Blood Sacrifice by Maria Lima Page B

property—not your claimed rule, but the property you call your home, the heart of your land, you will fall within the strictures of the Challenge. This is old traditional language, a formula set in the days when the lands one held weren’t quite so…”
    “Global?” I supplied with relief. Leaving to go stay in San Antonio wasn’t my first choice of events, but leaving the country entirely perturbed me beyond simple worry. Sure, easy enough to clear out and head north to Canada, but the farther we were from this property, the easier it would be for Gideon to win… or so it appeared to me.
    A tinkle of laughter resounded through the room. Even via the phone speakers, Gigi’s power resounded. “You are my heir, Keira,” she said, her tone sobering. “I have begun procedures to ritually sever Gideon’s ties to the Kelly clan.”
    I nearly fell to the floor at her announcement. Adam’s eyes widened, but otherwise his face revealednothing more. Tucker beamed, while Niko only shook his head, his gaze on the floor. I couldn’t tell if he was laughing, though I suspected he was.
    “What, no reaction?”
    “Words fail me, Minerva,” I said. “After everything, I never thought—”
    “No, I suppose not,” she replied. “It was not my intention to limit ourselves. I had hoped the boy would step up, forget this foolish ambition of his and be content, happy with sharing the heirship.”
    I snorted, then tried to turn it into a cough.
    “Be still, Daughter,” Gigi said. “Though you may be amused by this, I most certainly am not. This scuttles many of my plans. I shall have to regroup, rethink. In the meantime, you must move everyone.”
    Was I supposed to ask her about her plans? Adam, as if anticipating my question, shook his head. “Not now,” he mouthed. I nodded. We had plenty to think about. I could talk to her later. After we’d settled this.
    “Everyone?” Adam asked her. “We
must
move them all?” He sagged a little. “I had hoped…”
    “Yes, everyone.”
    Adam whirled, fists gripping the phone. “Minerva, this is a commercial concern. It’s not as if it’s just for show. My vampires are here because they are mine. Not to mention the fact that we provide a sanctuary for rescued exotic game. I’d planned to leave my human day manager on site to keep things in shape, to keep an eye on the place, maybe even hire some temporary human staff to take care of the exotic livestock. I suppose I’d assumed that the language meant everyone of supernatural blood.”
    “I see no problem with you arranging for humansnot sworn to you to care for the animals, but otherwise, I don’t think Faery tradition bothers to take into account our modern ways.” The answering tone was as dry as the outside air. Gigi didn’t need to state the
No shit, Sherlock
that automatically loaded itself into my brain—a childish retort that I’d once learned to use to perfection in junior high. I hadn’t even thought of the livestock; they paled in importance to my own family. My instinct was to keep
us
safe, keep
us
from harm. The livestock would surely be fine in our absence.
    “Damnation.” Adam held my gaze, then Tucker’s, then deliberately punched in the code to mute the phone’s speaker. Before he could say anything, I spoke.
    “Adam, when we first met up again,” I said gently, “just last year, you told me you’d bought this ranch for me. To be close to me. To be able to be near me and woo me. You reiterated that fact again tonight. Is that still true?” Yeah, well, okay, there was still a small part of me that was insecure, even after our blood-bonding. He’d said a lot of things then, a great many things… like the fact that he was vampire—something that he’d been able to effectively hide from me for more than eight years when we were both residents of the UK. But he’d not told me of the other part of the story. That he was not only a Nightwalker, but also Unseelie Sidhe and the heir to the