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Isabel took a deep breath, realizing that if she had thought the noblewoone to Rokan’s defense She glanced again at the fat erous this was He had to be the one to attack Rokan, or she wouldn’t be able to keep herself fro prince

There was no way to warn him, but she needn’t have worried Kaer clearly wanted to defeat Rokan himself He moved as Rokan was about to ascend the throne--sooner than Isabel would have advised--shedding his uise as he stepped forward and stretched out his hand For a ht the sword in it had been thrown to hi next to Clarisse, where a tall blond o

Rokan swore, and before anyone else could so much as do the salanced at Albin, but he seemed as startled as anyone

Kaer leaped toward the dais, and Rokan raised his sword just in ti Kaer’s blade to the side The two bladestriu in the throne rooth of Rokan’s parry knocked Kaer’s sword far to the side, but it also threw Rokan off balance; before he could regain his footing, Kaer thrust under Rokan’s blade and straight at his chest Rokan parried again, but this tiainst each other

"You will not lay a finger on h the hall The music came to an abrupt stop "Imposter!"

It took Rokan only a mo his blade along Kaer’s He lunged Kaer parried

Rokan took one step back, feinted twice, and then went for a killing stroke Kaer’s blade followed his with lightning speed, but when Rokan lunged at hi Rokan whirled barely in time to meet his counterattack

Isabel didn’t e of the carpet A dozen other nobleer noble swords One of those swords knocked Rokan’s out of his hand, and another hissed along his neck

The roo, but her own see for her

"Isabel!" he cried Ten soldiers stood between him and her, but if she had shifted into a wolf or a bear they would haveshaht he knew that she couldn’t Then one of the soldiers jerked hi hi hiround like a puppy Isabel’s eyes found Clarisse, as already watching her The princess stood frozen, her face white, but her eyes gleamed as if she had just been handed a wonderful surprise Then one of the soldiers grabbed her, and she struggled for a few resignedthe soldiers in ringing tones She should have been watching, because he er Instead she stared at the prince who had been in danger for ned horror of a ht the sword to his neck was very still She watched that sword, because if it so much as moved the soldier was dead

It shouldn’t have been that way In her mind a sure little voice whispered, It will be easier when he’s dead And another voice reht, I will kill him for you

Chapter Fifteen

The throne was uncomfortable It shouldn’t have been--it should have fit him like he was born to it, like the throne in his dreams But it was hard, and the back was not hollowed at all, and his spine kept jutting into the intricate royal sigil carved into the thick wood Kaer ignored all that Owain had advised hie Hour, especially after he had already crowned hio, but the duke hadn’t o--when he had still been a boy practicing with a wooden sword, when he had thought he would one day face the usurper himself--he had confessed to Owain that he was afraid Owain had put his hand over his, closed both their hands around the sword hilt, and said, "When the tiht He had been right about so led himself away from the back of the throne I’m really here This has finally happened A part of him still didn’t believe it, and thatout the Shifter first

But before he could locate Isabel, a stir near the entrance caught his attention The nobles near the door dreay and stared, fluttering like a flock of startled pigeons as Clarisse walked into the throne roo and nodding,it see for her arrival Her goas an elaborate concoction of yellow silk, her hair twisted and held so that it fell over her bare shoulders just so She dropped a curtsy to Kaer--holding it long enough that everyone would notice, but not so long that it see other than routine--and lifted her eyebrows at him with a small, confidential smile

Kaer turned away to hide how amused he was and almost jumped when he found himself face-to-face with the Shifter Isabel had approached the throne so soundlessly he hadn’t heard her and noas glowering at him so fiercely that for a moment he found it hard to breathe

"What," the Shifter said in a voice that didn’t sound hu here?"

Kaer drew hi, he reminded himself, not anymore Not even of her The Shifter watched hierous and predatory even in her deown

She still seemed familiar to him, which was ridiculous--the form she bore now had no connection to the ones he had seen as a child But the day before, in the audience chaold to reddish brown, and the nagging familiarity of her face had stirred a ain To be a naive young boy, dreaical creature ould always keep him safe, if he could only find her

He propped his elbow on the arm of the throne and frowned at her "I can’t very well keep her locked up in her rooet a better view of his face--at an angle that should have been i over, but she see fitted for a gown for next week’s banquet" Kaer waved a hand "I saw a beautiful swath of silk I couldn’t resist buying for her"

"So that she would have to spend all ith the seamstress?" Isabel’s eyes narrowed "Clever"

"Thank you," Kaer said Clarisse was now talking to a noblewooith ridiculously wide sleeves Clarisse looked up at the to the noblewoman, and the two of them headed toward the throne

Kaer stiffened, and one of the carvings on the back of the throne jabbed sharply into his back This was not part of the plan He reached behind him to rub his new ache