Hard golden eyes stared up into the night sky, waiting.

There was no revelry this year, no bright fire just beyond the high walls to lure a searching bird home. There was no song or laughter to celebrate May Day at the palace as there had been in years past. This year the revelers had been left to their own devices and they had built the traditional bonfire down by the river.

The Prince smiled grimly. He wondered if the firebird would be led off course. Perhaps the flickering flames would lure the selfish creature into the river and snuff out its life like water to a flame. He toyed with that idea as he stared up into the blackness.

No, he reminded himself firmly, that was not a fair thought. Let the firebird see what it has left in its wake. Let it see the sadness and pain it caused when it turned its back on us to follow its own grand adventures. Let it look and if it does not weep blood tears and beg for forgiveness I will take it to the river myself and see what a firebird makes of being intimately introduced to its mortal enemy.

A spark of fire in the night sky drew his attention and he gritted his teeth as he made out the graceful swoop and dive of a flame patterned bird. He folded his hands behind his back and watched as it got closer, seeing the moment it noticed that something was amiss for it paused in its flight, seeming to freeze in mid-air for a brief moment in time. Then it was gliding towards him again.

He did not move to greet the creature as it took a perch among the magical trees of the Tsar’s orchard and peered at him with confused gold eyes. Finally it seemed to realize he would not come to it so it hopped down from the branch, feathers receding as long wings formed into strong arms and human feet touched the new grass.

“Alexei?”

Alexei smiled darkly. “On time, as always . . . uncle.”

Trey cocked his head and blinked at him, undoubtedly trying to decipher his tone. Finally the red haired man shook off whatever had been bothering him and smiled brightly. “You’ve grown. I dare say soon you’ll be taller than me!”

“I doubt that. One can only grow as tall as the man who sired him.”

Again Alexei took a deep pleasure at seeing the hesitation in the other man’s eyes. “Why is there no celebration this year? I saw a fire down by the river but it looked to be a small revelry, surely not a gathering to celebrate Ivan’s birthday.”

Alexei remained silent, only tilting his head slightly.

Trey’s eyes hardened and a frown pulled at his face as his attention was drawn to the golden coronet that held the prince’s hair back. “Where is Ivan, Alexei?”

He shuddered at the dark smile that crossed the boy’s face. “Shall I show you?” Alexei asked, his voice soft and grating.

Trey resisted the urge to run. “What is going on? Why are you wearing the crown of state? Where is Ivan?”

Alexei turned on his heel and walked through the doors. Trey hesitated a moment more before steeling his nerves and stalking after the boy. Alexei’s hair had grown in the last year and now fell to just below his shoulders. It had darkened a bit as well, taking on the strange blood red and shadows tint that occasionally appeared in his family. The prince had grown taller but his body still had yet to fill in.

Trey grimaced but acknowledged that fact that should it come to a fight, he would be able to subdue the boy.

The halls of the palace were deathly silent and he resisted the urge to rub his hands over his arms. It was all so very wrong. The sounds of music and laughter should be echoing through the halls. There should be lovers in every nook, whispering promises to each other. Alexei should be skipping around at his heels begging for stories, not . . . not whatever it was he was doing.

They reached the Tsar’s quarters and Alexei opened the door, stepping back and watching him through hooded eyes. Trey shivered to see the half hidden emotions there. There was no love or happiness at his return in those eyes. There was only darkness and hate.

Swallowing he forced himself to walk past the prince and into the rooms that had once been his entire world. His nostrils flared as he peered about the dark rooms. The air smelled stale. As though it had been months since the windows had been opened. He moved through the two sitting rooms slowly, almost as though he were in a dream. There was no lived in feel anymore. It was as though this place had ceased to be a home for the living.

A sudden terrible thought occurred to him and he whirled to stare at the boy who was studying him from the doorway. Some light source from the hallway caught the golden coronet, Ivan’s coronet, and he felt his breath leave him.

“What have you done?” He whispered.

The child that had come from his own seed sneered at him. “Go on, uncle. Go see what you have wrought upon us all.”

