She looked steadily at Arron. He closed the distance between them, and, holding her hands, locked beaks with her in what one could only assume was a kiss.

“How did it go?” the woman asked, her voice smooth and gentle. “Did you find the oracle?”

“Yes, my love,” Arron replied, taking her hand and pulling her into a living room. They both sat down in soft cushioned chairs. “The boy is as I thought… a potential threat to us, yet also a bargaining tool if things don’t go according to plan. The oracle’s advice was that we must keep him safe in Aviary at all costs.”

The woman’s gaze seemed oddly distant as she nodded. “Yes, Arron. We must.”

My eyes shot open in the dark chamber. Aisha was still standing in the same spot.

My mind reeled from what I had just seen, as I tried to make sense of it all. That female Hawk… she was the same one I’d seen in the very first vision—the same one who’d brought me to Cruor. Yet she seemed to be Arron’s wife, or lover? Why would she betray her own man? Heck, her own people? And who was Hortencia, that oracle woman, exactly? I considered asking one of the hundred questions flooding my brain, but I was too anxious to see more.

“Continue,” I said.

Aisha bowed courteously. “Your wish is my command,” she said with a grin.

I closed my eyes, allowing my mind to be hijacked once again.

The vision unfolded in the same living room of Arron’s treehouse residence. The infant’s cradle had been brought inside the room, and a young blonde girl sat near it on a couch, holding the baby in her arms and nursing him with a bottle.

Arron stepped into the room, accompanied by another female Hawk—a different woman to the one he’d sat with earlier in this very room. Both of them had tense expressions on their faces as they held hands.

“Jada,” Arron addressed the young girl. “Carry the baby to the dining room and keep watch for my wife while you care for him. She’s not due back for another two hours, but just in case… Warn me.” His eyes were sharp as they dug into her.

“A-All right,” Jada replied. Gathering up the baby, she hurried out of the room.

Arron clutched the hand of the female Hawk and led her out of the room. They headed upstairs, and, reaching a landing, Arron pulled her toward a bedroom.

“We shouldn’t be doing this,” the woman whispered, stopping in the doorway.

Arron looked at her intensely. “War is upon us. If not now, then when?”

The woman relented. She stepped toward Arron, who grabbed her waist, and then locked the door behind them.

The vision withdrew from the house and shifted to give a bird’s eye view of the treehouse residence. Perched in a tree parallel to the bedroom Arron and his mistress had retreated into was the dark figure of a Hawk. She wore a black cloak with the hood pulled up. A stray lock of curly auburn hair revealed this Hawk’s identity. Her eyes were fixed on the drawn blinds of the bedroom window. From the look on her face, she already knew exactly what was going on in there.

Her eyes were fiery, her fists clenched. After watching the window for several more minutes, her wings shot open and she swept herself away from the tree in a rage.

The treetop residence vanished, and another scene immediately took its place. It was nighttime and the same female Hawk—Arron’s wife—stood alone on a rocky beach that was lined with jungle. Her wild red hair splayed in the wind as she stared out toward the rough waves. There appeared to be no sorrow in her eyes, only fury.

Stones crunched. She looked to her right, further up along the shore. A lone man had appeared. The Hawk moved toward him. Wearing a deep red robe, he was tall and wiry, with small gray eyes and skin so pale there was no mistaking him for anything but a bloodsucker. And yet there was something odd about his appearance. His features were lopsided. His mouth hung a little in one corner, and one of his eyelids was half closed. It was possible to make out a slight yellow tinge on certain areas of his skin—around the throat, his right wrist, and on the tips of his fingers.

“Nelda,” he said in a gravelly voice.

The Hawk bowed her head slightly.

“Whatever you called me out here for, it had better be good.”

“It is,” the Hawk replied, her voice surprisingly steady. “Trust me, you won’t regret this visit.”

The man looked around, almost as though he was worried that it was a trap.

“Then tell me,” he said. “This vessel I’m inhabiting is weakening, and it must be strong enough for me to travel back in. I don’t have long.”

“I am no longer loyal to my husband,” Nelda began.

The vampire let out a scoff. “When were you ever loyal to him?”

The Hawk shot a glare at him. “Before he thought he could play me for a fool.” She took a deep breath, apparently trying to reel in her temper. “I plan to leave him, and indeed leave Aviary, before your army storms the place. I’ve had enough of this life and these people whom I barely even consider my own anymore… But before I leave, I need to do something that’ll make Arron regret ever having betrayed me.”

The vampire had a look of disbelief on his face, but Nelda continued regardless. “The truth is,” she said, “I have been tired of Arron and his rule here for some time now—the sheer hypocrisy of his methods. But there was a part of me that still loved him. And that is why I hung on all this time. Otherwise I would have left and become a wanderer many years ago. Now, I suppose that I should be grateful to him for making it easy for me to break away. I have no qualms about leaving him anymore… but before I do, it’s only fair that I give him a taste of what betrayal feels like…” Her jaw tensed. “I want to see him and his whole damn kingdom come crashing down.”