Page 9 (1/1)

Appropriately, I ran out of breath at that point and had to stop, panting for air Lungs were useful for putting h Both children had fallen silent, staring at me in a kind of horrified awe, and belatedly I realized I had been ranting Sulking, I sat down on a step and turned er would pass soon I liked the as she was I didn’t want to kill the moment There were tears in her voice "You think I’hed "I think your fa to raise you to be just like them" Or else they would kill her or drive her out of the faoing to be bad" She sniffed behind ht, looked up and inhaled, so I guessed that she was full-out crying now

"You won’t be able to help it," I said, resting my chin on my drawn-up knees "It’s your nature"

"It isn’t!" She staods! We don’t have natures We can all be ant to be"

"Right, right" And I could be one of the Three

Sudden agony shot throughupward from the small of my back, and I yelped and juained control ofthe pain to stop andthat it did so only reluctantly

"You kickedup the steps at her

Deka had covered his mouth with both hands, his eyes wide; of the two of them, only he seemed to have realized that they were about to die Shahar, fists clenched and legs braced and hair wild and eyes blazing, did not care She looked ready to ain

"I will be what I want to be," she declared "I’ to be head of the faood!"

I got to ry, in truth It is the nature of children to squabble Indeed, I was glad to see that Shahar was still herself under all the airs and silks; she was beautiful that way, furious and halfinstant I understood what Itempas had seen in her foremother

But I did not believe her words And that put ether darker mood as I went back up the steps, a torn between fear and a desire to defend his sister; he hovered where he was, uncertain There was no fear in Shahar’s eyes, though soer faded into wariness She wasn’t stupid Mortals always knew to be careful when I smiled a certain way

I stopped in front of her and held out a hand In it, a knife appeared Because I was Yeine’s son, I hters when they first learned to take lives in the hunt Six inches straight and silvery, with a handle of filigreed bone

"What is this?" she asked, frowning at it

"What’s it look like? Take it"

After ait aardly and with visible distaste Too barbaric for her Amn sensibilities I noddedone of esture

"Don’t be afraid," I said to hi "It’s your sister who kicked ht?"

Reason worked where charm had not He came to me, and I took him by the shoulders He was not as tall as I, so I hunkered down to peer into his face "You’re really very pretty," I said, and he blinked in surprise, the tension going out of hiet the "In the north, you know, you’d be ideal Darrefor the chance tothe A to be asharown up; you would have broken hearts"

"What do you nored her

Deka was staring at me, entranced in the way of any hunter’s prey I could have eaten him up

I cupped his face in h it had been only a fleeting press of lips I’d held back the force of myself because he was only a child, after all Still, when I pulled back, I saw his eyes had glazed over; blotches of color warmed his cheeks He didn’t move even when I slid my hands down and wrapped them around his throat