River Cast: Part Two in the Tale of Lunarmorte Read Free Page B

attacks against us be abandoned until there is
definitive news of Ethan’s whereabouts.”
    Lucien quirked an eyebrow
as he glanced at Marion, like Caia, interested more in her reaction
than anything else. Marion for her part had stiffened in surprise.
Even Saffron had looked up from her nails in interest. After a few
minutes of silence Marion cleared her throat.
    “ Well...
that’s unexpected.”
    Well
yeah.
    “ But what
does it mean?” Caia asked impatiently.
    The witch shrugged. “You
should know better than anyone what it means.”
    “ Well I
don’t. Nikolai is strong, and his emotions are not as easy to read
through the trace as it is with the others.”
    She nodded, “The
Petrovsky’s are an influential family, have been for many
generations now.”
    Caia knew
this; she had felt the respect he garnered from other Midnights and
the reasons why. His decision to stop attacks against the Daylight
Coven confused Caia, not only because she couldn’t feel the reason
from him - only
what he told the others - but because lately her connection to the
Midnights was raising some questions. She was feeling emotions from
some of them that suggested the war as it stood was not exactly
what she thought it was… or had been led to think it
was.
    She snapped out of her own
musings to find Marion frowning at her. “Caia, it doesn’t mean
anything significant. Nikolai is obviously just rallying the troops
until he feels the Coven is secure enough to return to their tried
and tested style of warfare.” She curled her lip distastefully.
“Neanderthals that they are.”
    Lucien
smirked and turned to Caia. He seemed to read her confusion and
smiled reassuringly. “Marion’s right. The Dark Coven is just a
little shook up right now. They’re taking precautions, but it
doesn’t mean anything.”
    If that was true, then why
didn’t she feel so sure?
    Caia nodded, reluctantly,
because what she was about to impart, was just going to further
their belief that Midnights were not to be trusted to play ‘the
game’ with a cool head. She took a deep breath. “Well, despite
Nikolai’s orders he has a rebel in his midst. A guy called Pierre
du Bois?”
    A wrinkle of concentration
appeared between Marion’s eyebrows. “Du Bois? Du Bois? I know that
name, but it’s not one belonging to the old families. What is he up
to?”
    “ This warlock
has gone behind Nikolai’s back and raised a small group of
dissenters against Nikolai’s decision. It seems he has a problem
with one of the city packs from here . The MacLachlans?”
    Lucien grunted in
surprise. “The MacLachlans live... what… 300 miles north of here
but... they’re not a huge pack.” His eyes swung to Marion. “What
are the Midnights doing going after a relatively small
pack?”
    “ The
MacLachlans are an old Scottish pack,” Saffron spoke up, moving
gracefully closer to them all. “They sprung up around the end of
the 13 th century in Renfrewshire, Scotland, and have gifted the
Daylight Coven with great Rogue Hunters throughout the centuries.
I’ve worked with...” She shrugged elegantly and perched down beside
Marion, studying her mistress as if she would find the answer in
her face. “Hmm... what?... eight, nine generations of Rogue Hunters
from that pack.”
    Marion nodded, turning
back to Caia and Lucien. “Saffron’s right. They may be small but to
older members of either coven they are a well known warrior
pack.”
    Well that explained
that.
    “ Pierre is
arrogant and young.” Caia sighed, standing up to stretch her legs.
She hadn’t been on a run in weeks and it was telling on her body.
“Which is why you don’t recognise him as an old warlock. I thought
because of his ability to arouse such devotion that you may have
heard of him, but I’m thinking he’s just very charismatic. His
trace is malevolent; his prejudice against the Daylights
extraordinary considering how young he is; and... I think he might
be quite powerful. Some of the others