Trey turned and forced his feet to move. To take him that last bit of distance to the closed door. Biting his lip he pushed the latch and the door swung open.

He nearly passed out at the site before him and he did have to catch himself on the side of the bed lest he fall. “Ivan!” He shouted, reaching out to shake the thin form.

“Gods, Ivan! Wake up! Please wake up!” He pleaded as he violently shook what was left of his lover.

Ivan’s face, once all even angles, was sunken and grey. There was no muscle tone or fat on the bared shoulders and arms and Trey realized with a sickening lurch that he could trace almost every bone under the grey skin. He forced himself to throw back the covers and this time he could not stop the reaction the sight of the rest of his lover’s body caused.

He heaved until there was nothing left in his stomach and then he heaved until he could not lose any more bile. Trembling like a newborn chick he turned to stare in horror at the boy staring at him dispassionately in the doorway.

“Do you see?” Alexei asked, “Do you see now what you have done?”

Trey wiped his mouth on the back of his sleeve. “What I have done?” He asked hoarsely.

“I begged you. I pleaded with you to stay! Why didn’t you stay? How could you leave him when every night you swore you loved him?”

Trey shook his head. “It was not my choice! I had to go. He knows that. He understands it.”

“He is dying because of it,” Alexei replied, his voice like those who have seen too much pain and were now emotionally dead, “Wasting away. The healers didn’t think he would make it this long. I knew he would. I knew he would wait for you, though why he would wait for such a creature as you I do not know.”

Trey shuddered under the prince’s onslaught of words.

“He promised,” Trey whispered to himself, “he promised he wouldn’t try anything new until I got back. That he would stop pushing himself so hard. Gods, I told him to stay away from that new magic! It was too dangerous! How could he try to cast it if he didn’t even understand it?”

Alexei was a silent presence beside him as he forced himself to his feet. With shaking hands he pulled the covers back over the wasted form. “How long?” He demanded.

The prince shook his head. “Right after you left. He locked himself away in his workroom for days on end. We never saw him unless something happened that demanded his presence. Then he disappeared for a few days. I found him in the workroom, unconscious. He wakes but . . . he has never recovered from it.”

Trey heard the first crack of emotion in the prince’s voice and sighed silently in relief. Perhaps he could fix both of them. But first . . . “Get me some broth and bread.” He ordered.

Alexei hesitated but fled the room when Trey glared at him sternly. He exhaled heavily and turned back to his lover. “Ah, Ivan, what have you done to yourself? I told you to stop meddling with magic you weren’t ready for. I told you to be careful. Now look at us. Look at what you’ve done to yourself and our son. You foolish, foolish man. Come on now, wake up.”

He pushed, nudged and whispered in his lover’s ear until dull green eyes opened and stared off distantly. He shuddered to see such a look of detachment in his lover’s eyes. He tried coaxing the man into speech or recognition but failed in both respects and had to content himself with stroking the straw-like black hair and whispering nonsense words to his lover.

Alexei reappeared and Trey took the bowl and plate from him, setting them down next to the bed. It took him nearly an hour to coax the man into eating and even then Ivan did little more than swallow slowly as he was fed broth soaked bread. After only a few bites Ivan turned his head and went back to sleep, never once giving an indication that he recognized his son or his lover.

Trey closed his eyes firmly against the sting of tears. The sound of glass shattering reached his ears but it wasn’t until he felt the sharp sting of pain and the burn of hot soap that he realized he had broken the glass bowl in his hand. He opened his eyes and watched the blood run down his fingers dispassionately.

To his surprise Alexei took his hand in his and carefully began picking the glass shards from it. The young prince looked physically and mentally exhausted. Trey felt much the same way and he could not imagine what it must have been like to deal with this day after day for months on end.

Before he could stop himself he had enveloped the boy in a tight hug, clinging to him like a lifeline. Alexei was a stiff presence in his arms but suddenly a sob escaped him and he collapsed. They clung to each other and Trey gave into tears of his own.

