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"I saw your book," she said "Portraits of the Shifter"
She couldn’t see his face, but she could hear the caution in his voice "Did you recognize any of them? Of you, Ithe bracelet in any of the portraits"
She heard his indrawn breath and kneas about to lie to her She didn’t turn He would be less guarded if she couldn’t see his face "It hasn’t been used for years It was part of the original spell that bound the Shifter in the first place"
The bird took wing, wheeled once, and soared over the castle walls Isabel watched it go "Then why bring it out now?"
"After everything that had happened, Rokan didn’t kno far you had reverted to being wild Part of itsthe prince"
That was a lie But so, Isabel realized suddenly, was everything she had been told about the bracelet She lifted her ar her wrist so the white and red crystals lay flat against her skin Pretty She could still feel Rokan’s fingers on her wrist, deftly fastening the clasp She liked the bracelet
"That’s not why" She spoke slowly, but without any doubt "He thought it could rebind the Shifter Create an allegiance to a new king, a new dynasty"
He didn’t reply He didn’t have to
"Fool A bracelet?" She ran the fingers of her other hand along the tiny crystals True, it had helped confuse her--but only because her ju Focusing on the bracelet now, she could feel the tendrils of power clinging to it, thruic despite the centuries it had lain dorht Rokan was no fool She turned around and noted the whiteness around Ven’s lips "Did you tell him it would work?"
Ven opened his s were suddenly clear to Isabel It had never made sense for Rokan to believe she wouldn’t find out the truth about his father "Did you tell hiiance, and what happened last tiard the truth even if I did discover it?"
"I thought it…" He faltered under her gaze "I thought it ht"
"And you wanted him to try You wanted to see the Shifter"
He bit his lip
Isabel shook her head She should have been disgusted by Ven’s disloyalty, by the way humans always placed their wants above their duties Instead she was aht thing by putting his studies first
Not that there had been anything disinterested or scholarly about it Her auilt Ven had gone to such lengths to seek out a legend and instead found a daed, faded version of what she was supposed to be
"I told hiet you no matter what I said"
There was a moment of silence while Isabel turned that over in her lad you’re back"
Isabel realized that it hadn’t even occurred to her to go tell hiht of hiain "I’m sorry--"
"No I’ot to his feet "You left because of what I said I shouldn’t have said it I cory at you because you’re not--"
"But I should be the legend" She turned back toward the battlements, so it would be easier to say what she had to say "If so inside me wants to be human, I have to root it out and kill it I can’t protect Rokan this way"
"Nothing inside you wants to be human You were a wolf--"
"And now I’m not And now that I’m back in this castle, I can’t shift back" In the distancethe brilliant reds and yellows of their foliage "I think it’s because there’s so human about the Shifter I think maybe…maybe I was human before I ever was the Shifter"
"No"
Isabel turned to face hiht, as she didn’t want to say it Too bad for both of theins of the Shifter are unknown Maybe I’m not some ancient entity chained to the royal family Maybe I was not found, but--created"
"Isabel--"
"Andher voice, "was a huht of it All these problems aren’t your--"
"Of course they’re ripped the rough-hewn stone behind her "He summoned me for his protection, and I can’t be what he needs ht be because he’s not what he’s supposed to be, either--so I ran, just like I ran ten years ago--but then he was in danger and I couldn’t let hio back to the castle alone I can’t help it, it’s what I am--what I’m supposed to be--what I want to be--"
She broke off, suddenly aware of how high her voice had risen Ven was staring at her ide, startled eyes, and a sudden rush of eh her, hot and painful The Shifter out of control, ranting like a mad-woman…she doubted there was precedent for that in any of Ven’s books