I held him inside me-safe, warm, and loved-as his passion mounted until it reached its pinnacle, bursting forth to fill me with his love.

If I'd had any doubts before, they were certainly banished then, and it wasn't only the sensation of new life beginning inside me that made me so certain of it.

And while I could already feel that life-could sense it growing and multiplying steadily, sheltered deep within my womb-there was something else, some other particle of his essence that seemed to plant itself firmly within me-something that I knew I would carry with me always, even after my child was born and Leo was taken from me. I could never truly lose him, for he had become an integral part of me-one that would be with me until the day I died. He was more than just my lover, or even the father of my child. He was the one.

I lay there after Leo had fallen into a doze, savoring the new sensations within me. Finally, finally, to have found the one-I could hardly take it in. My mother had never told me why she'd had no use for other lovers after my father had moved on, but I knew the reason now. It was because she didn't need them-or even *64 *16*.

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want them. They would have been unnecessary, superfluous. Oh, I still wanted Leo, but the mere thought of being with someone else was as much beyond my comprehension as spreading my wings and flying into the sun. It was unthinkable. She'd also never told me how changed I would feel once I'd found him. It was as if an empty space had now been filled, a long and unfinished task finally completed, or an object with a missing piece was at last made whole. I felt satisfied and complete, and Leo, as the one, was responsible for that feeling.

There seemed to be a twisted little quirk in my personal makeup that made me unwilling to tell Leo that I had conceived. It was doubtful he would guess at this stage, and since he would be gone within less than a month's time, I thought I could keep my secret from him without difficulty, though I wasn't quite sure why I felt it was necessary. I wondered if my own father had known about me, and the more I thought about it, the more I realized that he probably hadn't. I wondered what a difference it might have made if he had known I existed.

He might have stayed on to assist in my upbringing, which would have undoubtedly enriched my life, but if he had insisted that my mother accompany him on his travels, the whole succession of witches might have been disrupted. Perhaps that was why the men who were capable of impregnating us usually tended to be transients, rather than local people such as Rafe. I should tell Rafe that the next time I saw him. It might make him feel less...inadequate.

He'd obviously had no trouble where Carnita was concerned, though she had only produced two sons, and *65 *17*.

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Cheryl Brooks no more since-the youngest being roughly six years of age. My thoughts touched briefly on that. Six years. It seemed odd that there were no more. Perhaps she was no longer interested in Rafe-refused him, even-or it might have been that he felt that two sons were enough.

Maybe that was why Carnita had wanted Leo.

Or perhaps it was just as Rafe had said; that she wanted him as a way of increasing their status. It made me terribly glad I was a witch! Material wealth didn't concern me, and I had no interest in my status, or that of my family. We were what we were, and there was no need to alter our social standing, let alone buy an exotic slave to increase it.

We witches were different from everyone else in our society, and not just because I could start fires with a stare. We took no part in local politics, preferring instead to study the ways of the animals and plants, to contemplate the changing of the seasons, to learn the rhythms of the wind and the wisdom of the trees, recognizing no patriarchal ruler but governed by the laws of nature. I had no surname-though exactly where along the line they'd been dropped, I had no idea-but no witch that I knew of had one, and since we seldom married in the traditional manner, it was something that we were unlikely to acquire. I smiled to myself. This was a fact that further solidified my intention to withhold the truth from Leo. After all, I didn't want my child to have to deal with a surname such as Banadnsk, and though I would always remember it myself, that information would be for my own edification, and no one else's.

As I lay there with Leo, believing that nothing more could possibly occur that would be quite as *66 *17*.

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earthshaking, Rafe chose that moment to pound on my door, demanding to speak with me.

"What the devil!" I exclaimed involuntarily. I wasn't normally given to swearing-at least, not out loud- but this was an extreme case; it's not every day you find the "one," and then get interrupted by his rightful owner. "Why didn't that damned horse of his warn me he was coming?"

"He can do that?" Leo inquired.

"Absolutely," I replied, "and he's got some explaining to do!" I got up in a hurry and snatched up my skirt and tunic, pulling them on quickly, pausing briefly to pull my hair out from beneath the collar before heading for the door. I silently thanked whatever god might be responsible that Rafe hadn't simply barged in unannounced, and also that the wind was howling enough that he probably hadn't heard our voices. Oh, yes! Sinjar had better have a good story for this! "Curl up there while I answer the door," I directed Leo. "I don't know why he's here, but it can't be good. He sounds pretty agitated, doesn't he?"

Leo nodded in reply and lay back on the pallet, pulling a blanket over himself. "I will moan," he whispered.

"Good idea," I whispered back. "Delirious with fever, remember?"

Leo grinned devilishly before closing his eyes. I shook my head, for, delirious or not, he looked entirely too healthy to be convincing. My only hope was that Rafe would take my word for it and not examine him too closely. After all, he could have no reason to suspect otherwise-unless he'd received more information about Leo's species since his last visit. I was *67 *17*.

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Cheryl Brooks wondering who might have let the cat out of the bag when Desdemona snickered.

"Ha, ha!" she cackled. "Very funny!"

"Oh, be quiet!" I said, probably leaving Leo to wonder whether or not I'd been speaking to him. Rafe was shouting and pounding to make himself heard above the wind.

"I'm coming, Rafe!" I shouted. "Just hold on a minute!"

"By all the gods above and below, Tisana!" he bellowed. "Make haste!"

