The night after Ember’s naming ceremony, the forest was quiet.

Too quiet.

The kind of silence that comes not from fear… but from something holding its breath.

I lay back by the river and I watched the moon dancing on the water. The jewel in my belly throbbed a little, like a heart warmed by embers-- Ember sleeping there in safety.

But I couldn’t sleep.

Not yet.

Leon walked among the trees, his shirt partially unbuttoned, his hair blown about him, and a cloak made of thick wool in his hands, and a look in his eyes that I had never seen there before.

Not hunger.

Not possession.

Just devotion....