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“You’ll need to be careful, though,” Estara said. “Indaturan will betray most people in a heartbeat if he thinks doing so will aid his cause more than harm it. The exceptions are his court and his kin – both of which he’s passionately loyal to.”

“But he is upfront about that when he forms alliances,” Tarian said. “He’s a peculiar person.”

“What about the kin of his court?” Lydia asked.

“The ki–” Estara began then paused eyes wide. “Oh, of course. I didn’t think of that.” She made a thoughtful noise. “Not as much as with his actual court but he’d hesitate to betray someone if he thought it would hurt one of his court.” Read the rest of this entry »

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Estara paced restlessly, shadows coiling around her as she listened to Tara and Lyrrekka explain what they’d discovered from the blocks. When they finished she stopped and laid her forehead against one of the living walls of her palace.

“Why?” she said softly. “What could they have seen?” She shook her head. “I think they picked entirely the wrong person to approach. They should have gone to Keylaria, Andarian or even mother… Anyone but Xantaria. But why would they feel they needed us to exist…? What could they have foreseen? Not just Likadrian returning, I think.” She shook her head. “Al’s going crazy with speculation.” Read the rest of this entry »

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They found Sonia and Matthias in the sitting room watching the news again. Both of them had extremely serious expressions that made Lydia’s stomach flip.

“What’s happened now?” Lyrrekka asked before Lydia could. Read the rest of this entry »

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Lydia woke from a fitful sleep early the next morning. She sat on the edge of her bed and rubbed the bridge of her nose. They’d discussed the problem until late but had failed to come up with a plan.

“Lydia, what’s wrong?” Bennu flew from his perch atop the dark oak wardrobe at the end of the bed and landed on her shoulder.

“I’m worried about this meeting. I think we were wrong to invite those Lavernes who aren’t allied to us.” Read the rest of this entry »

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“I’ll have to tell Marian,” Tara said quietly.

“That her son’s been playing her?” Matthias asked.

Tara hesitated, staring out of the window. “Yes,” she said finally. “And the rest of it – I wish I didn’t have to tell her the rest of it. She doesn’t need more pain.” Read the rest of this entry »

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Collette was silent for a long time. Every few minutes she would put down the block she was holding then scout around the table again before picking another one. Her face grew grimmer and angrier by the moment as she absorbed whatever history the blocks were showing her and Karen could feel the girl’s rage darkening the air around them.

When Collette picked up the penultimate block, Tara got to her feet. Read the rest of this entry »

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Karen stared at the carved blocks lying all higgledy-piggledy on the table. They were virtually identical so there was no way to work out which was supposed to be the first one – but hopefully it wouldn’t matter. She picked one up from the table and stroked her fingers across the surface before opening her mind and trying to dive down into it. Just as Tara had said, there was some sort of lock on them so instead of a vision or even an impression, there was just blankness. She pushed against it but the lock wouldn’t give at all. After a few seconds she felt a presence flick out of the block and scan her before collapsing back into it. The blankness seemed to flicker slightly but remained in place. Read the rest of this entry »

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Karen waited until Sophie had left before hurrying over to the window. The blind had been closed to conceal that the window was open and the two unicorns listening from outside.

“Well?” she asked urgently.

“What she said was mostly true,” Ebona said. “And the lie she told I don’t understand why.”

“I don’t either; it was nothing to lie about,” Kenna said. Read the rest of this entry »

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“So you really think our families are in danger of being discovered?” Matthias asked. “I mean I suppose we must be since you know about us, but how?”

“Eric already knew about you when he recruited me,” she said. “I’m not sure how he found out, but I would surmise it’s because he was looking. That’s what our job was before this all blew up – find people who share our talents. But you kept finding them first. Once it became obvious someone was finding them first, it wouldn’t have been much of a push to work out who and why. He decided that his bosses would do something foolish if he told them and hid it from them.”

“The government’s been training Wilds?” Matthias said. He looked at Sarah. “How did we miss that?” Read the rest of this entry »

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“So,” Sonia said as she poured tea for their guest. “Please tell us why you are here.”

Sophie smiled and tooked the offered cup, sipping before she spoke. “You won’t be able to hide what is happening for long, you know. Whatever is leaking through that-” She nodded at the glowing tear in the sky visible through the conservatory roof. “Will affect too many people in the end. And the way it’s happening, so fast, with so little control: people will panic. They already are but it will make it worse. And the government is going to panic too.”

“Well they’re already bringing in travel restrictions,” James said. “And a curfew.” Read the rest of this entry »