As he watched Eve picking wildflowers in the meadow, he thought about what she represented, not only to him, but to the Raintree. A mixed-breed child had not been born in many centuries, and none had been allowed to live beyond infancy in thousands of years. During his studies as a youth, he had thought the ancient tales of such children were little more than fabrications by the venerable Ansara scribes. Supposedly such a child possessed not only the unique abilities of each parent, making him or her more powerful than either parent alone, but if the parents were royals, the child would possess the ability to create a new and unique clan that was neither Ansara nor Raintree.
Is that what you are, my little Eve? The mother of a new clan?
Nonsense! The day would come when Eve would be completely Ansara, and even if he fathered other children in the future, she could still become the Ansara Dranira. It would be his choice to make.
But would Eve want to rule the clan that had wiped her mother’s people from the face of the earth? Would she willingly join forces with the man who had killed her mother?
“Daddy, watch!” Eve called, as she dropped her handpicked bouquet on the ground. “I can do a somersault.”
“Be careful,” Mercy cautioned. “Don’t show off.”
Ignoring her mother, Eve bounded up on her hands and flipped over, again and again, until she moved so quickly that her little body became a whirling blur.
Judah smiled. She was most definitely showing off. For him.
“Eve! Stop that before you hurt yourself.”
“Leave her alone,” Judah said. “She’s having fun. I used to do all sorts of things to make my parents pay attention to me.”
Suddenly Eve slowed, and the force she had used to create such rapid speed came to a screeching halt, projecting her small body a good twenty feet through the air.
“Oh, my God!” Mercy cried.
Before Eve’s body hit the ground, she wavered several inches above the grassy earth where she would have fallen if not for her parents’ intervention. Mercy glanced at Judah and he at her, and he realized that both of them had used their powers to protect Eve.
Judah walked across the meadow while his thoughts kept Eve suspended in thin air. She turned her head sideways and smiled at him as he approached. He reached out and pulled Eve into his arms.
“Mother’s angry,” Eve said.
“Leave your mother to me.”
Mercy came up alongside Judah and glowered at Eve. “I’ve warned you about doing that. You can’t control your powers, and until you can, you must curtail your-”
“She has to practice, doesn’t she?” Judah said as he set Eve on her feet.
Eve looked up at Judah with absolute adoration. Mercy winced.
“There are safer ways to practice,” Mercy said.
Eve clutched Judah ’s hand, as if she knew he would protect her from her mother’s displeasure. “Daddy can help me with my lessons.”
“No!” Mercy all but screamed the one word response.
“Why not?” Eve whined.
“Because your father is leaving today.” Mercy shot Judah a warning glare, daring him to contradict her.
“No, Daddy, please don’t leave.” Eve tugged on Judah ’s arm. “I want you to stay.”
“I have to go,” he told her. “I can’t stay.”
“You’re making him go away!” Eve shouted at Mercy. “I hate you! I hate you!”
Eve clenched her teeth tightly and narrowed her gaze, concentrating on her mother. Without warning, a high wind came up and the sky turned gray. Streaks of lightning shot out of the clouds and hit in several spots surrounding Mercy.
Stop! Judah ordered his daughter. I know you’re angry, but you might hurt your mother. You don’t want to do that, do you?
Immediately the wind died down, though the thunder continued to rumble repeatedly. Within moments the sky cleared and the sun reappeared.
Judah began to understand his daughter’s true powers. He had never known a child of six who was capable of half of what he’d seen from Eve. And he also understood Mercy’s concern for their child. Untutored power such as Eve possessed most certainly could be dangerous, not only to others but to Eve herself.
With tears caught in her long, honey-gold lashes, Eve ran straight to Mercy and threw her arms around her mother’s unsteady knees. “I’m sorry, Mommy. I didn’t mean it. I’d never hurt you. I love you. I don’t hate you.”
Mercy lifted Eve into her arms and hugged her fiercely to her breast. Judah exchanged a glance with Mercy and noted the sheen of tears in her eyes.
“I know. I know.” Mercy soothed her remorseful child. “You must promise me that you will try harder to control your temper and not use your powers when you’re angry.”
“I-I promise…I’ll try.” Eve clung to her mother.
Judah turned and walked away.
“Daddy!”
He paused and glanced over his shoulder. Eve was resting on her mother’s hip, her bright Raintree eyes shimmering with tears. “Will you come back to see me very soon?”
“I’ll come back to see you when the time is right,” Judah replied.
2:00 p.m.
The house was unusually quiet, with Sidonia working in the herb garden and Eve taking an afternoon nap. Mercy sat alone in her study, the blinds drawn, the lights out, and thought about her predicament. Judah was gone. But for how long? He had left with nothing settled between them. In less than twenty-four hours he had saved her life, discovered he had a daughter and turned their world upside down.
Who had tried to kill her last night, and why? How could Judah have known? And why would he bother to save her life? Was it possible that like her, he had never been able to forget their brief time together?
Stop thinking romantic nonsense!
Judah Ansara is no mortal man, nor is he Raintree. He doesn’t love, he conquers. And that’s all you were to him-a very special conquest. Never forget that he knew you were a Raintree princess before he took you to his bed.
For all these years, she had been certain that if she ever saw Judah again, she would feel nothing except fear for her child. She was afraid, deathly afraid, of what Judah might yet do. But she wouldn’t lie to herself. There was more to her feelings for him than fear.
Sexual attraction is a powerful thing.
She suspected that Judah was not as indifferent to her as he had proclaimed. And perhaps, if that was true, she could use it to her advantage. Just how far would she be willing to go to protect Eve? As far as was necessary, even if it meant seducing Judah and using her feminine wiles on him.
Be totally honest with yourself. You know what has to be done.
Yes, she knew. There was only one sure way to protect Eve from her father. Even if Eve never forgave her, Mercy had no choice but to kill Judah.
The thought of killing the man she had once loved, or at least had believed she loved, created a tightening in her chest. She had been born to heal, not destroy. But she had also been born a Raintree princess. The blood of warriors, both male and female, flowed in her veins.
Mercy looked above the mantel over the fireplace and visually inspected the golden sword hanging on the wall. Dranira Ancelin’s sword, the one she had used in The Battle against the Ansara. Her ancestress had also been an empath, a healer who had used her powers for good. But when called upon to defend her clan, she had fought alongside her husband. When they came to the mountains of North Carolina and built a refuge for themselves and their people, Ancelin had placed her sword above the fireplace in what had then been the living room of her home. The jewel-encrusted, golden sword had not been removed from that spot in two centuries.
“That sword has great power,” her father had once told her. “It can be used for no other purpose than to defend the Raintree, and only a female descendant of Ancelin can remove it from the wall.”