Zane found me that evening.

I was in the Meridian's small courtyard, practicing a meditation technique he'd taught me during the three weeks before the Summit.

Balancing the dual bloodlines, keeping the silver and the red in harmony.

The sessions had become essential since the pregnancy. The fluctuations were worse without them.

He sat on the stone bench across from me.

Waited until I opened my eyes.

"You're pregnant," he said.

He delivered it with the same tone he might use to note the weather.

I stared at him. "How did you..."

"Child." A faint smile, rare from Zane, who doled out warmth the way a miser doled out gold....