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"What happened to the soldier? Did Albin kill him?"

"No The usurper did"

Isabel nodded, and Kaer walked to theLooking out at the darkness, he said savagely, "He killed everyone who could have protected me My entire family Anyone loyal" He drew in his breath "And then, after training for years to kill hi his son"

He was going somewhere with this, but Isabel had lost him on the second sentence "Your entire family?"

He turned around and stared at her Isabel ht "Your sister was older than you, wasn’t she?"

Kaer put both hands behind hi himself "You think you saved her? Instead of me?"

"Have you seen her body?"

"The usurper said she was dead"

"He said you were dead, too" Isabel forced herself to stay still

Kaer tilted his head back slightly, watching her She could hear his fingernails scraping against the sill "But she must be dead You didn’t stay with her You went back to your woods without her"

He didn’t want her to leave hih And what he said was true But still…

"How did I get her out?" Isabel wondered aloud

Kaer shrugged "If you did get her out, I wasn’t conscious to see it"

Isabel pressed her palht be alive Don’t you care?"

"We’d probably be better off if she was dead," Kaer said "And if she is alive, why isn’t she here? She should be trying to take back as stolen from us Like I am"

"Maybe she’s happy"

"More likely she’s dead"

"I don’t think Rokan thinks so"

Kaer went ash white "What do you h she could tell that he already knew

Isabel dropped her hand "You ondering how he plans to legiti to find your sister and marry her"

"That’s ridiculous!" Kaer snapped The color flooded back into his face "Find her where? Besides, my sister is as much a victim of his family’s perfidy as I am She’d stab hi her with eyes that were hard, angry…and afraid She ran her tongue over her upper lip "You needn’t worry, Kaer You’re here, and in danger I’ off to search for her"

The split second before his nod told her that wasn’t what he was afraid of She turned and left before he could see, on her face, that she knehat it was he really feared

She had saved the girl--back before her mind had been wounded, when she had been supremely confident in who she was and what she had to do If it caainst her brother

She wondered if Rokan had thought of that

Chapter Seventeen

Isabel was not particularly surprised when, the next

She arrived in the audience chamber to find it full of people Kaer paced back and forth, bleary-eyed but ireen velvet Clarisse sat on the couch with her feet tucked under her--a pose that declared, without defiance or ostentation, how unquestionably she felt she belonged there Owain and Albin were both seated on one of the plush benches, and Daria stood rubbing her eyes near the fireplace

Daria? Isabel thought, at first, that Kaer had made a stupid mistake But in the few days since the coronation, she hadn’t seen Kaer le ill-considered act

She stepped into the room and closed the door behind her

"We need to draw Rokan out," Kaer said without preah of waiting in this stone trap for hi him here and end it Now"

Owain raised a bushy eyebrow "Can’t it wait?"

"No, it can’t," Kaer snapped "I want hi whatever"--whoht--"he thinks can help him defeat me"