“I’m sorry.” He whispered into the dark hair, stroking his son’s back as Alexei’s tears dampened his tunic. “If there was any way to make this different it would be.”

Alexei pulled away from him, whipping furiously at his tears. “I don’t believe you!” He hissed.

Trey blinked. “Why not? Alexei, surely you know I would never seek to harm either of you!”

“I know no such thing!” The young prince snapped, glaring at him, “You’ve lied to me before. Both of you have!”

A shiver of worry shivered through his spine. “What do you mean?”

Alexei laughed humorlessly. “He wasn’t always silent. After I had found him he had nightmares and would cry out in his sleep. I began to stay with him and he began to confuse me with you. He said things to me that I didn’t understand at first but I do now. I finally understand what you really are, uncle. At first I only hated you for leaving behind the man who loved only you. Now I hate you for leaving us all behind! I hate you for leaving behind your lover and I hate you for leaving behind your son! Should I hate you for leaving my mother as well? Or are firebirds like cowbirds? Do they spread their seed where they will and leave the responsibility of raising their offspring to others? Is that what you used my father for? To amuse yourself over the summer and force him to take the responsibility for your indiscretions? He means nothing else to you, does he? You just use him and then wander off when you get bored!”

Trey sat silently as the young prince worked himself into a new rage. His own anger was boiling but he forced himself to rein it in but at Alexei’s final words he stood, flinging the remains of the bowl away from him, barely aware of the sound them made when they shattered against the floor.

“Don’t you ever accuse me of using him again!” he hissed, “I love him! Everything! Everything I do is for him! Every bit of pain I feel when I tear myself away at the end of the summer is for him! Every day of my life is a fight to remember who I am! Do you know how easy it would be, Alexei? How much easier it would be for me to just let go and lose the man? A bird feels only momentary pain at the loss of its mate for after less than a season that mate is forgotten. I could let go and some days that urge is nearly overwhelming! But I do not let the bird win because I cannot stand the thought of losing him. Of forgetting him or you!

“I will admit, I did not love your mother anymore than she loved me. She was in danger and needed my help. Neither of us realized that anything would come of our union. And yes, Ivan and I lied to you. We told you that your mother was my sister to explain your appearance and we told you that Ivan was your father . . . because he is! Perhaps not in the strictest sense of the word but certainly by love and by action! By the time I discovered I had sired a son I was already trapped. I couldn’t be a true father to you, Alexei. I couldn’t be there to see your first steps or hear your first words. I couldn’t be there to teach you how to read and to tell you stories at night. I have done what I can, for even if I could not do those things I still love you. I care for you. But I could not be a father to you.

“Ivan needed someone to take care of. Those first few years he was confused and hurt. His own youth was no life for a child but he had no other comparison. I helped him where I could and as I had hoped he came to love you deeply, Alexei. You are his son, even if you do not share his blood. Indeed, I think he is more of a father for taking in a child that was not his and loving him as his own than even I could have been. In the end the lie of Ivan being your father was no lie at all. He didn’t turn his back on you, Alexei. Don’t turn your back on him. If you must be angry with someone about this, be it with me. But never tell me I don’t love him! And never say I do not love you.”

Alexei shook his head sadly. “How can I believe you when you won’t tell us why you leave? How can I believe your words when you don’t even try to stay?”

Trey grit his teeth. “I cannot stay, Alexei. And I cannot say the words why. I have no choice in that matter. It was part of the price of these precious few months of freedom.”

“Then I can never fully trust you.” The young prince replied wearily.

Trey shrugged. “Then that is how it must be.”

A month passed in miserable silence between prince and firebird. Duty called Alexei away most of the time but he always found a few seconds to check in on his father and the man he had used to recognize as his uncle. To his relief his father was finally showing signs of healing for Trey never left his side. Food was coaxed down his throat continuously and the Tsar even began waking on his own.

Recognition was slow to return but eventually it did and Alexei nearly felt his heartbreak when his father gave him a weak smile. Speech was also slow to return and in the beginning it was little more than a few confused words as his father tried to separate reality from the illusions of his own mind.

