Raintree: Sanctuary (Raintree 3)

“I won’t let him hurt my daddy.” Eve grabbed Mercy’s hand. “We have to help Daddy.”

“All right,” Mercy said. “In the morning we’ll contact your father, and you can warn him that someone evil wants to harm him.”

“Why can’t I talk to Daddy tonight?”

Knowing how stubborn Eve was, Mercy realized that there was only one way to reassure her daughter. “If you need to contact Judah right now, then go ahead.”

“No!” Sidonia cried. “What are you thinking, letting her use such powers without testing her first? And to contact that man…”

Mercy glanced over her shoulder at Sidonia. “Eve has already spoken to her father. As a matter of fact, she connected my mind and Judah’s and listened in. Didn’t you, my little minx?”

“Heaven help us,” Sidonia mumbled.

“Go to bed in your own room,” Mercy said. “I’ll stay the night with Eve.”

Grumbling all kinds of dire warnings, Sidonia shook her head sadly, then left mother and daughter alone.

Eve looked up at Mercy and asked, “May I talk to my daddy now?”

“Yes, you may.”

Mercy didn’t doubt that there was someone out there, besides herself, who wanted Judah Ansara dead. Although she knew very little about him, she did know that he was probably enormously wealthy. When they’d first met, his lifestyle had indicated he was a man with a vast fortune. He had told her that he was an international banker. Being an Ansara, he was hardly a legitimate businessman. There was no telling how many illegal deals he had bartered and how many enemies he had made over the years.

Eve closed her eyes and concentrated. While she was deep in thought, Mercy held Eve’s hand and connected to her daughter’s mind, sharing her consciousness.

Daddy.

No response.

Daddy, can you hear me?

Silence.

Eve opened her eyes and looked at Mercy. “He’s not answering me. He won’t let me in.”

Mercy sensed that her child was on the verge of another psychic hissy-fit. She squeezed Eve’s hand. “We’ll try together.”

Eve’s precious smile melted her mother’s heart. Judah’s smile.

Mercy was grateful that Eve resembled her so much, with her slender frame and blond hair; and thankfully, she had been born with the Raintree eyes. Unfortunately, she also bore the Ansara blue crescent moon birthmark, which lay hidden beneath her hair. And from the first moment Eve had smiled, Mercy had known that she had inherited her father’s mouth.

After Eve closed her eyes, Mercy did, too, and together they called out to the same man.

Daddy.

Judah.

Beauport, Terrebonne, the royal palace, 11:00 p.m.

Judah sat alone in his bedroom, unable to rest, his

mind filled with thoughts of the secret council meeting earlier that evening. There had to be a way to stop Cael without plunging the Ansara into a bloody civil war. It had taken them two hundred years to regroup and rebuild after The Battle with the Raintree. Hiding away on this island in the Caribbean, slowly growing in size and strength until they were once again a mighty clan, the Ansara now ruled a vast economic empire, fueled by both legal and illegal activities worldwide. As far as the world of mankind knew, Judah Ansara was a banker.

Daddy.

Judah.

What the hell?