Morgaine blinked. "He flows with mana? Like you?"

“Yes. Except way more potent than me. I... I can't get enough of him.

I think about him all the time. It's maddening.”

"By the Gods, Grace! I will have to tell mother, you know that?"

Grace nodded. "I do. She has a right to know. He requires protection.

I have left him in the care of Quinten. I know he's an ass, but he's promised to look out for him and the witches. I had little choice."

Morgaine thought this over for a time. “We must speak privately."

Grace looked over at the two female guards, standing twenty feet away and staring out into the forest for threats. She knew them both.

They were highly trained Night Fae, and she should know, Grace had trained them. They were listening to every word as they were trained to do.

Grace reached out and touched the back of Morgaine's hand. As children, they had learned to share their thoughts, a gift their mother passed down to them, and a sure sign of their royal bloodline.

They could always find the other.

Morgaine spoke in her mind. My sweet sister! It pleases me to join like this with you once again! But I don't have much time. I cannot remain long from our home. Have you heard about the gnomes?

The gnomes? What of them?

They have been freed. The geas has lifted; we know not how.

That is extraordinary! This pleases me. When did this happen?

Pleases you? It's caused such chaos; you would think Maeve was behind it. But to answer you, it occurred only a few days ago.

What are the gnomes saying about it?

They are tight-lipped. An unusual and powerful communication ritual was activated out of Whitehaven soon afterward. It targeted the gnomes. They are now choosing not to speak about what happened. Even to death. They are not like before when they could be easily compelled, other than about the geas. Mother is deeply concerned. She says they are a strength that few people remember. Mother says their use of their Science was troublesome to the Fae.

A world with free gnomes. How interesting.

What will you do now? asked Morgaine, changing the subject.

I will investigate Yanwey first. I must see for myself, Grace said through their link. Then I must find my party and tell them all I know. They have a right to hear this from me. They have blindly followed me all these years knowing I was working for mother. And they still trusted me. I must find them.

Morgaine nodded. Mother said that was what you would do. She asked me to tell you the Light Fae are massing an army deep in their forests.

The destruction of Yanwey has disturbed them greatly and they seek to blame the Night Fae, as they are wont to do. They are incapable of reason and wallow in their dark and twisted emotions. Mother says the war will come. It is only a matter of time. She gives it a year. No more. Because of this, the egg cannot remain in human hands.

Grace pushed her sorrow away. War between the fae was as common as breathing. Every couple of hundred years, they turned to war Like clockwork. It was like a pressure valve exploding. But this war would be almost fifty years early. Something or someone was pushing this on them. Grace knew it with her gift. The gift of foresight. It was nothing more than instinct, but sometimes, when the sight was particularly strong, she received flashes of vision.