One night he returned from an extended trip to the boarder villages to find his father asleep. Trey was gone, probably to find food of his own, and Alexei turned to sneak back out. However his father’s voice stopped him and he quickly returned to the bedside. There was still a great weariness portrayed in his father’s pale body but he was glad to see that the emerald eyes had regained their depth and sharpness.

He smiled, the first time in over half a year, and sat in the chair that had been pulled next to the bed. “I did not mean to wake you.” He whispered.

His father shook his head. “I’ve been waiting for you to come back. Trey said that you had gone to oversee the growing harvests.”

Alexei nodded. “We’ll be drawing up the plans for winter storage and I wanted to see how the new crops were doing. Check for illness in the new plants or mold.”

“You could have just had them send you reports.”

Alexei stared down at his bejeweled tunic. “I know but . . . it’s best to see them for myself.”

“And to let your people see you.” His father finished.

Alexei flushed and nodded. “Yes.”

“Trey says that everyone seems to love you.”

Alexei felt the flush deepen. “I’m just doing what I’ve seen you do.”

“You’ve done very well, from what my advisors have told me.”

The young prince smiled in relief. “I’ve had help. Afron came right after you had . . . fallen ill and he helped me put your affairs in order so that I would understand them. He offered to leave one of his advisors and a seneschal to help me. I accepted the seneschal but refused to the advisor.”

“Why?” His father inquired.

Alexei took in a deep breath. “I thought that it would make it look like Afron had taken over if I had let the advisor sit in on meetings and make decisions. I feared that it would look like I was just his puppet. People are wary of him, especially since he owns so much land on our borders. I was afraid they would turn on me if they thought Afron was trying to absorb our kingdom into his by making me a puppet prince.”

His father smiled. “Very good. You made a wise choice.”

Alexei sighed in relief. “I really wanted to take the advisor since I didn’t know what I was doing but . . . I knew it would hurt me greatly as well.”

“I am proud of you, my son. You’ve done better than I ever imagined.”

Alexei preened under the praise. “I’m glad you’re getting better,” he replied, “as much fun as this has been I think you still make a better Tsar than I.”

His father sighed and the smile left his face. “I am sorry, Alexei. I never meant to put you such a position.”

Alexei frowned, staring out the opened windows. “It wasn’t your fault.” He whispered.

He heard his father shift. “You shouldn’t blame him, Alexei. You have hurt him deeply.”

Alexei growled. “I don’t care! He says he loves us but he leaves us without a second thought! It’s been sixteen years, father! Surely he would have found a way to stay if he really loved us!”

He started at the pain he saw in his father’s eyes but before he could question it a sharp voice interrupted him from the doorway.

“It is no one’s fault!” Trey snapped, glaring at both prince and Tsar, “And it certainly doesn’t show a lack of love. Most certainly not yours, Ivan, and if we have to go through this again I’m going to dunk you in the river until you stop being so stubborn!”

Ivan smiled with a sigh. “If you insist.”

Trey snorted and Alexei found himself chased from his seat. The red haired man sat and began to sort through the tray of items he’d brought back up with him. Alexei saw his father grimace at the inevitable broth and bread but in the end he was forced to eat it by his “nurse” who continued to shovel food down his throat until he threatened to do things he wasn’t physically capable yet. Sure that his father was in capable hands Alexei slipped out the door, wondering if any warm water was still left for him to clean up with.

Trey’s eyes slid sideways at Alexei’s departure, noting that he closed the door behind him. He smiled and gave his lover a kiss that Ivan eagerly deepened.

“Talking about me behind my back, hmm?” Trey murmured.

He felt Ivan’s smile. “Of course. It’s the only way for me to talk without you interrupting me.”

Trey chuckled and sat up. “You must be feeling better if you’re up to teasing.”

Ivan closed his eyes and shrugged weakly. He still wasn’t able to walk on his own and staying awake for more than an hour or two at a time was a struggle. However he was infinitely better than he was and the reason for it was climbing up to straddle his stomach. Opening his eyes he reached up to catch the firm chin in his hands.

