Soul Whisperer by Jenna Kernan Page B

palms up as if offering herself to the heavens. “No answer,” she whispered.
    â€œThen you must wait for your time, just as I must wait to speak to those who have crossed before us.”
    She tucked her chin to her chest.
    â€œThey died together?” He didn’t want to know the answer but he asked out of respect.
    She regarded him steadily now and he hoped she would tell him it was none of his business. He didn’t want to have one more tragic story of loss in his head. Cesar had seen so many deaths he was weary from the burden of them all.
    â€œMy human mother’s death was accidental. I was ten and got into a nest of white-faced hornets. She scooped me up and ran me to safety. Today it would have been nothing, but back then, well, who ever heard of bee-sting allergies or epinephrine? We were both stung. It hardly affected me, but the swelling closed her throat. She couldn’t breathe and I couldn’t do anything to save her.” She swallowed but her eyes remained dry, which surprised him. “After that it was just me and my dad.”
    She met his gaze and it was hard for him not to flinch or look away from the pain he saw in her eyes.
    â€œHe was murdered two years later in what your kind called The Cleansing.”
    He’d been afraid of this. So it was her father who was the Skinwalker and he’d been killed after the bloody war between their races.
    The Skinwalkers wrongly believed that keeping the balance of nature meant killing men and their protectors, the Niyanoka. The war that followed had beenbloody and long, but after the defeat of their great leader, Fleetfoot, the Skinwalkers had scattered like the animals they were. In time, his people brought the rest of Fleetfoot’s followers to justice. This final blow brought the remaining Skinwalkers to the negotiation table. An uneasy truce had lasted through the century. But neither race trusted the other and his people still did not gather in large communities in order to make it harder for the Skinwalkers to find them the next time. Most were certain there would be a next time.
    She was his natural enemy. How had he let a touch make him forget that?
    â€œHe fought?” asked Cesar, still staring down at the bloodred wine.
    â€œNo. But it didn’t matter. None of your people cared who was guilty or innocent.”
    â€œTimes have changed since then. We have rules against such things now.”
    She folded her arms across her chest and hunched over as if he had punched her.
    â€œI know of your rules. They shot my father out of the sky before my eyes. So don’t speak to me of Niyanoka rules, for I have seen them.”
    His face fell, losing any hint of superiority. “No wonder you hate us.”
    â€œI do. You and all the rest of them. Others of my people have forgotten, but not me. Because I know what lies beneath all those fancy words.”
    â€œIt was war.”
    â€œIt was after the war. The vigilantes just chose to ignore the truce.”
    â€œBecause of the losses we suffered. It took some time to bring them back to their right minds and restore order.”
    â€œStop it. You say you were too young to take part, and I believe you, Cesar. But don’t you dare make excuses for the men who tracked my people down and killed them. And as for the one who shot my father, I remember his face. And I search for him still.”
    â€œBess, you mustn’t talk like that.”
    â€œBecause you’ll hunt me down if I kill him?”
    He nodded. “I’d have to.” He folded one arm over his chest and used it as a rest for his opposite elbow. He rested his chin on his fist. “Was he a raven?”
    â€œHarrier Hawk.”
    â€œI’m sorry for your loss.”
    An uneasy silence followed. None of them were innocent. Not according to what he had been taught.
    â€œIs there anything else you wish to know?”
    â€œHow did you escape them?”
    â€œI had not