Darkwitch Rising by Sara Douglass

Europe.
    But there comes a point when relatives grow tired of supporting what appears to be a lost cause, and over the past few years Charles had literally existed from hand to mouth on those handouts his loyal supporters were able to secure. If this chamber was plainly furnished, then it was because Charles had no money to spare.
    That they could actually eat was due almost entirely to de Silva money; Louis offered more, but Charles refused. He had given up many things over the past thirteen years, but his pride was not one of them.
    “There is something happening,” Charles said. “Not just in the land. I can feel darkness closing about, and I can feel the Game moving.” He raised both his hands, resting them on his biceps, as if he could feel the goldenkingship bands of Troy there. “Something will happen tonight. Something powerful.”
    Both Marguerite and Kate shivered as they stared at Charles. Their intimacy with him greatly increased their respect, not only for his intuition, but also for his power. If Charles said something was going to happen tonight, then tonight would be a night of power, indeed.
    And not necessarily benevolent power.
    “Asterion?” said Marguerite.
    Charles shrugged. “I don’t know. It is just a tightness in my belly. An intuition only.”
    “Will we be safe?” Kate said, resting her hand on her belly.
    “I can never guarantee safety,” Charles said. “You have always known that. If you want safety, then leave now. Leave me, leave this house, leave this Circle.”
    Kate had joined the Circle that Charles, Marguerite and Louis had first formed twelve years earlier as a matter of course. She was one of Eaving’s Sisters, she was sworn to Eaving’s protection, and she had the power. The group used the Circle to reach out to Eaving where she lived at Woburn Abbey, to ensure that she was safe, and to send her all the wellbeing they could muster.
    It was not much, but it was enough, and it was all they could do to help her until they were back in England, back with their feet touching the Troy Game.
    It was also potentially dangerous. They all feared that Asterion might sense the power of the Circle, sense the reaching out to Eaving, and, in so sensing, that he might leap . They had all imagined, and then discussed, the nightmarish possibility that one day Asterion himself would rise up from beneath the piece of turf that Marguerite transformed into the circle of emerald silk.
    There had been no indication yet that Asterion was aware of their activities in any way, but they were apprehensive nonetheless.
    Everyone had learned from their previous lives that it was murderously foolish to underestimate the Minotaur.
    Kate dropped her eyes, chastened. “I’m sorry. I was concerned for the child only.”
    Charles’ stern gaze did not turn away from her. “Then you should not have conceived it. Kate, the child is as much a part of this as you or I, or Marguerite, or Louis, or Cornelia-reborn. Fate has us all caught in its whim. If we don’t have the courage to dare it, then we will never succeed.”
    Kate raised her eyes, moving her hand away from her belly. “I know.”
    “We must be strong, Kate,” Marguerite said.
    Even more chastened now that Marguerite had spoken, Kate coloured, then nodded. “I have endured too much to walk away now,” she said. “I will be strong.”
    “Cornelia-reborn needs you,” Marguerite said. “As she needs all of us.”
    As Marguerite spoke, the door opened, and Louis de Silva entered.
    He looked drawn and tired, as if Hyde’s undoubtedly anxious queries about money had sapped his strength, but he smiled as he set eyes on the women and Charles, and the smile lifted away much of the tiredness from his face.
    “Louis,” Kate breathed, and stretched naked across the bed in a display of almost feline grace. Her hand was back on her belly, for on the night she had conceived this child she had lain with both Charles and Louis, and to be honest she had