“In a few years people will accuse me of robbing the cradle for my lovers.” He teased, stroking the face that belonged to a man much younger than his lover’s four and forty years.

Trey laughed softly and kissed each of his hands in turn. “I fear it will be comments that you look more like your son’s younger brother than his father that will plague you long before that. If I didn’t know better I would swear you had taken to savoring a more magical delicacy than normal food.”

Ivan shrugged. “I fear I have no answer for that. I swear I have not touched the fruit that grows in the orchard. It is no small thing to take such magic into your body. It seems to have done you no harm but you ate it with no magic already present within you. And who knows? Perhaps its magic is different for each person.”

Trey mirrored his shrug before coming to lie next to him, pulling their bodies close together. “It doesn’t matter to me what you look like.” He promised, his warm breath sending shivers down Ivan’s spine. “All I care about is having you up and about and returning our son back to his old self.”

Ivan sighed. “I fear I have done him a great disservice. He frightens me with the pain and fear I see shadowing his eyes. I never meant for him to be thrust into my role like that.”

“All will be well,” Trey assured, brushing his hands through Ivan’s long hair, “he is a strong boy. He has had a great fright of late but when you are up and about it will do much to sooth him.”

“I hope you are right. And I hope things between you will go back to the way they were.”

Trey laughed softly. “It will. He isn’t the kind to hold grudges. Anger and vengeance are not emotions that are native to his bright soul.”

Ivan murmured something that Trey could not understand but he let it go as he felt his lover’s breathe even out. With a sigh of his own he closed his eyes and gently stroked Ivan’s back, taking pleasure in their closeness before it would again be denied them.

Alexei woke suddenly at the creak that destroyed the night’s silence. He lay as silently as he could, aware of his loudly pounding heart. After what seemed an eternity he heard something move again in the sitting room just outside his own room. The slithering sound of cloth on cloth caught his attention and his hand crept towards the dagger Byely had given him to keep for emergencies.

He could see the room beyond his doorway through the mirror and he lay on his side, staring into the dark mirror’s glass, wishing it would show him what had woken him. A figure moved past his open doorway and the tension flowed out of him as he recognized Trey’s form moving by. The fear was replaced by a sudden suspicion as his father’s lover disappeared from view, followed by the sound of the main door opening.

He rose on silent feet and peered around the corner at the closed door. Creeping towards it he listened, counting the seconds. After a few short seconds he opened the door and peered around it. A bit of red cloth from Trey’s robe flared at the end of the hall as the man moved around a corner. Frowning deeply the young prince followed, wondering what dragged his uncle from the rooms at such an ungodly hour.

His father had made a wonderful recovery and the kingdom was rejoicing but Alexei was worried. How much farther would his father’s health fall when his firebird left again? Trey had been steadfast in refusing to allow books of any kind near the Tsar’s hands but Alexei saw the way his father’s eyes would drift towards the stack of books and, perhaps more frightening, the carefully crafted bracelet that had been the source of his father’s illness.

From what he had gleaned from overhearing snippets of his father’s and Trey’s conversations his father had tapped into magic he hadn’t fully understood. His father wasn’t sure if it had been a misspoken word or just a mistake in the conditions that had caused the spell to backfire. All he could explain was the feeling of the magic suddenly turning and flowing back inside of him, latching on to parts of his very being as it passed through him and dragging bits of his own personal energy out as well.

Trey had railed at him for his stupidity and Alexei had been glad to have his presence unknown lest either of them see the grin it had brought to his face. He had to admit that nobody but the firebird dared talk to his father in such a manner and for once he felt his father deserved a good tongue-lashing.

But despite the sudden return of mirth and joy at his father’s recovery Alexei couldn’t escape the shadow that threatened to descend upon them in less than a month. His suspicion at his father’s lover had slowly turned towards suspicion of this mysterious curse that kept the two apart. What was it? More importantly, how to break it?

And what was Trey doing wandering the corridors late at night?

