Page 95 of Blood of Ancients

I worked my tongue inside my mouth, parsing through the information.Perhaps it’s Magnus’ bloodrending that has kept him masked from the elves?“So you have been watching this man?”

Jhaeros nodded.

“He was not the disturbance you felt?”

He nodded again.

I tilted my head. “Then . . . whowasthe disturbance? Who is this doppelganger you speak of?”

Jhaeros snorted, pointing at me.

No, not at me . . . past me.

“You should know, Prince, since she matches the visage of that doppelganger, sure as the Twins of Norrin’s Pass.”

I spun around to see who he was pointing at.

All eyes were on Arne Gornhodr, who looked frightened at the attention.

I blinked at Arne, then at Ravinica.

“Tell your shapeshifters to get the ears right, next time,” Jhaeros said with a gruff, humorless chuckle.

Chapter 26

Ravinica

CORYM AND THE WOODelf leader seemed confused by each other. Corym spoke the elven tongue in a graceful, lovely way. This other man—Jhaeros, I believed he was called—had a more jarring, guttural speech pattern. Though I didn’t understandwhatthey were saying, I understood bewilderment easily enough. It spoke on both their faces.

When their conversation concluded, and all eyes turned to Arne, I felt some confusion of my own. My mates looked around, brows furrowed and cheeks scratched.

I hated feeling clueless about what was going on.Is Corym negotiating on our behalf? Is he giving Arne as a sacrifice—as a fuck-you to Arne for getting him put in the Vikingrune jails? Or for betraying me in the first place?

I had to know.

Grabbing Corym’s hand once Jhaeros turned to discuss with his hunters, I said, “What’s going on?”

“There’s a lot to talk about,” he murmured, facing our group.

“The important parts first. Why was everyone looking at Arne?”

The iceshaper gulped as we glanced at him.

Corym said, “Jhaeros speaks of a ‘doppelganger’ who looks like him. A woman who is here. I don’t think their usage ofthat word is correct, or perhaps I translated incorrectly. I’m assuming he means she looks like us. Elves.”

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