Not common, for a bear to lumber so purposefully toward a palace full of men, in broad daylight; not logical, for the beasts know to fear capture and bloody death. I could not fathom it; shock stilled my voice from calling warnings to my father’s guards, who sat behind me playing cards in the warmth of their shelter, while the cold wind whipped through my hair.

Mary kept her eyes fixed on his. “They cannot engender human life,” she said, “though they would steal it, if they could. The babe is none but yours, my lord. Time moves very differently, there.”