Erica Moonwhisper's Arc

Chapter 4 of 7

Three days after the falls, Zera came to Erica's own forest. She sent no red panda, no note. She simply walked in past the border guards, who let her pass because she wore Valor's colors and carried no blade they could find. Erica met her at the waterfall on the edge of her land, the same soft mist, the same flat stones. She had not stopped thinking about the panther since the pixie's arrow burst against her chest. She hated that. She had come to weigh a marriage to the prince. Now the wrong sibling stood before her. Zera did not sit. She counted the gaps in the rocks first, then looked at Erica. "Valor sent me with the wedding plan," she said. She held out a folded paper. "The signing is in a month. Both councils have agreed. Your name and his end the war." Erica did not take the paper. "I don't want the prince." Zera's ears flicked. "I know. I saw your face." She lowered her hand. "That changes nothing. If you break the talks, the war starts again by winter. You have no clean reason to refuse him." "Then give me one." Erica's voice shook. "You. I want you, not your brother." For a breath Zera said nothing. The mist glowed between them. "That is not a reason a council will sign," she said. "An arrow struck you. It did not strike me." "Do you feel nothing?" Erica asked. Zera closed the door in the same breath she opened it. "What I feel does not keep my people alive." She set the paper on the flat stone between them. "There is one road. In the cat clan, marriage into the ruling line does not require the heir. It requires blood of the line. Marry me, and you marry the clan. The war ends the same. Valor keeps his throne. You keep your forest." Erica stared at the stone. "Your father would allow it?" "My father allows what ends a war. He does not care which of us signs." Zera's gold eyes did not move. "But hear the cost. Marry me and you leave here. You come to our home. My court is not gentle like my brother. If you want your forest left alone, you rule it from inside my walls, not these ones." Erica picked up the paper. She tore Valor's name from the top and let the strip fall into the pool. "Then write yours." Zera watched the paper spin and sink. Something in her face shifted, then locked shut. "I will tell the council you refused the prince and offered the clan a truer bond." She turned to go. At the edge of the stones she stopped. "They will test you harder than I did. Be ready." Erica stood alone in the mist. She had her reason now. She had traded a gentle prince for a fortress she had never seen, and a woman who would not yet say she wanted her back.