A cry pierced the dark morning hours. Midnight Son groaned and climbed out of bed to get the baby and bring her back to his wife. While Yvette sleepily nursed the child, he got dressed. It was too close to dawn to bother going back to sleep. He waited until they were done and put the baby back in the cradle.
"Love you," Yvette mumbled.
"I love you too," he said, and kissed her goodbye.
As the dawn was beginning to arrive on the horizon, he let himself into a small house on the other side of town, where pale, feminine arms drew him into the bedroom.
Two years later:
"Unca!" the toddler announced proudly.
Peter Raven scooped her up into his arms.
"That's right, Chelonie. How did you know that?"
"It was Midnight Son's idea," Yvette said.
"I shapeshifted into your form every now and again so that you wouldn't be a stranger to Happy."
Yvette and Peter were the only two full blooded shapeshifters left in the Blackdust clan. Both had some natural talent, but Peter had gone away to their original homeland to train with more of their kind. Now he was home, and it was the first time he'd seen his sister's child.
"Happy?" Peter asked.
"Appy!" the baby said and batted at her uncle's nose.
"It's our name for her," Midnight Son said.
"We've never seen such a cheerful baby."
"Until she get mad," Yvette added proudly.
"That tantrum of hers is going to become a fine barbarian rage, mark my words."
Peter tossed her up in the air and caught her again.
"Are you going to be a meatshield, Chelonie? Is that your job? You'll have to train hard then."
Happy only shrieked and laughed.
They looked like a perfect family. It didn't take long for Peter's watchful eye to learn otherwise.
***
No one but Yvette knew him well enough to read the fury in his seemingly calm expression.
"You found out about Miranda then."
"You know?"
"Everyone knows. It started soon after Happy was born. And everyone pretends not to see."
"And you just accept it?"
"For the clan. Isn't that what Father always taught us?" Yvette said, but then her face twisted in rage.
"Of course I don't accept it. I just need more time. Another six months, maybe a year. I have to make sure it looks natural."
"What are you talking about?"
Yvette smiled and shapeshifted into a mouse.
"I started years ago. I can get into her house unseen whenever I like. And then I add a few herbs into her tea. Different ones each time. If she serves tea to a visitor it won't hurt them, but the cumulative effect of the daily exposure will eventually kill her." She shifted back.
"So you see, there's nothing for you to worry about, Peter. I have everything under control. All I need you to do is the same thing everyone else does. Pretend not to see."
***
That night, Miranda's lover was late to arrive. And when he did arrive, he turned away before she could kiss him.
"Yvie's brother found out," he said.
Miranda bit her lip.
"We always knew that was a possibility."
"He's angry. He says he'll invoke the old laws on adultery. If he takes it to a tribal council..."
"What? But nobody's used thaw laws in hundreds of years?! No one will support him."
"Miranda, we can't take that chance. You would be executed. You have to leave."
"Both of us would be..." she said in horror. Then she shook her head.
"No. My father will block it."
"Peter is your father's key rival. Don't you think he'll have allies? This is what he does, Miranda. In the end, it wouldn't be about us. It would be about whether your father or my brother in law is the right one to lead the tribe when Abner is dead."
"You want me to leave Blackdust?"
"You have to. It's the only way I can know you'll be safe, Miranda. Would to god I could be the one to leave, but Peter would never let me take Happy."
He pressed a leather bag of coins into her hands.
"This should be enough to let you start over. Forget about me. Find someone new. Someone who deserves you."
She went cold inside.
"I'll leave. I'll be gone by morning. Just go."
He tried to kiss her goodbye, but she refused, turning her face away.
"It's over. Just let me go."
Once he had gone, she started shaking all over. Because she knew that the man who had just left was not her lover. Midnight Son was jealous of every man who looked at her. He would never have told her to find someone new. And that meant it was a shapeshifter. Yvette couldn't do a man's voice. For that matter, Peter had never before been able to mimic voices, but perhaps he'd learned while he was away. If he hadn't slipped up at the end, she wouldn't have known. And that terrified her.
So when she fled, it wasn't for fear of ancient laws, but for fear of the man who might try to come to her bed in the shape of her lover. A man who had always wanted her and might be ruthless enough to take by deceit what he was too civilized to take by force.
***
A white bird watched over Miranda on her journey, making sure she made it safely away.
"Be safe, my Miranda," Peter Raven whispered into the wind.
