Sons of Destiny Prequel Series 003 - The Shifter (16 page)

The hair knotted itself tightly, and stayed knotted for several seconds after he finished speaking. It finally relaxed as the silence stretched between them. He was telling her the truth. Solyn sighed. She wasn't the best mage out there, lacking as she did anything resembling real training, but this was one of the spells she had mastered. With the real Traver's help, no less. "Alright. I believe you. I just... you're
not
him, and yet..."

She blushed. The pink tint to her cheeks, visible in the light from the oil lamps hung around the cave, intrigued Kenyen. "And yet...?"

Her cheeks warmed further. Solyn tried to dismiss it, turning away from him. "It's nothing."

Catching her hands, Kenyen gently held her still. "Oh, no, you don't. You're the one person I have available to help me pretend to be Traver well enough to fool these curs. What is it?"

"
Nothing
." She tried tugging her hands away but couldn't shake his grip. Not without losing the enspelled hair. The moment she released it, the truth-telling magic would fade and she would have to pluck a fresh hair and start all over again. Sighing, she gave up trying. "You're just... I wasn't attracted to Traver the entire time I knew him, until... well, obviously I'm still not attracted to
him
. But don't let that go to your head, shifter! You've stolen his face. I don't like that."

Flushing at the compliment, Kenyen cleared his throat. "Actually, it was his idea." She looked up at him, and he nodded at the strand of his hair, still pinched between her thumb and forefinger. The knot had tightened. "Neither of us wanted to be in this situation, but we are. He's been smart about it, playing along. So have I. As much as we'd wish differently, this is what we've had to do.

"Now,
you
tell me the truth, Solyn," he ordered her, watching her carefully. "Is my kissing you breaking any oaths you gave to my counterpart? And is it making you uncomfortable? Because I'm being pressured to court you fast, to seduce you into bringing me into your family and win their trust before you or they can ask any questions about my differences. These Mongrel curs are
expecting
me to kiss you. If I don't at least act like I'm willing to comply, they'll suspect
I'm
not what I'm pretending to be. Toward them, I mean."

That made her blush harder. Reluctantly, she muttered, "No, we haven't broken any promises. I just, well, panicked when Tarquin the Pushy kept trying to kiss me, and I blurted out that Traver had already asked me to marry him. He didn't really believe me, but Traver—the real one—was willing to play along. But then he had to go with the caravan, and... He was
supposed
to head down to the Morning River Valley, then cut north and head for the Plains, but he did manage the formal visit to my parents before he left. Or was supposed to leave."

"Only things didn't work out that way," Kenyen agreed under his breath. "Well. If I'm not breaking any vows between you, that does make me slightly less uncomfortable, at least."

The way he phrased it made Solyn eye him warily. She didn't know whether to be offended by that statement or not. "What do you mean, slightly
less
uncomfortable? You didn't exactly kiss me like you were uncomfortable with it!"

That made him wrinkle his nose. "On the Plains... maidens aren't to be kissed. At all. That's reserved for marriage. You're not a Shifterai, and the rules for outkingdom women are a bit less restrictive—mostly it's making sure you fully agree and aren't coerced, and that it doesn't go against local customs. But you didn't know who I was at the time, which is why I didn't want to kiss you without... Unfortunately, Tarquin is one of them, and he was testing me, to see how much 'loyalty' I retain to the Plains."

"Loyalty?" Solyn asked, relieved he wasn't offended at the thought of kissing
her
. And slightly annoyed with herself that such a thing should even matter. Another thought crossed her mind. "Wait—if maidens aren't to be kissed at all, how can you possibly be so good at it?"

He blinked at the question. Solyn blushed, realizing how blunt that statement was. Before she could retract her curiosity, he cleared his throat and spoke.

"We have a special rank of priestesses whose duty is to instruct young men on how to... kiss women, and so forth... so they'll be good husbands. They also tend to the physical needs of the men who aren't married.
And
the earth-priestesses instruct our maidens on what to expect and how to... so on and so forth... so that it's enjoyable for both parties," Kenyen stated, hedging around the direct words for such things.

Tugging her left hand free, Solyn fanned herself. "Goodness," she mumbled. "That's a bit more... um... organized than the Corredai way."

He released her other wrist. "It's our way of showing respect. Which is why these
curs
who are impersonating people are trying to press me to show disrespect by seducing you. They have a long history of
not
respecting women."

Solyn considered that. "Didn't you also say that there are a different set of rules for dealing with outkingdom women?"

"The woman has to be mature enough to handle a frank discussion, as well as fully grown and not still developing physically," Kenyen told her. "She cannot be married to anyone else. She has to be fully aware and consenting... and it's strongly discouraged from, um, I believe you call it 'twining completely' unless one or both parties is wearing... well, something like this."

He pulled the amulet from the pocket of his gathered trousers, displaying it for a moment, then tucked it away again. Face warm, he cleared his throat. Solyn, equally uncomfortable, sought for something else to discuss. She recalled her earlier question.

"What was that you mentioned about loyalty, to the Plains?" she asked. He started to shrug, looking like Traver but not moving like him; the difference, knowing that he
wasn't
the real Traver Ys Ten, disturbed her. Solyn interrupted him. "—Wait, could you show me what you
really
look like? Your face is Traver's, but you just don't
mole
like him, and it's bothering me."

Nodding, Kenyen relaxed his shifted features. It felt good, like stretching and relaxing a muscle that had been clenched for too long. His clothes didn't change and his hair remained braided, but it darkened and turned straight. His face shifted from oval to more heart-shaped, he gained a thumb-length in height, and the proportions of his muscles shifted, filling out more evenly over his body, rather than concentrating in his shoulders, calves, and thighs.

