Daughter of the Tides, Servants of the Moon Book 2

Del and Nyall quickly reached the other end and began the slow ride up in the miner’s lift to the Eye of the Goddess temple. He was surprised when they stepped out of a wall hidden in the linen closet at the end hall, leading to the Hidden Eye pool. By the stairs leading up to the main temple, Eliazar said nothing as he hugged Del.

Ainsley was waiting for them with a grin and a tray as they entered the hall that held the oracles’ quarters. She offered them each a cup of hot tea and a sandwich. Del ruffled Ainsley’s curls, took hers, and went up the stairs to her room without another word. Ainsley took Nyall’s hand and led him to her room across from the Delphi’s. He was surprised when he came in saw Mamó sitting in a chair. There was a change of clothes for him and fresh towels on Ainsley’s bed. His little sister scowled and pointed at the shower.

“Thank ye for the snack, beag sionnach (little fox),” Nyall smiled.

She nodded, then pointed at the bathroom again. With a mischievous smirk, she pinched her nose.

“I think she wants ye to bathe ye-self, m’ogha (my grandson),” Mamó grinned.

“Aye, I get it, I smell.” He went to shower, when he came out Eliazar, Kaiyou, and Essie were waiting for him.

“Tell us, Wanderer Nyall, where have you and the Delphi been?” The Elder Wanderer demanded.

“I am not sure, you should ask her,” Nyall said tiredly, as he gulped his tea and devoured his sandwich.

“Del’s out like a light. She walked in, took a shower, then fell asleep before she even got her hair dried,” Essie explained then she looked at him expectantly.

Nyall yawned and began. As he talked, Ainsley scribbled notes. Almost half an hour later, he fell asleep answering questions.

Essie picked up the mug he was drinking from and sniffed it. Her eyes narrowed suspiciously, “Ainsley? Did you drug him? Did you drug the Delphi?”

Ainsley shrugged and signed, ‘Weary souls need the most rest.’

Kaiyou chuckled deeply. “Little kitsune, you are a tricky one.” To him, Ainsley curtseyed.

Eliazar rubbed his forehead, “She is as difficult as you, Tiene.”

Mamó chuckled, “Nay, Eliazar. She is just wiser than ye.”

Essie touched a picture on the wall of a ferris wheel on a boardwalk and two wolves climbing out of the water. “Did they go here? This looks like Atlantic City.”

Ainsley shook her head and went to the map of the world and touched the southernmost tip of a place called Florida. She handed over a sketchbook with a picture of Del dancing with a silver blond wolf that Essie immediately recognized before handing it to her grandfather.

“Lothaire Des Rues was there?” Eliazar demanded.

Ainsley nodded, her hands pantomimed that they talked.

“What did she say to him?” Essie demanded.

Ainsley wrote in the corner of the image. ‘The Moon said you were to be spared for your destiny to be fulfilled and so you may find what you lost.’

“And what did the Beta of Des Rues lose that the Moon would grant him mercy?” Essie folded her arms across her chest, drumming her fingers in an angry tempo.

Ainsley looked at them with sadness and made the symbol of a heart with her hands. Essie spat a curse word and stormed out. Shaking his head, Elder Eliazar sighed, “One must have a heart before they can lose it.” Then he turned on his heel to follow Essie.

Kaiyou turned the pages of Ainsley’s sketch book and looked at it carefully, he stopped on an image then he looked at Ainsley with realization. “The Moon has chosen him to be Esther’s rescuer?”

Ainsley patted the giant Shogunate’s cheek and gave a solemn nod. Then she tapped the image of Lothaire, her head, and shook her finger no.

“But he does not know it.” Kaiyou said aloud. “The Moon is taking a risk; he must make the choice of his own will.”

Ainsley’s dark golden eyes held the slight glow of the harvest moon. Her whisper was breathy and quiet, “He will make the right choice, then Essie must make a harder one, revenge or forgiveness, then hatred or love. If she chooses poorly, the Sunwolf will do all she fears.”

Kaiyou looked between Ainsley and her sketches with his inscrutable dark eyes for several minutes.

“Do not doubt the visions of mo garinion (my granddaughter), Protector.” Mamó chided him.

Kaiyou flipped through a few other pages until Ainsley stopped him, “It is his choice.”

The image made him frown before he closed the sketchbook and handed it back. “Thank you for sharing your drawings with me, little one.” Then he hefted Nyall’s unconscious body over his shoulder. Silently, Ainsley followed and opened the door for the Shogunate wolf to carry her brother-by-mating to the warriors’ dorm.

