“Excellent!” Sorcha jumped to her feet. “We can play the Game of Stones!”
Gwennore dashed over to the table, where she emptied the fruit from a brass bowl. “We can use this bowl.”
“Let’s play by the fire.” Maeve headed across the enormous room, then stopped with a gasp. “Ye have a dog?”
Luciana’s mouth fell open. Brody was curled up in front of her fireplace, fast asleep. She hadn’t realized he was back at court. For the last month, he’d been away, hunting the Chameleon. The poor guy had to be exhausted if he’d slept right through their conversation and the coronation ceremony.
“Julia? Good goddesses, is that you?” Maeve ran across the room, squealing so loudly she woke Brody up. He blinked sleepily at her.
“It is you!” Maeve pulled him into a hug. “Julia!”
Brody growled low in his throat.
Luciana bit her lip to keep from laughing at the mortified look on the dog shifter’s face. “His name is Brody.”
“I told ye he’s male,” Sorcha muttered.
“Julia is too pretty to be a boy,” Maeve insisted as she rubbed his ears.
“Wait a minute.” Luciana frowned. “Are you saying you’ve met this dog before?”
“Julia was on the Isle of Moon. I gave her bacon.” Maeve gave the dog a perplexed look. “Julia, how did ye get here?”
“Brody was at the convent?” Luciana asked.
With a whimper, Brody slipped out of Maeve’s arms and slunk behind the settee.
Luciana snorted. Now she knew how Brody had known her real name. Leo, that rascal, had been dodging the question for a month now.
“Let’s play the game.” Gwennore set the bowl of Telling Stones on the rug and sat, tucking her lavender-blue silk skirt around her.
Luciana and the rest of her sisters sat in a circle around the bowl. Gwennore covered the bowl with a linen napkin.
“You should go first, Brigitta,” Luciana said.
“All right, but ye should pick the stones for me. Ye’re the one with the gift of foresight.”
When the other girls agreed, Luciana reached underneath the napkin and gathered a handful of stones.
Eight, seven, blue, and gold.
“O Great Seer,” Sorcha whispered, “reveal to us the secrets of the Telling Stones.”
Luciana cleared her throat. “In eight months, you will meet a tall and handsome stranger.”
Brigitta snorted. “Of course I will. ’Twill be yer newborn son.”
Luciana shook her head. “You mean daughter. And I doubt she’ll be very tall.”
“Aye.” Sorcha grinned. “But she could be strange.”
Luciana swatted her sister’s arm, then laughed. “Och, but I have missed ye all.”
“There’s the seven again.” Brigitta pointed at the second numbered stone. “Does it mean I’ll have seven suitors vying for my hand?” When Luciana nodded, she squealed with excitement.
Gwennore rolled her eyes. “Do ye truly wish to be the prize for some kind of contest?”
Brigitta frowned at her. “I wish to be wanted. Is that so bad?”
Maeve gave her a worried look. “Be careful what ye wish for.”
Brigitta waved a dismissive hand. “’Twill be glorious, just ye wait and see. And the blue and gold stones, do they mean the tall and handsome stranger will have blue eyes and blond hair like me self?”
Sorcha snorted. “Aye, he’ll be yer cousin.”
“Or brother,” Gwennore muttered.
Brigitta huffed. “That’s not true! He’ll be wonderful just like Luciana’s husband. Right, Chee-ana?”
Luciana bit her lip as she studied the blue and gold stones. “They do not mean a physical description. These are the royal colors of Tourin.”
Brigitta gasped. “Then he’ll be a prince?” With a squeal, she jumped to her feet and whirled about.
Luciana shook her head. “I’m not sure. I’m not trained to do this, you know, so you shouldn’t take this to heart.”
With a groan, Brigitta sat back down. “All right, but it is fun to pretend, don’t ye think?”
Luciana gave the stones a wary look. She wasn’t sensing any definite details, only an uncomfortable feeling of danger.
“What’s wrong?” Gwennore asked. “We only meant to have fun with yerself, but ye’re frowning.”
Luciana dropped the stones back into the bowl. “Ye’re right. ’Tis only a game. And I don’t need the stones to make a prediction I know must come true. You must all come back here when I give birth.”
“Of course,” Brigitta agreed. “And Mother Ginessa will come, too, since she’s the best midwife on the Isle of Moon.”
Luciana smiled, remembering how Mother Ginessa had been present at her own birth. Still, that feeling of future danger pricked at her. “I’ll make sure you are safe on the journey. We’ll send some ships from the royal navy to escort you here.”
“How exciting!” Maeve clapped her hands.
Sorcha grinned. “I cannot believe ye have so much power now.”
Brigitta took Luciana’s hand. “Ye have the power to make it safe for us to see each other.”
“And the power to change the world for the better,” Gwennore added.
“Did ye hear the latest prediction from the Isle of Mist?” Maeve asked. “The Seer said a new wind is sweeping across Aerthlan, from the Isle of Moon to the Eberoni shore. And the first change in the New World is the new king and queen of Eberon.”