He spread his arms. "This is the real me. Take a good look. I won't be able to stay this way until after the real Traver is free and these members of the so-called Family Mongrel have been dealt with."

Solyn glanced quickly at the hair still clutched in her hand. It was firmly knotted, proving this was the shifter's true form. She nodded and studied him. He was actually kind of handsome. Most of it, she could still sense lay in the confident way he stood in front of her, neither hunching his shoulders nor ducking his head. Solyn nodded again when she had his face and figure committed to memory. "Thank you."

"Thank
you
for believing me," he murmured. Reluctantly, Kenyen shifted back. The process of turning himself into Traver Ys Ten took three times as long as returning to himself, particularly as he had no mirror to consult. Once he felt confident in his shape, he spoke again. "I'm sorry; I'd stay in my true shape, but it takes concentration to put on another man's face, and I can't risk anyone wandering in here and finding us together like this—as it is, I'm thoroughly nervous that one of those damned shifters is still outside, watching us."

Solyn gave him a puzzled look. "Wait... didn't Traver tell you anything when he gave you the ring? I know he gave it to you. I saw it... and
why
did you put it
there
, of all places?"

He blushed at the mention of it. "Uh, no. He didn't. He just handed it to me as covertly as he could—and I wore it
there
because
he
was wearing it there. We weren't in a position to exchange more than a word or two—he did tell me you expected me to wear it, but that was all he had the time to say, so I couldn't exactly ask him
why
it was being worn there. In fact, I thought
you
knew I was supposed to wear it there."

"Well, I had no clue where he'd put it!" Solyn retorted, embarrassed by mention of the ring's location on the underside of his manhood. "I thought he put it inside his mouth or something."

Kenyen wrinkled his nose at that. "Wouldn't that bang it against his teeth, maybe chip them, or at the least make noise whenever he chewed or talked? At least where it is now, it's not interfering with anything. Um, yet," he added, blushing with the thought of it possibly getting in the way for certain activities. He diverted the conversation away from that train of thought, though. "Is there something special about his ring? Or yours?"

"Of course it's special," she told him, covering the band with her other hand. "It's an enchanted pair of rings. So long as we stay within common speaking distance of each other, if anyone lurks within hearing range of us, my ring will warn me of it. It also tells me when they're
not
there... and right now, nobody is there. Which means we're free to speak. It won't last, since we do have to go back, but we're free to speak. For now. You can... you know, look like yourself for a while."

Debating the risks, Kenyen relaxed his features again. Under her curious gaze, he did what he had been longing to do since morning: rub his face until the muscles stopped trying to spasm.

Solyn watched. "Does that hurt when you do that? Change your shape?"

He shook his head. "No. Well, not normally. You can stretch and squish, pull and twist, and if you do it right, it doesn't hurt. It just feels... stretchy."

"Stretchy?" she repeated, dubious.

"You'd have to be a shapeshifter to understand it," he said, dismissing her confusion. "Here's another question. What made you think it was
wise
of you to confront a possible shapeshifter on your own? I
could
have been a member of Family Mongrel. These are dangerous men, and from what I've read, they wouldn't think twice about hurting you."

"Pliss."
A bubble of fire appeared above her upturned palm, burning without visible fuel source. It cast gold-hot light on both of them for the few seconds she held it there. Dismissing it, she lifted her brows in silent emphasis.

Kenyen sneezed. "Ah, right," he muttered, pinching his nose. "You're a mage. Well, I hope you'd be fast enough with a counterspell, but I'd feel a lot better if you didn't let yourself be cornered by any of them."

He was definitely not Traver. Frowning, Solyn studied him. "How odd, that you sneeze every time someone does magic around you. None of my books mentioned that as a side effect of magic."

Sniffing to clear his sinuses, Kenyen shrugged. "I'd say one in ten or twelve shifters gets this way around mages. Most don't always sneeze, though our nose tickles like it wants to. But then mages are pretty rare on the Plains. Most of our magics seemed to have soaked into our flesh, making us shifters."

"Hm. Well, maybe an allergy posset might help," she offered, mulling over the possibilities. "It's not well known that I'm a mage—other than just enough to be my mother's apprentice. Everyone knows that Healing magics are a bit different from other magics, focused toward nurturing life and health rather than altering other aspects of reality. They all think I take after my mother, and I've encouraged that view, but aside from a few spells and of course all the herb-based remedies, I actually can't do most of what she does. Nor can she do most of what I can do."

Nose no longer itching, Kenyen lifted his chin. "You know, if you ever came to the Plains, my people would pay you well for your spells."

That made her roll her eyes. "You really
aren't
Traver. I do know a
few
things. I can defend myself, certainly. But what I've learned is only what I've puzzled out of books. What I
need
is to head to one of the cities, maybe even the capital, and learn from a real mage. I've heard there's a mage academy there. My father's offered several times to send me, but..."

"But, what?" Kenyen asked. There was a stool at the back of the racks, used to reach the top shelves. He pulled it over and sat on it, tired of standing. "Why don't you go? What are these Mongrel curs after, that you feel you have to stay and help protect it?"

Solyn bit her lip, indecisive. She looked at the hair in her hand. "You won't tell them?"

"My word of honor as a son of Family Tiger, I will not tell them," he promised. The knotted hair tightened.

Solyn lifted her gaze to the wheels of cheese around them. "They're after this. Well, sort of."

Six

Confused, Kenyen peered at the waxed rounds on the shelves around them, then peered at her. He looked between the two of them again, confused. "... They're after moldy cheese?"