A table pushed against the same wall, laden with bowls, bandages and several bottles of soap and unguents.

A pressed metal lamp hanging from a hook in the ceiling, exuding only the faintest of glimmers through the holes punched in its metal sides.

It sent strange, wobbling, hunching shadows chasing each other about the room.

A stool sat by the foot of the bed, another sat against the otherwise bare wall on her right.

And there was the bed itself, clad in snowy linens, patchwork quilts flung over its foot railing.

A form lay sprawled across the bed.

It was pale naked in the dim light, save for a towel draped over its hips, and the odd patch of bandage. Its wings, a pale bronze in this light, falling over both edges of the bed and spilling over the floor.

Arms: one flung so that it extended stiff and rigid, the other curled over the sleeper's face.

WolfStar.

Zenith stood a very long time, terrified to even move should she wake him.

What she wanted was for WingRidge to miraculously realise that she wanted to leave (now, now, now] and open the door and pull her out before WolfStar could wake to his senses and realise she'd been here.

But the room remained still and silent, save for the sound of WolfStar's breathing and Zenith's thudding heart.

The fire crackled (traitor fire!) and WolfStar stirred.

Zenith gasped, and WolfStar's arm lifted from his face. "Who is there?"

Zenith opened her mouth, but could not speak. One hand she had clenched in the material of her robe over her breast; the other was lost somewhere among the folds of material about her thigh.

WolfStar opened his eyes, and blinked. "Niah?"

"No! No!"

WolfStar stirred further, and half-raised himself on an elbow. He groaned, and lowered his face as he fought the pain.

"No," he finally said, his voice low and riddled with the agony coursing through his body. "It is not Niah at all, is it? You are Zenith."

She did not speak.

"Why are you here?"

Still she did not speak.

WolfStar raised his face and stared at her. "Girl, if there is one thing that I know about you, it is that you do not lack courage. Why are you here?"

"I do not know."

His mouth twisted. "Come to crow delight at my downfall, perhaps?"

She shook her head.

"No? Then I cannot think what else. I can scarce think that you have come to pass pleasantries with me."

He paused, and looked her in the eye. "Not you."

He shifted slightly in the bed, and Zenith took a pace back.

"Oh, come now! I am hardly likely to harm you in this condition, Zenith. Sit down on that stool by the far wall, if you like, but sit down and let me talk to you."

WolfStar had never been one to miss a chance when he saw it... and he realised, the instant he knew who his visitor was, that Zenith represented the most magnificent of chances. Here was DragonStar's remaining sibling, obviously upset and frightened. Deep inside, somewhere so dark that not a glimmer of emotion reached the light of WolfStar's face, the Enchanter gloated. Zenith could be used, and she could be used to manipulate DragonStar. Niah had been a failure, but Zenith would be a victory. She would bring him power.

Triumph roared through WolfStar's being, but not a smile crossed his bland face, nor a sound passed his carefully pain-thinned lips. His mind raced, constructing the trap.

Zenith stared at him, then looked at the stool against the wall (a safe, safe distance) before finally sitting down on the stool at the foot of the bed.

WolfStar smiled, a careful expression that contained surprise, some satisfaction and a great deal of pain. He relaxed back against the pillow. "Has anyone told you what has happened tome?"

"No."

"The Demons raped me, Zenith. Each one took their pleasure — if that it can be called —

many times."

Zenith froze. A tightness in her chest made her realise she'd also stopped breathing, and she jerked in a shallow breath.

"Surprised?" he said, and laughed hollowly. "Yes, you are. And no doubt pleased."

"Having experienced it myself," she said, her voice surprising her with its eagerness, "I would not wish it on anyone else."

"I thought I lay with Niah."

"She was there."

"But you were, too?"

She nodded, and then, to her horror, began to cry with great gulping breaths.

"Zenith ... Zenith ..." WolfStar stirred as if his injuries made him totally unable to comfort Zenith.

"I only had mind for Niah," he eventually said. "I thought that she would destroy you, and I thought only to enjoy her strength."

Zenith continued to sob, slightly louder now.

"But I was wrong. Ypw had the strength to defeat her, and I have ever admired strength and —"

"Oh, shut up!" Zenith slammed a fist down on the bed.

"Tell me why you are here," he said quietly.