Mercedes Lackey - Anthology by Flights of Fantasy

to introduce a new person into his life just now."
                 Adelia
smiled brightly and nodded.
                 "I
don't care," she said. "I have never seen my hawk without that stupid
looking thing on its head, and I want to look at it."
                 "It
would cause delay, my lady."
                 She
stepped close to him and held his gaze with her own. "Are you trying to
manipulate me, Nairn?"
                 "No, my lady." He seemed genuinely confused.
                 Ha,
so it really would affect the hawk's training. How very fortunate that it
doesn't matter.
                 She
gestured for Nairn to take her to the shed, and they moved off.
                 "Have
you given any further thought to what I told you, my lady?" he asked as
they walked along.
                 "Of course not, Nairn. And we will not speak of it
again."
                 Nairn
compressed his lips and walked on. He opened the door and stood aside for her.
                 "Oh!"
Adelia gasped in astonished dismay.
                 At
her entrance the tethered hawk had flattened the feathers on its body, but
those that framed its head flared in a sunburst around its staring, blood-red
eyes. The hawk's beak gaped half open as though eager
to rip at her flesh.
                 She
took a step backward and looked at Nairn in horror.
                 "Its
eyes are red? The other hawks didn't have red eyes! This is most
unexpected." That rotten-hearted hawk seller never mentioned those
freakish eyes. "What's wrong with it?" she demanded of Vairn. I'll
give that hairy fool red eyes if he's sold me a sick
bird! I'll pluck them out and feed them to him!
                 "The
bird is perfectly normal, my lady. His eyes will darken as he ages, but all
goshawks have red eyes." Nairn couldn't help the superior little smile
that twitched at the corners of his mouth. The lady sorceress was so very
startled.
                 Adelia
looked up at him, gazing into his eyes intently as though searching for some
great meaning there. Pleased, he turned the full force of his very charming
smile upon her.
                 I'll
have to keep Nairn's eye color, she thought. Size. Size will be a consideration as well. Hmm. Perhaps
I'll import Nairn's eyes entirely, just as they are. But she was not pleased.
She'd hoped to use the hawk's vastly superior vision, but . . . the hideous
color and freakishly large orbs would be impossible to live with.
                 Adelia
sighed, and Nairn closed his eyes and lowered his head, seeking her lips.
                 "Back!"
she snapped, her voice like a whip crack.
                 Nairn
almost leaped away from her, his eyes wide.
                 "What
is the matter with you?" She looked at him as if he'd gone mad. "Is
this some ploy to get me to send you back to your papa?"
                 "No,
no," he stammered. "It's . . . when you looked into my eyes like that . .
                 ."
                 "By
all that lives," she said in wonder, "you are a vain and foolish
little man." Then she laughed. Oh, dear, she thought. I do hope he'll be
as amusing when I've changed him.
                 And
laughing, she walked back to the house, where Wren stared in wonder at her as
she came through the door.
                 "Ah.
So you're here," Adelia said, smiling. 'The time has come at last."
                 Nairn
stood in the door of her spell-casting chamber, his face somewhat pale.
                 "Go
away, Wren."
                 The
servant girl, who'd summoned Nairn at Adelia's command, gave him one last,
desperate look and flitted off. Adelia grinned conspiratori-ally at him.
                 "She
spoke to me, you know. On your behalf." She was
genuinely delighted to have