Mamó looked at the page Ainsley had let Kiayou see. It was of Comhnyall standing alone in the Eye of the Goddess temple, he was lighting a pyre of dead wolves. Kiayou’s brother’s wolf was at the top of the pile with his heart torn out. Ketsu’s wolf looked like it was made of ash. “This will not ease his heart, beag sionnach.”

“No, but it will make him cherish his brother more before they go to the Moon,” Ainsley whispered. She flipped open another book and Mamó nodded sadly at the image of Kaiyou’s last battle with an older Ainsley kneeling at his side.

“All will be tested and when the bravest have fallen, the meek shall have to stand for them.” Mamó pulled her great-great-great granddaughter into her ancient arms. “Oh, mo garinion I wish ye were not the one to face this alone.”

Ainsley grinned suddenly and wiggled out of her arms, she ran to her pack and came back with a notecard sized sketchbook filled with images of one person. Her wolf spoke to her grandmother’s in a giddy tone. ”I won’t be alone, Mamó. I have mo ceile, my shadow.”

Mamó blinked back the shock at the images, finally she said quietly, “So, the Goddesses have conspired to give ye a mate that will protect ye even better than ye brother. I thought she would send you someone back from the Fields.”

Ainsley’s coppery curls bobbed as she shook her head. ”The Moon and the three-faced Goddess promised that a shadow would protect me. He’ll be waitin’ for me in the Void under the Moon’s Gate when we go home.”

In the month since returning from the Alpha gathering in Florida, Lothaire had spent half his time dealing with an unusually wet spring. First a late blizzard had buried the entire territory in feet of snow that had promptly melted into a mess. Then weeks of rainy monsoon caused flash flooding and landslides. The rest of his time and the other Betas time was sent grooming the Des Rues army. He had just arrived back at the Alpha’s manor after a long day of training warriors in the mud and rain when a servant brought him a note to come to his brother’s office. Lothaire frowned, wondering why Charles simply had not linked him.

Lothaire pushed the family link. ”What is it, brother? I had a long day training the warriors.”

“I’m too tired to link, just come to my office. It is about White Mountain.” Charles’ communication back was fuzzy, almost slurred, like trying to view an image through static on a bad broadcast.

Growling to himself, Lothaire stalked though the huge manor. White Mountain pack had sent half their warriors to train at Des Rues after the rogues that attacked their young Alpha had come back and killed the old Alpha, the Luna, and the Alpha’s daughter’s mate along with nearly two dozen others. Charles told Lothaire that Soleil claimed vision and so he had sent Charlemagne and Helios to aid them, but it was too late. The young alpha of White Mountain vanished and was presumed dead with the others. Their Betas had died too, so there was no one to train the warriors. And from what Lothaire had seen, they needed training. But it wasn’t just the lackadaisical attitude of the White Mountain wolves toward training, but their complete lack of pride in their pack or in being werewolves. He didn’t even knock before entering their father’s office.

Charles was sitting behind the old family desk and Lothaire’s wolf made a disgruntled growl because, like an annoying bird, Soleil perched on the arm of the chair from which generations of Des Rues Alphas ruled.

“Yes, brother,” Lothaire nodded his head respectfully. Since the witch had glued herself to Charles’s side and her halfling son was getting equal treatment to Charles’ heir, Lothaire found it harder and harder to call Charles by his title of Alpha.

“Lothaire, I need you to go north. We think the reason we did not find those who attacked White Mountain or the bodies of those attacked is because the attackers were vampires. Covens all over the country are disappearing, and I think…”

“Maybe you should ask your son and your whore what is happening to the vampires,” Lothaire interrupted. “The Delphi accused us of stealing their children and then took one from our boat with a vampire more ancient than any I have ever encountered. Perhaps you should ask your witch by what profane magic her halfling took that child from its coven.”

Soleil eyed him spitefully. “Helios was attempting to rescue the child after its coven had left it behind.”

“Lying witch,” Lothaire mocked. “A vampire coven would never leave a child behind, not any more than a werewolf pack would leave a pup behind. Delilah accused him of burning the blood of them. Is that what you wanted it for?” He growled menacingly.

“I tell you he was going to bring the child here, to save it, so we could make an alliance with the vampires.” She hissed at him, with her thick accent, “Not this ridiculous notion of burning.”

“Really? It was obvious that the vampires are already allied with the Temples of the Moon.” Lothaire folded his arms across his chest, his contempt visible. “The Delphi says the Moon ordered it.”

“You cannot know that for certain.” Charles retorted with such violence he actually sent drops of spittle in the air. His fangs had started to drop.

His hostility surprised Lothaire because he had already told his brother he had someone inside the temple. However, Charles did not know that he had two people and that one was above question as a source. When Delilah had said he was to be spared, Lothaire called Eliazar and found out more. He knew he would need to be clever like a fox because Charles was acting like a rabid dog on a hunt.