"She's not to be disturbed," the guard answered. I didn't know these four well, and Rei wasn't with them.

"What is going on here?" I demanded.

I saw the guards' hands fall to the handles of their weapons, but none were drawn. Erica spun around to face me. "Please, Zane, you have to let me see her  -  "

"Explain why and I'll consider it," I answered. "I'm still trying to figure out what you did to me.

That doesn't make me anxious to let you near Danica."

Her gaze flickered from the guards, to me, to the door they were guarding, and back to me again.

Then I felt a rush of power, and the backlash of it as it struck the four guards, sending them falling unconscious to the floor. "I can knock you out, too," Erica said, "or you can let me go to my queen and help her."

Falcon.

I knew it, and I had a moment of indecision. Did I trust her?

Did I have a choice? "Go. I'll be beside you."

Betsy was asleep in the chair next to Danica's bed. The way she was slumped implied that she had fallen asleep as abruptly as the guards outside  -  probably at the same time. It reinforced my desire never to be on the opposite side of a fight from Erica. Danica's skin was even hotter than usual, and chalky. It was bruised and scraped from her tumble. Worse was the blood. I smelled it before I saw it, and I had to lean against the door frame, dizzy with fear.

I knew what this blood meant: Even if Danica lived, the life inside her was not going to. I heard Erica whisper, "Milady."

"Can you do anything?"

"I think so. Give me space."

I retreated to the sitting room, leaving my mate with the only person who could help her

-  a falcon.

An hour passed as slowly as an eon before Erica emerged, faint and shaking with exhaustion. She barely made it to a chair before she collapsed.

"She'll be fine," she breathed.

"And the child?" I demanded. I didn't know what even falcon magic could do to heal that kind of damage.

Erica looked up. Her smile trembled at the edges, but she said again, "She'll be fine." I panicked for a moment, thinking she was consoling me by assuring me again that Danica would be fine, but then I understood. "My daughter?" I asked hopefully. She nodded. "Your daughter. Thank the sky, she'll be fine. They'll both be fine."

"What did you do?"

Erica frowned a little. "I don't know how I can explain it. I... put the hurt pieces together again." She bit her lip, and a little fear was in her eyes as she said, "Your daughter will be fine, but falcon magic is... not always the best for a mother. It won't hurt Danica, but this child will be the only one. I'm so sorry." When the words hit me, I felt too numb to know how to respond to them. Only one child meant only one heir. It meant that if this one was raised in the Keep, no child of mine would ever be Diente. It meant that there was only one chance. Yet I said to Erica,

"Would she have lived without your help?"

Erica shook her head. "Danica might have, but not the child."

"Then don't apologize." Death was by far a worse separation than the distance between the Hawk's Keep and the serpiente palace. "Don't apologize for saving my daughter's life. Thank you."

"How do you feel?" Erica asked.

I paused to catalog my injuries. "Like I fell off the Keep. What did you do to me?"

"Do you know the concept of force-changing?" Erica asked. When I shook my head, she explained, "It's not a commonly used tactic even among my kind, because it leaves a mark on the user's magic, but when necessary, it can be used for fighting, healing or hiding." Perhaps seeing the confusion on my face, she went on, "Normally you change instinctively, taking with you any injuries you have, and any poison. There was poison on the blade that cut you. If it had spread through your blood, it would have killed you. I forced you to change before it could do much harm, but instead of letting the poison enter your second form, I brought it into myself.

Am'haj was designed by falcons to harm serpents; it's harmless to my kind." I would never grasp the mechanics of falcon magic, but death was something I understood very well and was grateful to avoid for now. "Thank you again." Curious, I asked, "Hiding?"

Again the sparrow  -  falcon, I corrected myself  -  looked nervous. "Like I said, when you reach that deeply into someone else's magic, it leaves a mark. The power remembers that which it touched. If it remembers enough..." She held up a hand, and for a few moments black snakeskin shimmered across the surface. "That is as much as I can replicate of your second form."

"Is that how you became Erica?"

She nodded. "The Silvermead family took me in when I fled the island. Valene's niece and I were very close for a while, but then Erica was hurt. I tried to save her, like I did you, but she was too injured, I was too slow." She shook her head. "It was too late. I barely needed to brush your power to take the poison back, but I immersed myself in Erica's, trying to heal her. When she died, the magic clung to me, so when I opened my eyes... they were Erica's.

"Valene knew what had happened. She let me stay, as Erica, so I could hide from the Empress but still live as a free woman. Later I got restless and joined the Royal Flight."

"And you told Rei who you were?"

"He is my commander," she answered. "I told him, and let him decide whether to accept me. I'm as loyal as any member of the flight, sir. You know that." I knew it, but what would it change? Valene had said one couldn't lie to a falcon. Rei had played on Syfka's arrogance to evade the truth, but I did not know whether I could do the same.

"When Syfka speaks to me again, I can try to  -  " Erica was shaking her head. "When Syfka speaks to you again, tell her who I am. She's strong; I don't know how she didn't recognize me already, except that I have not used my magic in years. She'll see it on me now even if you don't tell her, and if she thinks you're protecting me, it will put you and my Tuuli Thea in danger. And I won't allow that."

"What will happen to you?"

"For fleeing the city, and stealing a sparrow form?" Erica answered. "I don't know." I had a feeling she did know. The fear in her eyes said more than her words. But if she didn't want to tell me, I wouldn't force her.

Maybe I didn't want to know.

Before we could speak again, the door opened.

Danica wasn't just "fine." Her cheeks were rosy again, and she stood as if she wasn't the least bit tired. Even the minor cuts and bruises I had seen were gone. She was wearing a simple cotton shift that looked as if it had been pulled on hastily, and the only signs of that morning's disaster were the small bits of pine needles and leaves still tangled in her hair.

