slain the monster that Leonius Livius had become. In the middle of the battlefield while rogue no-fangers and the Council’s fanged army had fought all around them, Lucian had pinned the man to the ground with his spear, and Castor had severed his head from his body. Both of them had been considered heroes for that, but Lucian was his brother, someone he knew on a day-to-day basis, while Castor was unknown and more of a mythic hero in his mind.
“He wasn’t a hero,” Lucian said quietly. “He was just a good man and a fine soldier. He was also my friend, and before he died he asked me to look out for Eshe and the others of his family should anything happen to him. Well, as you know, he died, and I’ve tried to look out for Eshe and it’s what I’m trying to do now by getting her out of harm’s way until we get this matter resolved. I’m thinking that will take about two weeks.”
“What is the matter you have to resolve?” Armand asked.
Lucian sighed and set his fork and knife aside, his appetite apparently affected by thoughts of the matter. His voice was grim when he admitted, “Apparently we didn’t get all the sons when we took out Leonius. At least one survived. He calls himself Leonius Livius the Second.”
“You mean there’s been one of his spawn running around all these centuries?” Armand asked with amazement. It was hard to imagine he’d gone without notice. If he was anything like his father, his atrocities should not have gone unnoticed all this time.
“He’s been alive and flourished,” Lucian assured him dryly. “The man has at least twenty sons that we know of. Or had,” he added with satisfaction. “We’ve weeded some out. Apparently he’s smarter than his father, though. That, or he has someone who has managed to keep him on a tight rein. He hasn’t gone in for wholesale slaughter like his father enjoyed, or started any breeding camps. He’s kept the numbers he attacks to one or two women at a time and the occasional unfortunate family. He only came into notice earlier this summer. He kidnapped two women from a grocery store parking lot up north. My men got one of the females away and killed three or four of his sons, but then had to hunt down the other female and the man who had taken her. Eshe was in on the search and was apparently spotted and recognized. Now my sources say he’s targeted her for revenge for his father’s death.”
Armand nodded solemnly. “Has he targeted your Leigh too or anyone else in the family for your part in his father’s death?”
“I don’t think he knows about Leigh. In any case that doesn’t matter, I can keep her safe. But Eshe is another matter. She’s one of my enforcers and as stubborn and proud as her father ever was. She was ready to walk down the main street in Toronto nude to get his attention and have her chance at him when she heard he was looking for her.”
“So she’s like a female you, huh?” Armand asked with amusement.
“Ha ha,” Lucian said dryly.
Armand chuckled at his sour expression. “If she’s as bad as all that, how do you plan to convince her to hide out on my farm in the country until you catch this guy?”
“Yeah…well…that was a problem,” Lucian muttered, picking up his knife and fork again. His expression was surly as he admitted, “She delights in flouting my orders as a rule. The best way to get her to do anything is to have me tell her to do the opposite. If she weren’t Castor’s daughter…” Lucian glowered briefly, but then sighed and shook his head. “Fortunately, even she wouldn’t dare disobey a direct order from the Council.”
“I see,” Armand drawled slowly, his eyes narrowing suspiciously on his brother. “And she’s agreed to stay on my farm twiddling her thumbs for several weeks?”
“I said two weeks,” he pointed out, avoiding his gaze. “And as I said, even she wouldn’t disobey a direct order from the Council.”
“So she isn’t going to be happy,” Armand surmised dryly.
Lucian shrugged. “She’s too polite to take it out on you…probably,” he added with a grin, then suggested, “Just keep her busy. Take her on picnics and hayrides, or whatever you hayseeds do.”
“Hayseeds?” Armand echoed with disgust.
Lucian rolled his eyes. “Just keep her distracted and I’ll call the minute it’s safe for her to return to