Keller stared at him intently, wishing she had telepathy. Don't you dare, she was thinking. What's wrong with you? If you mess this up, after all the work we've done and with so much at stake...
Then she realized something. Before, when he'd been telling the history of the dragons, Galen had looked brooding and a little scary. Now, he still looked brooding but unutterably sad. Heart-stricken-and full of such regret.
She could almost hear his voice in her head. Keller, I'm sorry...
Don't be an idiot, Keller thought, and maybe she wasn't telepathic, but she was certain that he could read her eyes. What have you got to be sorry for? Hurry up and do what you're supposed to do. Her heart was pounding, but she kept her breathing tightly controlled. Nothing mattered but Circle Daybreak and the alliance. Nothing. To think of anything else at a time like this would be the height of selfishness.
And love is for the weak.
Galen dropped his eyes, almost as if he had lost a battle. Then he turned slowly from Keller to Diana. Who was standing with tears about to fall, hanging like diamonds on her lashes. Keller felt a twisting inside her chest.
But Galen, as always, was doing exactly the right thing. He took Diana's hand gently and brought it to his cheek in a gesture of humility and simplicity. He could do that without stopping looking noble for a moment. After all, he was a prince. "I'd be very honored to go through the promise ceremony with you," he said, looking up at her. "If you can bring yourself to do it with me. You understand everything I was telling you before- about my family..."
Iliana blinked and breathed again. The tears had magically disappeared, leaving her eyes like violets freshly washed in rain. "I understand all that. It doesn't matter. It doesn't change anything about you, and you're still one of the best people I've ever met." She blinked again and smiled.
Nobody could have resisted it. Galen smiled back.
"Not nearly as good as you."
They stayed that way for a moment, looking at each other, holding hands-and glowing. They looked perfect together, silver and gold, a fairytale picture.
That's it. It's done. She'll have to go through the ceremony now, Keller thought. As long as we can keep her alive, we've recruited a Wild Power. Mission accomplished.
I'm really happy about this.
So why was there a heaviness in her chest that hurt each time she breathed?
It was late that afternoon when the second call came.
"Well, they found the driver of the car," Nissa said.
Keller looked up. They'd moved the box full of scrolls to Diana's bedroom when Mrs. Dominick came back from shopping. Now they had them untidily spread out on the floor while Iliana lay on the bed heavy-eyed and almost asleep. She perked up when Nissa came in.
"Who was it?"
"A shapeshifter. Name of Fulton Arnold. He lives about ten miles from here."
Keller tensed. "Arnold. 'Eagle ruler.'" She glanced at Galen.
He nodded grimly. "The eagles are going to have some explaining to do. Damn it, they've always been hard to get along with, but this..."
"So it was connected with the Night World," Winnie said. "But did Circle Daybreak figure out why?"
Nissa sat down on the chair in front of Iliana's gold-and-white vanity. "Well, they've got an idea." She looked at Galen. "You're not going to like it."
He put down a piece of scroll and sat up very straight, bleak and self-contained. "What?"
"You know all our theories about why shapeshifters are attacking humans? Whether it's just the common 'shifter on the street or orders from the First House and so on? Well, Circle Daybreak thinks it's orders, but not from the First House."
"The shapeshifters wouldn't take orders from vampires," Galen said stiffly. "So the Night World Council is out."
"They think it's the dragon."
Keller shut her eyes and hit herself on the forehead.
Of course. Why hadn't she thought of it? The dragon giving direct orders, setting himself up as a legendary ruler who had returned to save the shapeshifters. "It's like King Arthur coming back," she muttered.
On her bed, Iliana was frowning in shock "But you said dragons were evil. You said they were cruel and horrible and tried to destroy the world."
"Right," Keller said dryly. Only Iliana would think that this constituted a reason not to follow them. "They were all those things. But they were also strong. They kept the shapeshifters on top. I'm sure there are plenty of 'shifters who'd welcome a dragon back." She looked at Galen in growing concern as she figured it out. "They're going to think it means a new era for them, maybe even a return to shapeshifter rule. And if that's what they think, nothing the First House says is going to make any difference. Even the mice are going to rally 'round Azhdeha."
"You mean the promise ceremony is no good?" Iliana sat up. The interesting thing was that she didn't look particularly relieved-in fact, Keller thought, she looked positively dismayed.
"No, so don't even get that idea," Keller said shortly. "What it means is-" She stopped dead, realizing suddenly what it did mean. "What it means is..."
Galen said, "We have to kill the dragon."
Keller nodded. "Yeah. Not just fight it. We have to get rid of it. Make sure it's not around to give orders to anybody. It's the only way to keep the shapeshifters from being split."
Iliana looked down soberly at the snowstorm of paper that covered her floor. "Does any of that stuff tell you how to kill a dragon?"
Keller lifted a piece of parchment, dropped it. "So far, none of this stuff has told us anything useful."