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After Wick’s refusal to help, Zelda quickly realized that it was up to her to make a decision. Her selfishness and her tendency to use other people had not only harmed Wick but also Queen Yrsa, the other parent of the child she carried. Because Zelda had married Queen Yrsa, who she did not love, in order to secure an ideal life, Yrsa had likely lost her throne. Losing to Calain before her entire clan would have made her appear weak in their eyes and unworthy of their devotion. Yrsa had likely been exiled, a horrifying thought.
Zelda was beginning to suspect she was more like her uncle than she’d formerly cared to admit. For once in her life, she did not want to use another for her own survival, pleasures, and plans. This time, she would protect the ones she loved, not hide behind them as if they were human shields. She would not allow Melvalda to harm the Knights of Falcon! And so, Zelda made it up in her mind: she would turn herself over to Melvalda.
Zelda murmured a cloaking spell that would make her invisible and apparated in the door of the kitchen. Then she stood and looked wistfully at her knights, saying a silent farewell to each one of them.
Zelda thought the Knights of Falcon seemed very happy, despite the cloud of doom hanging over them. They rejoiced that Zelda was with them again, teased each other, laughed, and occasionally frowned with worry as they discussed Melvalda and Raven’s Cross.
Zelda’s sad blue eyes went to each one of them.
Dark and beautiful Selene was sitting at the table with the other three, presiding with them over wine, roast pheasant wings, and bread, and exchanging words with Gweneth, who had her boots on the table and was tilting back her chair as she spoke with a grin, curling her hands on invisible breasts. Selene slapped Gweneth’s legs and told her to take her boots off the table. Gweneth obeyed, still talking and making suggestive gestures with both hands, at which Selene laughed.
Zelda would miss Selene’s gentle kisses on her skin, the dark eyes that were always so soft and concerned for her. And she knew she would even miss Gweneth’s teasing, as well as those rare moments of sweetness from Gweneth that sometimes seemed to slip through seemingly by accident.
Beautiful red-haired Calain was laughing loudly and banging her fist on the table at something Gweneth had said. She had removed her armor (all the knights had) and was in her linen bra and woolen hose. Her muscular arms and shoulders were bare, and they flexed wonderfully when she moved, the orange light of the oven fire lining them in a bright glow. Her red hair was wild and flying loose as ever as it tumbled long behind her shoulders. Zelda looked at Calain with tearful longing, knowing she would miss her the most.
Cassandra was the only one who wasn’t laughing or speaking. Instead, she was sitting quietly and listening to the others, a small smile on her lips. But she went still as if she had sensed something, and very slowly, she turned her head and her eyes locked with Zelda’s.
Zelda froze, her breath caught in her throat, waiting for Cassandra to reveal her to the others. She had nearly forgotten Cassandra was a sorceress and might have seen through a cloaking spell. A lesser mage would have been fooled, but Cassandra was a natural witch and more sensitive to magick.
For a long moment, Zelda and Cassandra stared in silence at each other. Zelda did not bother pleading with her eyes and instead stood resigned to the fact that her cover was blown. To her surprise, Cassandra’s serious gray eyes blinked sadly as she realized what Zelda meant to do, and she gave one solemn nod. She did not intend to stop Zelda.
Relieved, Zelda nodded in return, then turned and walked outside to the edge of the trees, where she closed her eyes and apparated.
When Zelda appeared again, she was outside Wolf Fortress, far from its enchantments, on the edge of the trees, as the Dark Bloom Forest pressed in around the stronghold. Clutching her big belly and suddenly determined not to be afraid, she lifted her chin and said with confidence,
“Melvalda! I am here! I am yours!”
“Are you?” Melvalda’s silky voice preceded her. She appeared suddenly before Zelda, and she looked as beautiful and yet intimidating as Zelda remembered her. Her mischievous eyes glittered, black and slanted, as they bore into Zelda’s calm face from the depths of her hood.
Zelda swallowed hard. “Y-Yes,” she said. “I am yours.”
Melvalda smiled like a cat, and lifting her cloak, she whirled it around Zelda and herself, so that they both disappeared on the spot.