"It might," he said.

Eillean stalled at a sudden spark of warmth in Brot'an'duive's eyes. How did he always know the right thing to say… in the fewest words possible and in the most annoying way?

Emotion had no place in an anmaglahk's life. It clouded judgment in choice and action when both might be needed quickly and without conscious thought. That was the difference between life and death in silence and in shadows. But Brot'an'duive always found a way to goad her.

Eillean stepped into Brot'an'duive's way, bringing them both to a sudden halt.

"Swear to me that no matter what comes-no matter what you must do-you will protect Cuirin'nen'a, and that her vision will be your vision. Swear to me that all she has done will not be for nothing."

Brot'an'duive put his hand upon her shoulder. It slid softly down her arm to her hand.

"I swear," he whispered.

Eillean had lost her bonded mate, Cuirin'nen'a's father, long years ago. His death shattered her, and she had barely clung to life. She was too old now for such things, and still…

She put her free hand on Brot'an'duive's chest and clutched the fabric of his tunic. She did not let go so long as she felt his hand in hers.

Who among the living-even the Anmaglahk-could claim to have never been a fool at heart?

Chapter One

Chap fought for each breath the blizzard tried to rip away, and every step sank him nearly chest deep in the snowdrifts clinging to the cliff's path. Squinting against the wind, he flexed his paws to fight the numbing cold.

His fur and the folded blanket Magiere had tied across his body were thickly crusted, and his vision blurred if he looked up too long at the whitened sky. To his right, a deep gorge fell beyond sight, while on his left, the peak's steep facerose sharply, its upper reaches lost in the blizzard.