I found her cradled in Wolf Tongue’s arms.
My heart ceased to beat. For a moment, I believed I had died and fallen into some dark hell. Then, with a gasp, I flung myself across the room to where the High Priest sat cross-legged before a low fire, my sister sound asleep in his lap. He raised cold eyes to me and put up one hand. I stopped at the gesture as though my feet had grown roots. Everything in me urged to take my sister from him, but fear held me in place.
“Do not wake the child,” he said. His voice was low. I thought it would shatter every bone in my body. He lowered his hand to rest on Fairbird’s head, stroking her hair softly. “She was exhausted from weeping. She was abandoned in the dark.” His eyes flashed at me. “I do not abandon my own. I keep them safe. I keep them close.”
I shuddered. Frostbite pressed against my legs, whining softly.
Wolf Tongue looked at me long and hard. Something in his gaze reminded me of the expression on Sun Eagle’s face only a few hours before at the commencement of our betrothal. I felt as though something dark and feral had fixed its eyes upon my naked spirit. I wanted to turn and run, to flee this house and this man’s presence. But he held my sister. I could not go.
“You have grown, Starflower,” said Wolf Tongue. “You are beautiful indeed.”
My heart leapt in terror. Desperately I swallowed it back. Then, taking a firm step forward, I held out my arms for Fairbird. My eyes said what my tongue could not: Give her to me!
Wolf Tongue, I knew, understood. To my surprise, he stood. He had to bend his head and shoulders to fit beneath the too-low roof, and he seemed a tremendous figure full of dreadful power. But he held out the sleeping child.
“Take her,” he said.
I sprang forward. But even as I took my sister, Wolf Tongue’s hand clamped down on my upper arm. I struggled to pull away, but it was no use. So I stood still, clutching Fairbird to my breast, and felt the High Priest lean down until his breath warmed my ear.
“You have not forgotten your bargain with the Beast,” he whispered. “He gave you back your sister only for a time. Soon he will demand blood.”
I closed my eyes, cringing away from those words. But he took my face in his other hand and forced me to look at him. His eyes were oddly yellow and they glowed in the darkness of the hut. Inhuman eyes, I thought, though their expression was that of the earthiest man.
“The Panther Master knows his sin,” Wolf Tongue said. “If he tries to thwart the will of the Beast, disaster will follow. You will never wed, Maid Starflower. You will not—”
“Wolf Tongue! Unhand my daughter.”
Wolf Tongue’s lips curled back in a snarl as he and I turned to the door. There stood my father, spear in hand, panther skin thrown back across his shoulder. I could not see his face in the darkness, but his stance was ready to attack.
“Eldest,” said Wolf Tongue, and his voice was a growl. “Tell me, what right have you to make demands concerning the Beast’s possessions?”
“She is not the Beast’s. Nor is she yours, priest,” said my father, advancing into the room, his spear at the ready. The glow of the fire struck the stone, turning it red. “Unhand her and leave this house.”
“One of them belongs to my master,” said the priest. He backed away from me, though his hand lingered upon my arm. “One of them must pay the blood price. And soon.”
“Leave this house,” the Eldest repeated. The head of his spear now hovered just before Wolf Tongue’s heart. Wolf Tongue looked down at it. He smiled.
Faster than my eye could follow, he grabbed the stone head. Though it must have torn his hand, he wrenched it from the Panther Master’s grasp. Flinging it into the shadows by the hearth, he turned to my father, his teeth flashing.
“I give you warning now!” he cried. “If you insist on giving away what does not belong to you, you and all your village will suffer. The Beast has spoken. He will not be denied!”
Then his voice softened, becoming sinister in its gentleness. “Do not think I speak without concern. Your people are my people, Eldest. I have shielded them from the Beast’s wrath for many years now, longer than you know. But the Beast is a cruel god when crossed. I cannot stand in his way. Neither can you.”
My father, empty-handed, stood in the darkness, and still I could not read his face. At last he spoke:
“Get out.”
Once more, the priest growled. But when the Eldest took a step toward him, Wolf Tongue slipped around to the door. There he paused and looked back at us one last time. “You have been warned, Panther Master!”
He vanished.
Silence settled upon the Eldest’s House. My father turned to me, but I was afraid and lowered my gaze to my sister instead. I found her wide black eyes staring up at me. I wondered how long she had been awake and how much she had understood. Tears falling down my cheeks, I pressed her close to my heart.