Alexei followed quietly behind the man, who seemed too lost in his own thoughts to even realize he was being tracked. Trey walked with his head down and a frown on his face. The hands clasped behind his back were tense and the stride that carried the man towards the door to the private garden in the back of the palace was determined.

The young prince slipped outside behind the red haired man before the door closed in his uncle’s wake. The firebird’s attention was riveted straight ahead and Alexei slipped away through the trees, hoping to beat his uncle to the only destination that such a path would take him to. He had just skimmed up a tree when his uncle had appeared, walking straight up to the small circular pool.

Trey paused to glance around, making sure he was truly alone and Alexei pulled back as silently as possible to keep behind the curtain of leaves that hid his presence. Satisfied that he was alone, Trey braced his hands on the stone ledge of the pool and leaned over it, peering down.

Alexei heard him murmur something but couldn’t catch what had been said. His uncle’s breath rippled across the pool and the prince’s attention was focused on the golden pendant his uncle always wore. It flashed as though it had caught a stray bit of light, but there was no light to be had in the dark night.

A second unnatural ripple danced through the pool and Alexei’s breath caught in his throat as a soft feminine voice drifted to him, though again he was unaware of the words it voiced. His uncle spoke once more and again he heard the voice.

Suddenly his uncle pushed away from the pool, a flash of anger on his face as he paced a few steps before whirling back towards the pool.

“I cannot leave them!” Trey hissed, his voice raised in anger. “They need me!”

The disembodied female’s voice came again.

Alexei watched his uncle seethe. “He will die if I leave him, Libertine.”

This time Alexei detected a hint of annoyance in the voice, as though the absent Libertine did not care.

A look passed over his uncle’s face that nearly stopped Alexei’s heart. “If he dies, so to do I,” Trey replied darkly, “there is no life for me without Ivan. The hour his last breathe leaves his body is the hour I fling myself from the sky. I doubt that even I could heal a body that has been cast down from the heavens. Even if I did survive I would only fly that much higher the next time. And then where will you be?”

There was a deathly silence from the pool as his uncle stared into it at a being only he could see. Finally there was a sigh and words that Alexei could understand from his vantage.

“Come.”

His uncle’s eyes narrowed suspiciously but he obeyed, stepping up next to the pool.

“You must come back. I need the firebird in my palace at the beginning of the new season!”

“Ivan won’t survive the next year if I do,” Trey protested, “he will go back to meddling with magic that will only drain away more of his life. We can’t keep doing this, Libertine! We have danced to your circle long enough! Let us go. Let us live together with what time we have left.” He pleaded.

“No. There is no other way. You must come back as we agreed, not a day later.”

“Then he will die and so too will I.” Trey stated.

There came an exasperated sound from the pool. “No. There is another way to keep your stubborn Tsar from harming himself farther.”

His uncle cocked his head, golden eyes suspicious. “What way?”

The water of the pool parted and Alexei squinted in the darkness to try to make out what floated upwards. He failed to do so, however, for his uncle reached out and snatched it from the air before he could make it out.

“You know what song to play for it is a song that has served you in the past.”

“I don’t understand,” Trey replied, peering down at the object clutched in his hand, “it only works for one night.”

“Not anymore. I will grant you birds to carry your song the length and breadth of the land. Everyone will sleep as the land itself sleeps and will only waken at the return of summer and its heralding firebird.”

His uncle shook his head. “You would have me steal a year of life from all these people?”

Alexei heard that peculiar tsk the voice made to express its irritation. “No. It will be but a night to them. True, it will put them outside the time of the world around them but I will make sure that none may enter this sleeping land.”

“I don’t know that I can do that.” Trey whispered.

“Then you give up the life of your lover, my firebird. I have given you a means with which to keep him alive. Whether you preserve his life or not is no longer in my hands.”

The pool rippled suddenly, as if a strong breeze had blown across it and Alexei felt something slip away into the night. He gave his kneeling uncle a long searching look before slipping from the tree’s protective branches and slipping away back to bed where he knew only troubling dreams would await him.