She hurried to my side, asking, "Zane, are you all right?" Her hand fell to my arm, and as I looked at it, I realized I was still wearing my snakeskin  -  along with the rest of my half form. No wonder the doctor and the Royal Flight had been hesitant around me.

I let the snakeskin recede, as well as the other less-human attributes of my fighting form, and saw Danica smile a little.

"I'm... fine." The wound on my arm was minor, especially considering there had been enough poison on the blade to end my life. "How are you?" Danica hesitated, confusion on her face. "Strikingly well, considering I recall falling off a horse."

I nodded at Erica. "You can thank your guard."

"Erica?"

"Our resident falcon," I clarified. Danica leaned back against the wall. "Oh dear."

"I'll turn myself over to Syfka," Erica said. "I won't cause trouble." Danica's eyes widened. "I'm not letting her take you."

"If I may be blunt, milady, I believe this is up to me," Erica argued. "I've sworn my life for yours. I won't ask you to protect me, not when it would only get you killed." Danica nodded reluctantly. This was Erica's decision, and not one that either of us would be able to change.

"Who was trying to get me killed?" she asked finally.

"We don't know yet," Erica answered. "Your guards took down five of them, and dragged the sixth one here. They are waiting with her downstairs."

"We'll speak to her now," Danica decided before I could. I wanted a moment alone with her to tell her what Erica had said about our daughter, but I understood the need to solve this problem first.

Before we could turn to go, Erica suggested, "The doctors ordered your mother from the sick room, but I am sure she will want to know that you are  -  recovered." I heard Erica hesitate before the last word, as she realized that Danica did not yet know the extent of her injuries. She looked at me, and I nodded; I would tell Danica later.

"If you will speak to Nacola and assure her that Danica is safe, we can deal with our would-be assassin."

Erica nodded.

"One last question?" Danica asked the falcon. "Anything you want to know."

"If you aren't Erica Silvermead... what is your name?"

"La'Kel'jaes'oisna'wimheah'ona'saniet."

she answered quickly, with tired pride. Then she winced and corrected herself. "Or, I used to be. None of those titles are mine anymore... so I guess it's just Kel now."

"Thank you, Kel."

Kel left us, and I turned to my mate, catching her hand and drawing her toward me. Again the knowledge that I had almost lost her washed over me.

I would have liked to put off telling her, but I knew this might be the last chance I would have to be alone with Danica before her mother and the rest of the avian court descended. For long moments I struggled to form the words, and I watched as the worry in her eyes turned to fear.

Her hand pressed to her stomach. "The child. Kel didn't mention  -  "

"The child is fine," I assured her quickly, cursing myself for letting that thought spring into her mind. "Kel says it will be a girl."

Danica sighed with relief. "Then, what...?"

"You were very hurt," I explained. "As was our daughter. Kel saved both your lives...

but the magic she used makes it unlikely that you will be able to carry another child." Unlikely.

I used that word to try to soften the blow, but Kel had been honest with me. I needed to be honest with Danica. "Not just unlikely. Impossible." Danica closed her eyes and drew a breath, leaning against me. "This daughter was infinitely precious yesterday," she finally said, "and she is just as precious now that she will be an only child. As for her future..." She swallowed hard. "I want to talk to the monster who tried to prevent her from having one."

Chapter 11

With Danica beside me, I descended the stairs to the Keep's ground-level courtyard, bracing myself for whatever might await me. I had dealt with traitors before. Rarely were motives clear. Rarely was justice easy.

I stopped in my tracks when I saw the woman crumpled on the ground between two members of the Royal Flight.

She could not have looked further from the part of murderess. She was avian, but despite the breed's famous stoicism, the face she lifted when she heard us approach was streaked with tears.

"Milady Tuuli Thea, thank the sky you're all right," she cried, lips trembling as she spoke. "Oh, thank the fates, thank the wind, you're alive. And, my lord, I saw you fall; it's a miracle..."

This litany of thanks continued for a while longer, as Danica and I looked at each other and then at the guards. The spark of fury in Danica's gaze had turned to wary confusion.

"She fought all the way back here, sir," one of the guards explained. "Then the instant we entered the Keep, she stopped. We explained the charges to her, and she started this. We've been careful to keep her away from the court; we didn't think you would want rumors to start before you could even speak to her."

"I never meant  -  " The woman cut off her protest. "I complained about the child  -

everyone has been  -  but I never meant to hurt it. I'm loyal to my Tuuli Thea, to her alistair; I swear it. But... she suggested it, how easy it would be, and I don't know how it sounded so reasonable  -  "

"She?" My tone was sharp, and the woman winced. I found it difficult to feel sorry for her, though I was beginning to form a bitter suspicion about the true culprit.

"I don't know her name," the frightened avian replied. "Either way, my hands held the bow, and I know I deserve any punishment you  -  "

"We'll deal with that later." Suspicion was boiling into hatred, and I had no patience for pleas and rambling. "First tell me about the woman who spoke to you."

"None of us knew her really, sir," she replied. "She was tall and fair, avian, foreign...

She suggested how easy the plan could be, and after she left we continued to talk and somehow it made sense  -  "

I didn't need to know more. I nodded at the guards, instructing them, "Take her someplace... safe. I don't think she's entirely at fault here. Then find Kel. She... went to speak with Nacola Shardae." At their looks of confusion, I clarified, "Erica. Tell her I need to speak to her."

Danica touched the back of my hand as the guards moved to obey. "Zane?"

"Yes?" I turned to her, again feeling a rush of amazement and gratitude for her miraculous recovery. Thanks to Erica.