Kady's Vengeance

Cooley raced through the orchard gates, past the guards that Kady had stationed. They knew Cooley and made no effort to interfere with him. Slumbering fruit trees gave way to a sweep of walnut trees and ended at the edge of a wide courtyard defined by bushy hedgerows. Benches, stone water troughs, and elegant stone tie rails stood like stark sentinels among the remnants of the winter-slain gardens. A broad cobblestone carriage path veered to the cub's right, leading to the stableyard. Last night's snowfall had been cleared from its surface, but the afternoon flurries had lain a fresh white drape across the golden orange of the cobblestones.

He rode into the stableyard as if someone had singed his tail, and threw himself from the saddle. "Fychan! Take Larkspur."

Fychan Helmsley, the head stablemon, came out of the barn. His nose, grotesque on his withered face, sat amidst a wealth of seams and folds of sagging skin, weathered to the appearance of old leather. He caught hold of Larkspur's reins. "What's got ya riled?"

"No time."

Cooley went in the side door that led in through the kitchen. Since Kady returned from Creeya with help from the Fae and the Grand Master, the place was always filled. Cooley did not know and had not bothered to get acquainted with most of them. Before Kynyr's illness, Cooley would have gone straight to him with the information. He might have gone to Kady, but the further into the pregnancy she got, the crankier she became. Cooley knew that worrying about Kynyr caused part of that. He did not know whether Todd was there that day or not.

He pushed through the room, past a chattering band of Fae and burst into the hallway, trying to decide whether to check the front room or the salle for Trevor Sinclair, Kynyr's uncle.

The front room was closer. Cooley darted down the hallway and poked his head through the door. Myn turned to stare after him. He scanned the crowd and failed to see Trevor, so he went to the stairs and climbed to the second floor. As he walked down the second floor corridor, Cooley started trying to compose his words to get the most important fact first.

Trevor stood in the center of the mats, working with Tiderider, performing with the practice version of the deadly fans the Fae fought with. For all of Trevor's size, and he was a big mon, he had speed and grace also.

Tiderider had golden skin, eyes, and light caramel-hair with golden highlights. He wore the latter in a tail that exposed his pointed ears. He stood nearly six feet tall – an effect of the unbridled magic still found around the edges of his homeland. His eyes, like those of all the Fae, were like slits in his face from the double epicanthic fold of skin at the edges of them. That characteristic was more strongly pronounced among the Fae than with any other of the sylvan races.

His eyes flicked to see Cooley, and then he ignored the cub.

Cooley sucked in a breath. "Trevor, I need to talk to you."

"Can it wait?" Trevor never missed a movement as he and Tiderider worked their way along.

"It's about Malthus."

That got Trevor's attention; his bushy cinnabar eyebrows went up and he excused himself from the mat with a bow, putting the fans away on the shelf. The entire family suspected that Malthus was the mon behind all the dark happenings in and around Wolffgard, but they had been unable to find proof of it. "What about Malthus?"

"He's over by the hawthorn hedge."

"On this property?"

"Other side. He's jacking Larena."

Tiderider joined them near the door. "Kady's sister is sleeping with the enemy."

"How long ago, Cooley?"

"I was up on Larkspur, so I had to go through the orchard gates. But I went fast."

Trevor patted Cooley's shoulder. "Good cub." Then he turned to Tiderider. "If she came directly back, she could have gotten home ahead of Cooley by squeezing through the hedgerow."

"We must find her."

As they went through the house, Trevor and Tiderider set people to searching with instructions to secure her in the basement. If the cub Larena carried belonged to Malthus, then it explained why she was so reticent about the name of her lover.

Trevor saw Kady coming out of the kitchen. "Where's Larena?"

"Sitting with Kynyr. Why?"

Alarm flashed across Trevor's face with a sudden realization, and he ran for Kynyr's bedroom. "She poisoned him."

GODWAR CENTRAL

Kady's Vengeance