Yes. I have a half brother. We were once business partners. Now we’re bitter enemies.”

“Then he must be the evil man Eve believes intends to harm you.”

Judah heard Eve say, “Let me tell him, Mother.”

“Eve wants to talk to you.”

The next voice he heard belonged to his daughter. “Daddy?”

“Yes, Eve.”

“He hates you, Daddy. He wants to kill you. But I won’t let him. Mother and I will help you.”

Despite being slightly in awe of the child his one night of passion with Mercy Raintree had created, Judah couldn’t help smiling at the thought of how Mercy must hate the fact that Eve had allied herself with him. With her father, the Ansara Dranir.

But Mercy didn’t know he was the Dranir, that the Ansara had once again become a mighty clan that would soon be as powerful and plentiful as the Raintree.

“Eve, I don’t want you to worry about me. I know who this man is, and I can fight him on my own. I don’t need you to help me.”

“You will, Daddy. You will.”

“Put your mother back on the phone,” Judah said.

“Be very careful,” Eve cautioned.

“ Judah?” Was that a hint of concern he heard in Mercy’s voice? Surely not. She hated him, didn’t she?

“Don’t allow Eve to contact me again.”

“And if I can’t stop her?”

“Persuade her,” Judah said.

“Maybe if you called her occasionally…”

“I thought you wanted me out of her life. Have you changed your mind?”

“No, I haven’t changed my mind,” Mercy told him in no uncertain terms. “But Eve is not willing to let you go and I don’t want her constantly upset.”

What sort of game was Mercy playing, blowing hot and cold? Go away. Come back. Never see Eve again. Call her occasionally.

“Tell Eve that I’ll call her soon.”

“I’ll tell her. And Judah…”

“Yes?”

“You know how I feel about you.”

Judah smiled. “I know. I’m Ansara and you’re Raintree. We’re mortal enemies.”

“That’s right. I just wanted to make sure we understood each other.”

“Sleep well, Mercy. And dream of me.”

Tuesday, 1:45 p.m.

Cael had been informed that Judah had returned to Terrebonne late yesterday and had spent this morning in his office, was in fact still there. Unfortunately Cael didn’t have any spies among his brother’s office staff, so other than relying on minions who watched the royal palace from afar, he had no knowledge of what was going on behind closed doors.

He had wasted the entire morning in fruitless efforts to discover the identity of the person whose thoughts he had overheard last night. The child…the child. She could be our downfall. The voice had been male and slightly familiar, yet contemplatively soft and not quite recognizable.

Frustrated by his failure, Cael had gone to the brothel an hour ago and vented his anger by beating one of his whores, then taking her savagely. Refreshed by these amusements, he was now prepared to try a different tactic in his search. If he couldn’t discover who had been voicing concern about a certain child and how she could be “our” downfall, perhaps he could find the child herself.

“Who are you? Where are you?” Cael asked aloud.

The doorbell rang, but Cael ignored it. One of the servants would see to it. He didn’t concern himself with mundane matters.

Was the child a threat to the Ansara? Our downfall. What child could possess the power to threaten the mighty Ansara?

My child? Cael thought.

But he had no children. He had made certain of that.

Judah ’s child?

Why would the Dranir’s child pose a threat to the Ansara, especially a female child?

Are you out there, little one?

Do I have a niece being kept hidden away so that I cannot find her? Had Judah secretly married and fathered a child? He couldn’t imagine his brother producing a bastard child.

Bastard child. The child…the child. She-

Mercy Raintree had a bastard child!

Could it be that this Raintree child was somehow a threat to the Ansara?

Little Raintree princess, open your mind to me, allow me entrance.

Nothing.

Mercy Raintree’s daughter, I wish to speak to you.

Dead silence.

If only he knew the child’s name.

If you wish to know the names of your greatest enemies, repeat these words nine times, and nine names will appear in your mind, the last name the one you must fear the most. Even now, after all these years, he could hear his mother’s voice.

“Thank you, Mother,” Cael said, then spoke the ancient words of a potent spell she had taught him when he was only a small boy.

He waited for the names to appear, until slowly as if imprinted on a puff of gray smoke, the first name appeared, and then the second, the third and the fourth. All were names of council members loyal to Judah. The fifth appeared. Nadine. Then the sixth. Claude. The seventh was Sidra. No surprises.

But the eighth name puzzled Cael.

Judah.

He believed his brother to be his greatest enemy. How could there be someone of more danger to him than the Dranir?

And then the ninth name appeared, a name Cael did not recognize.

Eve.

Who was Eve?

The spell-induced vision ended, and Cael’s mind cleared.

Eve, who are you? If you can hear me, open your mind to me.

A vigorous surge of mental energy shot through him, bringing him to his knees. As the pain radiated through him and then quickly dispersed, he cursed loudly, damning whatever force had attacked him.

Someone did not want him contacting Eve. Could that someone be Eve herself?

You caught me off guard, Cael said. I am more powerful than any Ansara. You cannot win in a fight against me. Do you hear me, Eve?

Another blow zapped Cael, sending him flying halfway across the room and landing him in a heap against the far wall.

Damn you! I warn you. Don’t make an enemy of me. You will regret it.

I’m not afraid of you, a child’s voice replied. I will not let you hurt my daddy.

Cael’s heartbeat accelerated. Who is your father?

I am Eve, and I hate you!

Tapping into the child’s anger, Cael returned a psychic blow and laughed when he heard the little girl’s screams.

Screaming, Eve doubled over in pain, then dropped to the ground as if she’d been hit by a giant fist. Sidonia, who had been sitting in the swing watching Eve as she raced around in the yard, playing with Magnus and Rufus, rushed to the child as quickly as her old legs would carry her. Mercy, who had been picking peaches from the lower branches of one of the many trees in the fruit orchard, saw in her mind’s eye what happened to her child the instant it occurred. Someone had attacked Eve! Running as fast as possible from the orchard, Mercy sent several powerful bursts of retaliation energy, disrupting the flow attacking her child and reversing the blows so that they would strike their sender.