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Kadoran and Sarah both looked weary when they returned to the dining room for lunch.

Karen poured tea for both of them as they sat down. “What did you find out?”

“It was what I thought,” Kadoran said. “He must be completely incompetent and not understand the difference between – what did you call them – embers and nulls?”

“Er?” Karen said. “You don’t mean embers having some ability, do you?” Read the rest of this entry »

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Salia kicked her feet idly as they prepared to move again and watched Sonia and Lyrrekka packing. Well, Lyrrekka was doing most of the packing. Sonia was sitting on the bed, looking tired and explaining the situation with Andrew to Kadoran. The new dragon seemed like he was another of the okay ones, which was still a strange thought.

“Mummy wouldn’t have brought him here if he weren’t,” Karilya whispered. “And Estara would tolerate a mean person either.” Read the rest of this entry »

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Karen had never imagined that Marian Laverne could look so vulnerable. The rare times she’d had the misfortune to encounter the woman at Brierthorn, she’d given off an aura of icy strength. She wasn’t giving it off right now as she lay unconscious on the floor of the cellar. Indeed there was a fragile edge to her aura that suggested she’d been putting up more of a bluff than anyone had realised. Behind her, Karen heard Tara give a quiet squeak and knew that she’d sensed it as well.

“Mercy of the Void!” Kadoran exclaimed from where he was standing behind Sonia. “What has been done to that woman?”

“You see it then, Kad?” Nerrezza looked over her shoulder at him. “Is it as bad as Lyrrekka-ida said?” Read the rest of this entry »

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Karen stared at the dark-haired dragon in surprise, then turned to look at Tarian. He looked unphased; so this was what he’d suspected.

“If I’m…” Sonia trailed off. “Yes,” she said finally. “I suppose that I am planning to challenge him, but I need to get well first. Yesterday proved that – and I don’t know how…” she trailed off again.

“You don’t know how to challenge him?” The dragon finished for her. “I can teach you the formalities. So will you have me?” Read the rest of this entry »

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Neither Matthias nor Lyrrekka were in the dining room when Lydia came down for breakfast the next morning.

“Where’s Dad and Lyrrekka?” she asked as she sat down.

“Lyr’s gone to the other world to speak with Estara about Marian’s condition. As for Matt, he’s finally gone to talk to his family,” Sarah said. “I’d say I’d like to be a fly on the wall when he tells them he’s been hiding you all this time, but they’re the Morgans. They’ll probably take it all in stride.” Read the rest of this entry »

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Andrew didn’t think he’d managed to sleep properly at all since Emms kidnapped him. Not only was it hard to sleep while chained and sitting up but the situation as a whole was hardly conducive to getting a good night’s sleep. Still he was managing to doze fitfully when the sound of the door creaking open startled him into full wakefulness.

He opened his eyes, but the darkness pressed against his eye. All the same, he was certain that whoever had opened the door wasn’t Emms or Laxmi. The intruder also seemed to be hesitating near the door – he didn’t hear any footsteps approaching. Read the rest of this entry »

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Lydia poured herself a cup of tea from the large pot Sarah had brought into the dining room and looked around as her father and Lucas came in. “What now?”

“Our guests are asleep until the morning – even the ones we can trust,” Matthias said. “So we have time to figure out what to do next.” He sat down by Sonia. “Are you okay?”

Sonia looked pale and tired. “It was a trap, Matt. A very cruel trap.” She folded her arms on the dining table and rested her head on them. “And someone laid it specifically for Marian Laverne.” Read the rest of this entry »

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Salia sat on one of the bunk beds in the safe room and watched Tarian and the humans curiously. They were sitting in a circle on the carpet in the centre of the room and while they were not touching physically – except for where Tara had Martin in her lap – she could feel the way their minds were enmeshed with each other.

“What are they doing?” she asked. Read the rest of this entry »

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It’ll be okay, Dan, Karen said as they raced towards Sarah. But we’re lucky you sensed them. They must have had a second layer up.She gave a mental growl. Clever.

Do you know who they are? he asked.

Let me look. He felt her mind flick out ahead of them. They’re all Barkses. They’re one of the Lavernes satellite lines and usually more involved in hiding our existence than hunting. They’re an odd group to pick to go after Aunt Sarah. They really don’t care one way or the other about resonants. I wonder what…. Oh, of course. To keep them occupied because Marian’s trying to keep her family unaware of what’s going on. Her thoughts were so fast he could barely keep up with them. Read the rest of this entry »

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The six attackers who’d come through the wards first weren’t really a challenge, Daniel decided. In fact it was all rather too easy.

He bound up one of their opponents with snakelike tendrils of darkness and noticed Karen frowning as well as she and Alban faced off against two of them, while two more of the attackers were heading towards Jason and Caolainn. One of them fired a stream of metal shards as they charged and Daniel leapt forward, intending to throw up a shield to help, but Jason gave a little smirk and casually plucked the strings of his violin. The note shimmered in the air and the shards shattered and dropped to the ground. Jason cocked his head and raised his bow to the strings as Caolainn began to sing. The music was complex and lovely to Daniel’s ears but the attackers didn’t seem to agree. Both screamed and dropped to their knees holding their ears. Daniel watched them for a second, then looked back at Karen. Read the rest of this entry »