" 'No limit on the number of shapes it can master,'" Galen repeated with growing excitement. "That makes sense, you know. That's what the First House has inherited, only in a diluted form. Being able to pick whichever shape we want to become- but only the first time. After that, we're stuck with it, of course."
"Do you have to touch an animal to learn its shape?"
He nodded. "That's how we choose. But if a dragon can touch anything and assume its shape- and change over and over..." His voice trailed off. "Yeah. It's going to be awfully difficult to spot them,"
Keller said. The tension in the air had been somewhat discharged by talking, and she felt a little calmer. At least she could talk without the words sticking in her throat.
But Galen wasn't helping. He leaned closer, peering down at her scroll. "I wonder if it says anything else, anything about how to identify... wait. Keller, look down here at the bottom."
To do it, she had to bend her head so that his hair brushed her cheek. "What?"
"Horns, something about horns," he muttered almost feverishly. "You're better at translating than I am. What's this word?"
" "Regardless'? No, it's more like 'no matter.'" She began to read. " 'But no matter what form it takes, a dragon may always be known-'" " 'By its horns,'" he chimed in, reading with her. They finished together, helping each other. "'A dragon has from one to three horns on its forehead, and in some rare cases four. These horns'"-both their voices rose-" 'which are the seat of its power are most cruelly removed by the witches who capture them, to steal from them the power of changing.'"
They both stopped. They kept staring at the parchment for what seemed endless minutes to
Keller. Galen was gripping her wrist so hard that it hurt.
Then he said softly, "That's it. That's the answer."
He looked up at her and gave her wrist a little shake. "That's the answer. Keller, we did it; we found it."
"Shh! You're going to wake up the whole house." But she was almost as shaky with excitement as he was. "Let me think. Yeah, that guy Azhdeha could have had horns. His hair was all messy, covering his forehead, and I remember thinking that was a little strange. The rest of him looked so neat."
"You see?" He laughed breathlessly, exultantly.
"Yes. But-well, do you have any idea how hard it would be to try and take off a dragon's horns?"
"No, and I don't care. Keller, stop it, stop trying to dampen this! The point is, we found it. We know something about dragons that can hurt them. We know how to fight!"
Keller couldn't help it. His exhilaration was infectious. All at once, all the bottled-up emotions inside her started to come out. She squeezed his arm back, half laughing and half crying.
"You did it," she said. "You found the part."
'It was on your scroll. You were just about to get there."
"You were the one who suggested we look at the scrolls in the first place."
"You were the one-" Suddenly, he broke off. He had been looking at her, laughing, their faces only inches apart as they congratulated each other in whispers. His eyes were like the woods in summertime, golden-green with darker green motes in them that seemed to shift in the light.
But now something hike pain crossed his face. He was still looking at her, still gripping her arm, but his eyes went bleak.
"You're the one," he said quietly.
Keller had to brace herself. Then she said, "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Yes, you do."
He said it so simply, so flatly. There was almost no way to argue.
Keller found one. "Look, Galen, if this is about what happened in the library-"
"At least you're admitting that something happened now."
"-then I don't know what's wrong with you. We're both shapeshifters, and there was a minute when we sort of lost our objectivity. We're under a lot of stress. We had a moment of... physical attraction. It happens, when you do a job like this; you just can't take it seriously."
He was staring at her. "Is that what you've convinced yourself happened? 'A moment of physical attraction?'"
The truth was that Keller had almost convinced herself that nothing had happened-or convinced her mind, anyway.
"I told you," she said, and her voice was harsher than she'd heard it for a long time. "Love is for weak people. I'm not weak, and I don't plan to let anything make me weak. And, besides, what is your problem? You've already got a fiancée. Diana's brave and kind and beautiful, and she's going to be very, very powerful. What more could you want?"
"You're right," Galen said. "She's all those things. And I respect her and admire her-I even love her. Who could help loving her? But I'm not in love with her. I'm-"
"Don't say it." Keller was angry now, which was good. It made her strong. "What kind of prince would put his personal happiness above the fate of his people? Above the fate of the whole freaking world, for that matter?"
"I don't!" he raged back. He was speaking softly, but it was still a rage, and he was a little bit frightening. His eyes blazed a deep and endless green. "I'm not saying I won't go through with the ceremony. All I'm saying is that it's you I love. You're my soulmate, Keller. And you know it."
Soulmate. The word hit Keller and ricocheted, clunking inside her as it made its way down. When it hit bottom, it settled into a little niche made especially for it, fitting exactly.
It was the word to describe what had really happened in the library. No stress-induced moment of physical attraction and no simple romantic flirtation, either. It was the soulmate principle.
She and Galen were soulmates.
And it didn't matter a bit, because they could never be together.
Chapter 14
Keller put her hands to her face. At first, she didn't recognize what was happening to her. Then she realized that she was crying.
She was shaking, Raksha Keller who wasn't afraid of anyone and who never let her heart be touched. She was making those ridiculous little noises that sounded like a six-week-old kitten. She was dripping tears through her fingers.
The worst thing was that she couldn't seem to make herself stop.