Reist Devlin scratched his tawny head. So long as I stay away from Chandler's Rock ... I should be fine. My father ... the bloody thane ... will be having conniptions the moment he knows I'm back."
"And your stepmother?"
"Ex-stepmother. My father divorced her after catching us in bed together. The drunken skirt-chaser could not condone his wife doing what he did. Especially with his son."
"I have a bit of a confession. A bitch named Pandeena came looking for me. I told her your life story as if it were mine."
"You're a sneaky son of a slut, Stoneriver. Reist gave him a bemused look and then sobered. They kept saying that you visited your niece ten years ago. Do you know what that was about?"
"I have wondered about that. I suspect it was my mother. Ardala is a true shape-shifter. The story of the curse has always bothered her. So she checks on the family from time to time. Never in the same form twice."
"Any way to know for certain?"
Stoneriver shrugged. I've called out to her, but she's not answering. That's my fault. I screamed at her the last time we spoke. I think she knows I've gone home and she's sulking."
"You've got a strange family."
"Not really. Just mother. Claw is rather normal. We were close."
"And the others?"
Stoneriver's eyes went distant. I suppose I should tell you all of it. You'll be embroiled in it soon enough. I was raised to believe that Fianait and I were twins, but it was a lie. My father had only one youthful indiscretion: my mother. But you know, or should, how difficult it is to resist a yuwenghau's allure. My father's wife was pregnant around the time that Ardala began to lust after my father. She seduced him and got me. Female yuwenghau seldom want to raise their own young, unless a god has sired it. So she dumped me on my father the same night that Sorcha gave birth to Fianait. Sorcha was a good bitch. Kind and forgiving. So she told everyone that I was hers."
"And Fianait? What really happened between you?"
"She was the most beautiful bitch in all the clans. Everyone wanted her. She was fragile. Mind and body both. The yuwenghau allure kicked in at adolescence. I didn't know what I was or what was happening, but all the bitches were throwing themselves at me. Including Fianait, my own sister. The harder they chased me the harder I said no. Fianait became desperate and she went to Ishla's temple for a potion to bring me to her bed. It was not created for what I am; it was created for a normal lycan. The result was that it first drove me mad and then it nearly killed me. But in the meantime I had gotten her pregnant."
"So it's true that you are the grandson of our Liege-God?"
"Yes."
"But you're not a lycan?"
Stoneriver was silent for a long time before answering. I'm not a wolf, I'm a bear."
THE END
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