Shapeshifters Read Free Page A

toward the merchant who had spoken, a metalsmith of good reputation. “Can I help you?”
    He was wringing his hands, but stopped as soon as I spoke, his gaze dropping. When he looked up again, his face was composed. He held out a package carefully wrapped in soft leather, placing it on the counter for me to see. “My pair bond was among the Ravens who fell yesterday.I had been working on this for her, but if milady Shardae would wear it, I would be honored.”
    The gift he offered was a slender boot knife, etched with simple yet beautiful symbols of faith and luck.
    I accepted the blade, hoping I would never need it, but saying aloud, “It is lovely. I’m sure your pair bond would appreciate that it is not going to waste.”
    The merchant replied, “Perhaps it might protect you when you go out again.”
    â€œThank you, sir.”
    â€œThank you, milady.”
    I turned from him with a sigh that I was careful not to let him hear. It was already too late for either side to win; this war needed to stop. Whatever the cost.
    If only I knew how to end it.
    â€œShardae?”
    I knew the young woman who approached me now from when we had both been children. Eleanor Lyssia was an eternal romantic, with grand dreams that I wished I could make come true. The last time I had heard from her had been a few years before, when she had just been apprenticed by a seamstress.
    My smile was genuine as I greeted her warmly. “Eleanor, good evening. What brings you to the Keep?”
    â€œI’m finally allowed to sell my work in themarket,” she returned brightly. “I was in charge of the shop today.” The smile she wore faded to a somber expression. “I wanted to tell you … I heard what happened yesterday. With Gregory Cobriana.” She shook her head. “I know none of this is proper to say, but I like to think we were friends when we were children?” I nodded, and she continued, “When I heard what had happened, it gave me hope. If the heir to the throne can put aside the past and just comfort a dying man … perhaps anything is possible.”
    She looked away, suddenly awkward.
    â€œThank you, Eleanor.” The prospect made me want to laugh and to cry; I settled on a tired smile. I did meet her gaze; I hoped she saw my gratitude. “Fly with grace.”
    â€œYou as well, milady.”
    We parted ways, and now Andreios moved to my side. As always, he knew when I needed to escape. His presence would dissuade anyone else from approaching before I could do so. I wondered if he had heard Eleanor’s words, but we did not speak before we both shifted form to fly above the market to the higher levels of the Keep.
    Andreios stopped at the fifth floor, where his flight was quartered; I continued to the sixth. I passed the door to my brother’s rooms and whispered a final goodbye before I entered my own.

I WAS A CHILD, UNVERSED YET IN POLITICS. The first thing that interested me in the court was a representative from the shm’Ahnmik, a group not allied with my mother, the Tuuli Thea. He was a falcon boy only a few years older than me, twelve to my eight. I was too young to know that my playmate made my mother very nervous, or that he was in the Keep for any reason different from the other children’s. Too young to know that he represented an empire older and stronger than our own, without whose support we would never be able to keep our heads above water when fighting the serpiente.
    I was just a child, with no responsibilities, no understanding of politics, war or pain. So Iremember the falcon very fondly, as my last memory of childhood.
    One of my tutors stepped out to speak with my mother in the hallway. “Milady Shardae, have you seen Andreios?” I looked up, hearing the name of my friend despite the tutor’s attempt at discretion. “I’m worried that he’s gone out to the field … to look for his