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One day, though, Rokan su on a stone bench waiting for her, his elbows on his knees, and when she approached, his sudden sht
Isabel sat next to hiarded him warily She had learned to pay attention to the variations in Rokan’s smiles There was the sideways half-s; the slow, contented smile that appeared only rarely these days; and the wide, dazzling, unrestrained smile she had so far seen only twice, when he first came for her in the Mistwood and when they watched the hawk soar against the sky And there was this one, the reason for her watchfulness: the i he kneas stupid and was going to do it anyhow
"It’s getting crowded in the castle, isn’t it?" Rokan said, stretching his legs out in front of hi This would be a good tio for a ride"
"Certainly," Isabel said repressively "And a grave insult to whichever dignitaries arrive when you are not here to greet thenitaries I wouldn’t ?" He rested his elbows on the back of the bench "And I’d like to go riding with you again The Duke of El to spend at least an hour talking about howany great dae torigidly upright
"I could get Clarisse to take my place I’m sure she wouldn’t insult anyone"
Isabel snickered despite herself, and Rokan tilted his head back with a satisfied se your shape to look like me and take my place? That must be one of the tricks the Shifter plays"
Froh her, Isabel kneas right "Now is not the tiy to arrange for your outings"
"Easy for you to say," Rokan said with an exaggerated sigh "You’re io faster for you"
No, they don’t, she thought, and a flash of anger made her say, "Actually, there are a few immediate problems we need to deal with There’s a ru to refuse to attend your coronation They claiiti to concentrate on stopping the ruretted it He replied withouther eyes, his face flushed "So a belief that I have no right to the throne There was--uh--a hundred years ago, a contested succession--"
"It doesn’t matter," Isabel cut hih such a patently ridiculous story A hundred years ago the Shifter would have prevented contested successions "I’ll take care of it I should mention that most of those dukes are friends with Owain, and he hasn’t showed up yet"
"He will" Rokan grimaced "If he stayed away, it would mean he was afraid He wouldn’t besmirch his honor like that, not even if he was convinced I would kill hiht not be a bad idea, actually But she knew better than to suggest that to Rokan
Duke Owain arrived two days later, accoly sparse collection of servants He had not been seen at court since his niece and the high sorcerer had tried to kill Rokan Isabel wanted to hate hinity that made it difficult He was staunchly old-fashioned withouthonestly solicitous toward the ho had never given hihter of a younger sister, according to court gossip, who to Rokan that y, and after that he stayed out of everyone’s way
It bothered Isabel that she liked hiht of him made herabout Albin’s plot, and Isabel almost believed it but couldn’t let herself be that stupid Owain had been a known opponent of Rokan’s father, firmly of the opinion that the true rulers had been overthrown by treachery Everyone was of that opinion, of course, because it was true; and there were people at court noho didn’t know enough to try to hide it from Isabel But the prickly northerners had always had a difficult ti they believed had a right to rule over them And Duke Owain’s sense of honor was pricklier than most
With a fair amount of reluctance, Isabel decided to ask Clarisse about hiht up another problem: Clarisse was very busy The castle was suddenly full of young noble’s sister or thought it would be wise to pretend they did Clarisse sees, exhibiting interest whenever it a the secret pro she had no idea what they were talking about She was especially good at finding existing rivalries and heating theration By the tiht over her and three narrowly prevented
At first Isabel worried that Clarisse had sonew at court, didn’t knoho she was--and all of ere eager to co noblewo snidely with young women ere all second in line after the princess Eventually Isabel concluded that the only ues was sheerto Clarisse was that the princess was stoking a rivalry between the princes of Flarine and Venir, two small island states with an intense and bitter en to explode into battle A war between them probably wouldn’t affect Samorna directly, but it would hurt its trade, and Isabel decided to pretend that was her business She caught Clarisse right after an afternoon banquet, fended off several approaching suitors with a wolflike glare, and pulled the princess into a quiet corner
"What now?" Clarisse asked, shaking off Isabel’s hand She was, as always, dressed like she cared about her suitors’ attentions, in a gray silk gown that y at the same time
"Sorry to interrupt your fun," Isabel said "I don’t want to keep you fro to step over the line The Prince of Flarine--"
"--is my true love" Clarisse blew a strand of hair away from her face "Sorry, I’m impervious to reason where he’s concerned"
Isabel rapidly revised her plans She didn’t have the patience to spend an hour in a conversational dance, and she doubted she had an hour before so man interrupted them "Why is Duke Owain still alive?"
Despite herself, she still felt a thrill when sheyour pardon? I believe you were there when o Was I supposed to kill hiue with hi to do with the attempt to kill him Do you think that?"