A crisp, frosty air blew over the dormant orchard, the breeze stiff enough to send the flags bearing the green and blue flag of House Westfall snapping on the four towers high above Lady Casey Westfall’s manor in Northern Kadothia. The late morning sky roiled with clouds as the promise of one of the famed Northern Continent blizzards built far above. Ignoring the sting of the wind, Chel stared into the churning mists with unseeing eyes, his mind sorting continuously through streams of data coming into his crystal implant.
His blood brother, Gwarnon, was sending Chel a live feed his meeting with a Smuggler Prince who was also a Kadothian informant. They hoped their spy had information about any Earth women recently smuggled into the Bel’Tan galaxy bearing a resemblance to Roxy Westfall, Lady Casey’s sister.
Soft, rhythmic footsteps came from the flowering winter garden below, the manor guards on high alert. A young Earth woman who was just beginning to settle into her role as a Kadothian Matriarch, Lady Casey was beside herself with worry and grief. Because Chel was so physically close to the Lady, her strong emotions trickled through their shared bond. Her grief and fury mixed with his own.
Lady Roxy wasn’t only his Matriarch’s sister, she was the key to Chel and his blood brother Gwarnon finding their own bondmate. Months ago, Chel experienced a true dream— he met his future bride in his dreams. Chills still raced over his skin as he clearly remembered dancing with his golden-haired beauty at a Harvest Festival thrown by Lady Roxy. At the time, Chel had no idea who hosted the ball, but he recognized the mystery Matriarch’s husbands, Nosa and Cormac. They watched Chel and Gwarnon dance with fond smiles, the kind shared between good friends.
At first, Gwarnon expressed skepticism that Chel true dreamed.
After all, his vile mother, Lady Melissi, had convinced Gwarnon that his Matriarch died long ago. Years before, Gwarnon lost his first blood brother in an ‘accident’ just when his blood brother supposedly found their Matriarch. Gwarnon had barely survived their loss—his mind broken, his heart shattered, and his will to live gone. If it wasn’t for Gwarnon’s loyal friends, he probably would’ve ended his own life. Instead, he’d managed to somehow deal with the fact he would never find the love of his life, that he was doomed to die to the madness.
When Gwarnon met Chel, and once it became clear they were blood brothers, Gwarnon broke the news that their Matriarch was dead. While Chel had no proof, he felt deep in his soul that Gwarnon was wrong, that their Matriarch was still out there. They’d fought bitterly about it, and Chel had let it go after he realized Gwarnon’s mind would never be changed.
It wasn’t until Gwarnon had a true dream about their mysterious alyah—and woke with a fresh love bite on his neck and scratches down his back to prove it—that he’d finally allowed himself to believe. Allowed himself to hope.
Worry threatened to overwhelm Chel, but he used the old Healer trick of making himself intensely focus on his surroundings to clear his mind.
The icy rain began to change to snow, and large flakes edged in gold and pale purple began to drift down over the manor grounds. Lorn and Nast—Lady Casey’s husbands and the Lords of this manor—had done a good job preparing the Territory for her, but no land came alive until there was a Matriarch to bond with it. Since Lady Casey had taken over the Territory, it had begun to transform and prosper. Right now, the towns, hamlets, and farms in the Westfall Territory were celebrating an unusually good harvest of their popular wine. He could hear distant merrymaking, but his heart held no cheer.
Behind him, the blue gilded doors leading into the manor swung open, momentarily bathing him in warm and light as the sky above continued to darken.
A tall man with his long white hair smoothed back in a club braid stepped out onto the balcony. He wore the gleaming blue casual armor of a Negotiator, his long cream and blue-edged cape marking him Head of the Negotiators flapped about his figure as he shut the door. His grim face wasn’t unusual. Lord Rell was known for his somewhat off-putting nature—when he stared, it was like he could peer into your soul. The only time Chel had ever seen Lord Rell relaxed and smiling was when he was with his Earth bride, Lady Paige—who just happened to have