We must love our slaves, Papa. We must love them as hard as we are able.

West Point—The Key to the Continent and Independence.

No words in our ledgers could do justice to this sublime beauty,” Captain Lewis said. “The expedition should have brought a camera obscura.”Peter wasn’t familiar with the words, but no matter. He knew he was part of something magnificent—something greater than himself or the Corps of Discovery. And he knew what it was. It was America. And it was beautiful.

I refuse to believe the people of Texas and all Americans in the world have forgotten us.

Do not fret, my brother, my child. For the buffalo will roam the plains once more.

We live in a complicated society, Bromley—one that is changing and which does indeed need to change. But do you not think any change must begin within our own family gathering?

There were no stars, only the darkness and an arctic chill that had intensified since the first thin, blood-red stripes of sunrise shimmered on the ocean’s horizon.

Rainbow Cloud strode forward like a hunting cat with the same strength of height and broad shoulders, the same rolling gait as First Light’s father. They were indeed the same man, split in two at birth, so the family might be rewarded by twice the skill in hunting each brother possessed.

One large cat bounded up the side of the outcrop to stand in full view on an overhanging boulder. She stared down at them, inside their protective enclosure, tilting her head from side to side. Her scarred yellow-brown coat was immaculately groomed, but the long tufting hair of her snout was matted with the bright red smear of uncongealed blood from a recent kill. Her upper lip curved over the top of foot-long saber teeth.