Upon opening the door, I noted two things. First, that he had two horses with him, and that I recognized neither of them, which let Sinjar off the hook, and second, that Rafe was genuinely distraught. Something terrible had happened, and one glance at his face was enough to make me realize that this had nothing to do with Leo.

"What is it?" I demanded.

I had never seen Rafe in such an impotent, tormented rage before. Haughty and arrogant, certainly, but this was new for him, and I could tell he was having a very hard time controlling himself.

"My sons have been taken!" he gasped, sweeping his hood from his head in a gesture of frustration as he charged into the room. "Both of them!"

"Are you sure?" I ventured hopefully. "Could they not have simply gotten lost?"

The look he shot at me would have set him on fire, had it come from me. "My sons would not simply get lost!" he said, grinding out his words. "They were taken by force and their servant killed!"

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"Oh, surely not!" I protested. "Could it have been an accident, perhaps? They might have been afraid and-"

"Her throat was slit, Tisana!" he bellowed. It was at that point that I decided it might be best to shut up and listen or he might be tempted to do something similar to me. "It was no accident!"

"Any idea who might have done it?" I asked.

"No! There have been no ransom demands," he reported, "no word at all. No one was seen, and we found no clues other than Kartin's body, which was cold by the time it was discovered."

Something in his tone made me wonder if this woman had been more to him than a mere servant, but this was not the time for such remarks. I knew now why he had come.

Years before, I'd been able to locate a small child who had wandered away from her home, and while it might have been assumed that I'd had the Sight to guide me, that wasn't the case at all. No, all I'd done was to consult the local squirrels, who had seen the child in the woods and told me where to look. I have no doubt that it was an impressive demonstration to those who witnessed it, but it wasn't what Rafe thought it was.

I'd never explained to anyone how I'd done it, and in this case, if no animals had witnessed the kidnapping, I wouldn't be able to help him at all.

On the other hand, Leo might be just the one we needed. Rafe had mentioned something about him being a good tracker when he'd brought him to me. Perhaps that was why he'd come. If so, I couldn't in good conscience maintain the illusion that Leo was still too *69 *17*.

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Cheryl Brooks sick and weak to be equal to the task. Oh, yes, the party was definitely over, and Rafe's next words proved it.

"I need you and that slave to help me search," he said.

"But, why not your own men? Surely they would-"

"I cannot trust them, Tisana," he said, cutting me off abruptly. "There was no stir, no untoward noises, nothing to raise an alarm. Therefore, it's possible that some of my own people let these criminals into my house, though they all deny it-which they would in any case."

"But why, Rafe? Why would anyone take your children?"

"To use against me in some way, or to ensure that my land would be free for the taking in the event of my death." He threw up his hands in a gesture of frustrated ignorance. "Who knows?"

"But these are surely not the only children you-"

He cut me off again, but with a gesture this time. It was a moment or two before he spoke. "There will be no more," he said tersely. "Carnita is barren. The last birth was apparently...damaging to her."

Which was something that I might have been able to remedy, if I'd been given the opportunity. "You might have sent for me, but you never did," I accused him. "Why?"

He looked toward the fire, hardly seeming to notice Leo lying there. Staring into the flames for a long moment, he said, finally, "It is...difficult for me to come to you."

"Why?" I demanded. "Because we were lovers once? Did you really think I wouldn't have helped you because of that?" Call it professional pride, if you *70 *17*.

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will, but I was angry that he would have suspected me of being so petty about the whole sordid business. I'd always been of the opinion that I'd taken it rather well.

I hadn't put a curse on him, though under the circumstances, it was something he should have expected. No, I'd always felt that he'd gotten off quite easily, and I doubted that he would have been as forgiving had our situations been reversed.

He shook his head. "No, I know very well that you would have, Tisana," he said with a sigh. "It was simply that I could not ask it of you."

Even saying that much cost him, I could tell. Rafe, perhaps for the first time in his life, seemed to be feeling humble, and it wasn't setting very well with him. I couldn't blame him. If I'd had to beg favors from a woman I'd scorned, I might have been feeling a trifle out of sorts, myself-which was pretty much the way I was feeling at the time, particularly in light of his unfortunate sense of timing. However, since he now owned something that I wanted very much-namely, Leo-I decided that I should at least be helpful, if not generous.

I didn't know Rafe's sons, but they were not to blame for their parents' shortcomings. And the extent of the danger to them was not yet clear.

"But you're asking me now," I said gently, "and I will help you if I can." I didn't bother to ask why it was different this time, since the answer to that was perfectly obvious. With a barren wife, those two sons were crucial, both for the succession and for Carnita's future should Rafe happen to predecease her. I wondered which aspect of his dilemma troubled him the most. I didn't get the impression that he was even now considering Carnita's *71 *18*.

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Cheryl Brooks distress over the loss of her children; her future comfort would mean even less.

But perhaps I was judging him too harshly. Surely Rafe couldn't be that callous about such a thing, could he?

"And your slave is well enough to help," I said in what I hoped was a neutral tone. If Rafe knew how much I wanted Leo, he might take a perverse notion to refuse to even consider letting me keep him for another month, let alone set him free. "He's just resting right now. I would have sent word to you sooner, but the month was nearly up, anyway."

He dismissed this information with a terse nod. "I hope the fool I bought him from didn't exaggerate his abilities."

"I wouldn't know," I said with a shrug. "I haven't seen him do any tracking, but then, he hasn't been out much."

"Any problems with him attempting to escape?"

he asked. "I need someone loyal, someone whom I can trust."