Daemonar glanced around the table. Morris looked like he was going to be sick. Raine had lost all color in his face. Even Mikal, who had plenty of experience with Scelties, and Weston, who was a sword and shield, looked a little woozy.
“You bit off his balls?” Daemonar asked, struggling to sound unconcerned—and struggling equally hard not to put a shield around his cock and balls. But that would attract Liath’s attention and make the Sceltie wonder about the reactions of the humans around him.
*Just one,* Liath said.
Morris knocked over his chair in his haste to get out of the room. Daemonar hoped the man made it to the nearest toilet before throwing up.
Liath, clearly confused by Morris’s reaction, looked at the rest of the men. *The Healer said the other ball would work well enough that the male would be able to make puppies if there was a female anywhere in Scelt who would want him for a mate.*
“You didn’t stay to become the Caitie girl’s special friend?” Daemonar asked.
*There is a colt who is the Caitie girl’s special friend, and Lord Kieran thought I would be more useful here. Prince Sadi agreed.*
Yes, Daemon Sadi would definitely view a Green-Jeweled Warlord Prince who wouldn’t hesitate to castrate any male who got too frisky around the girls as an asset. And Lord Kieran had probably breathed a sigh of relief at getting this particular Sceltie away from his own village.
A nearby flash of female fear, of panic. Someone nearby was in trouble.
Before Daemonar and Weston could push away from the table, Liath leaped out of his chair and ran out of the room. *The Alvita boo-hoo girl is attacking Allis and Breen!*
Daemonar was only a few steps behind the Sceltie, and Weston was right behind him. He saw Alvita fiddling with the door of Uncle Daemon’s sitting room, felt the clash of Allis’s Rose Jewel with Alvita’s Rose Jewel, heard Breen’s frantic barking.
Daemonar wasn’t sure there was anything he could do that wouldn’t cause an explosion of power if his Green tangled with Liath’s while the Sceltie formed a Green shield in front of the door. But instead of forming a shield, Liath charged the girl. Daemonar saw Alvita notice the dog and raise an arm as if to release a blast of power from the Rose Jewel in her ring.
And he watched, because he hadn’t understood the intent behind Liath’s charge, as the Sceltie launched himself at the girl and closed his jaws around her wrist. Liath twisted in the air, Alvita screamed as the Sceltie’s move knocked her off her feet, and when she landed on the floor, she showed everyone the lacy bra and panties that were the only garments she was wearing under her robe.
Fool, Daemonar thought as his heart pounded and the girl wailed. Aware of Weston standing a few steps behind him, snapping at someone to stay back, he pointed at Liath, who was snarling and worrying the girl’s bleeding wrist. “Back off now, Prince Liath. Let her go, and back off. We’ll deal with her now.”
“Will you?” a deep voice purred.
The air in the corridor turned so cold, it hurt to breathe. The blood dripping from Alvita’s wrist froze before it hit the floor.
Liath released the girl and backed away, growling to let everyone know he was angry. But a Green-Jeweled Warlord Prince wasn’t the biggest threat right now.
May the Darkness have mercy on us, Daemonar thought as the Sadist dropped the sight shield and stood on the other side of the girl.
The Sadist stared at Alvita, his gold eyes glazed and sleepy—the only warning that his cold rage was viciously sharp and lethal. Then he looked past Daemonar and purred, “Lord Beale. You’ll handle this?”
“I will, High Lord,” Beale replied. “You’ll want the Coach first thing in the morning?”
“I will.” The Sadist looked down at Alvita again and said too softly, “If the bitch harmed the puppies, she’ll forfeit her skin.” Then he stepped around the girl, carefully opened the door to his sitting room, and slipped inside.
Footmen arrived with a stretcher to take Alvita to the healing room, where Lady Nadene, the Healer who looked after the Hall’s residents, already waited.
“I’m supposed to go,” Arlene said. “Lady Nadene requires my presence.”
“She has summoned the three Healers in training,” Beale said, looking at Weston when the sword and shield hesitated to allow Arlene to pass.
Weston stepped aside enough for Arlene to slip past him, but blocked Zoey, Titian, and the other girls.
“What’s going on?” Zoey asked. “Can we help?”
“No,” Weston said.
“The best thing you can do is stay in tonight,” Daemonar said, meaning the girls should stay in their square of rooms.
Zoey looked toward Sadi’s sitting room door. “But . . .”
The door opened just enough for Allis to slip out. She rushed over to Liath, not Zoey. The Sceltie Warlord Prince gave the young witch a thorough sniff and a lick on her muzzle. Satisfied, Liath trotted off and Allis leaped into Zoey’s arms.
Helene and some of the senior housemaids arrived to clean the corridor and deal with the blood soaking into the carpet. The Hall’s housekeeper gave the men a sharp look and said, “Don’t you have somewhere else to be?”
“Yes, Lady,” Mikal said.
They retreated to the room where they’d been playing cards.
“Any guesses why Liath attacked the way he did?” Holt asked, looking at Mikal. “His Jewel is a lot darker than Alvita’s. He could have put a shield in front of the door to keep her out.” Now he looked at Daemonar. “You hesitated because you expected him to shield the door and keep her from getting into the room, but he was savage.”
“He said she was attacking Allis and Breen,” Daemonar said.
“But she wasn’t attacking. She was trying to get into a room she had no business entering—and thank the Darkness she didn’t cross that threshold—but Liath’s response was not appropriate unless there is more to this than we’re aware of.” Holt called in a bottle of whiskey and some glasses. He poured a couple of fingers in each glass and passed them around.
Weston blew out a breath and said, “Speaking as a sword and shield, if a threat has been made, you respond to the adversary’s next move as an attack. You don’t wait; you don’t hesitate. If you do, the Queen you’re protecting could be harmed.”
Mikal downed his whiskey and set the glass on the table. “I’d better locate the rest of the Scelties and find out if there had been a previous threat that they didn’t tell me about. And then I need to get home.” Home was a cottage in Halaway that he shared with Daemon’s mother, Tersa, and Keely, the Sceltie who was a journeymaid Black Widow.
“You’ll let us know if there’s more trouble on the horizon?” Daemonar asked.
Mikal nodded and left.
Raine sank into a chair. “Perhaps tomorrow all the Warlord Princes in residence should have a discussion about appropriate responses.” He looked at Daemonar and tried to smile. “Like those ‘what if . . . ?’ exercises you’re so fond of.”
“I’d like to sit in on that lesson,” Weston said, looking thoughtful. “I didn’t see it clearly until tonight. We’ve all been so busy settling into the new arrangement, I didn’t appreciate the real intent.” He looked at the other men. “This isn’t a school, despite the subjects being taught. This isn’t just protection for the youngsters who were targeted by the coven of malice and might still be targeted by someone who wants to destroy young Queens. This is a training ground for Queens and the Blood who might serve in courts. Five Queens living here, each with a group of friends who are drawn to a particular girl. Being here is the equivalent of doing an apprenticeship in an established Queen’s court, but more demanding because they’re all young and learning together.”