Vur nodded. A single spotted feather fluttered from his shoulder. Spring was in full swing and he was molting again.
They watched the barn door swing closed.
“Should we take her now?” Vur asked.
“It’s foolish of her to leave the house alone,” Embelys said. “She’s meeting someone.”
Embelys’s hand snapped, and she dragged a squirming bug into her mouth, crunching him with obvious pleasure. “Besides, she’s skilled. And unlike Lavern, I find being sliced with a flash painful.”
“Lavern is dead.” Vur shrugged, sending two more feathers floating to the tangled roots of the cypress.
“My point exactly.” She pulled back, settling on the branch, her legs hugging the trunk, and rested her head against the bark.
“So we wait?”
“We wait.”
A giant black wolf sprinted to the barn from under the trees.
Embelys hissed.
The wolf leaped. His body twisted, his bone and muscle wrung like a length of dark fabric. Fur shed, melting into the air as it fell. Arms stretched, legs elongated, rocked by convulsions, and a nude man rose from the dirt. He shook himself, and for a moment Vur saw his face and his eyes, hazel, still glowing.
William the Wolf.
The man slipped into the barn.
Vur sat petrified, afraid to move.
William the Wolf. William the murderer. The changeling beast who hunted the Hand’s agents. The only man who stood against Spider and lived.
Slowly the fear melted. The Wolf was only one man. Just a man.
“We have to warn Spider,” Embelys whispered. “He must know.”
“You go. I’ll stay.”
“Are you mad?”
“I can glide. He can’t. I’ll watch over him. Go.”
“Suit yourself.”
She twisted, disengaging from the trunk, and slithered down, speeding along the forest floor.
Vur gathered himself, calculating. William was just a man, a man who was meeting a girl, for sex. He would be satiated and sloppy afterward, and the poison on Vur’s claws was very potent. If he timed it just right . . . The head of William the Wolf would assure he was set for life.
WILLIAM glanced through a small window. The storehouse was freshly swept. Bundles of herbs hung drying from the rafters, spicing the air with bitter fragrance. He caught a glimpse of Cerise’s dark hair as she headed up the ladder to the second story.
He backed up, took a running start, and leapt, scrambling up the wall to the roof. The small attic window was open. Inside Cerise unfolded a quilt over a pile of hay. He dove through the window and rolled to his feet.
Cerise froze with a quilt in her hands. Her pale shirt hugged her breasts. Her long dark hair spilled over it in a glossy wave. Her dark eyes, framed by a fringe of long eyelashes, widened. “You’re naked!”
So pretty. Must have the woman.
He pulled the wild back. No. Not yet. He had one shot at this.
William circled her, stalking, tasting her scent, watching her watching him. “Do you like what you see?”
She tilted her head, spilling her long hair over one breast. Her gaze traveled slowly from his face down to his toes. She took a deep breath. “Yes.”
William stopped and crossed his arms on his chest. “We need to talk.”
Cerise hesitated for a second and sat on the hay. “Okay.”
He leaned against the wall. “I was born in Adrianglia. I was born as a pup. It’s a sign of a strong changeling.”
She winced.
He had to keep going. “My mother gave me up to the Adrianglian government the next day. I was sent to the special orphanage for children like me. For the first two weeks of my life, I was blind and helpless, and they didn’t think I would survive. I did, and when I turned three years old, I was transferred to Hawk’s Academy.”
She sat there, quilt draped over her knees, big eyes looking at him. He half expected her to run away screaming.
“From the time I was three until I turned sixteen, I lived in the same room. It was a bare cell with a metal bunk bed welded to the floor and bars on the windows. I shared it with another kid. I was allowed three changes of clothes, a comb, a toothbrush, and a towel. We had no toys, and reading aside from schoolwork was forbidden. My life consisted of exercise, martial training, and study. That was it.”
He stopped and looked at her to make sure she understood, afraid he would see pity. He saw none. He couldn’t read her, couldn’t tell what she was thinking. She just sat very still and looked at him.
“You don’t have to stand over there,” Cerise said, her voice soothing. “You can come sit here by me.”
William shook his head. If he sat by her, it would be all over. “I used to dream that my parents would show up and break me out of that place. When I twelve, I broke into the office, found my file, and realized where I stood. Nobody wanted me. Nobody was coming to save me. I was on my own. So I did the best I could. When I failed, I was whipped and punished by isolation. When I succeeded, they let me outside for a few minutes of freedom.
“When I was thirteen, I killed my first opponent. When I turned sixteen, I graduated from Hawk’s and the signature on my graduation papers served as enrollment into the Red Legion. I was not given a choice about joining, but if I had been, I would have chosen the military anyway. I am a killer.”
He was tired of talking, but he had to get all of it out. The memories pressed on him like a crushing weight he couldn’t drop.
“I told you I was court-martialed. I have nothing, Cerise. No land, no money, no status, no honor. I’m not normal. Being a changeling is not a disease. I will never get better. I will always be fucked-up and my children will likely be puppies. You need to tell me if you really want this. You and me. I must know. No games, no hints, no flirting. Because if you are doing this so I will fight for your family tomorrow, don’t worry. I will anyway. If you don’t really want me, I’ll fight and then I’ll leave, and you won’t hear from me again.”