"I had searched here and everywhere, but lacked the final knowledge to find the hidden deed. Only Carol had the power to retrieve it, since it was her ancestress who used her magic to safe guard the vellum, where none but those of her own Elven blood could ever gain access. To my everlasting sorrow, I was not present when the need for such secrecy arose."
The look he gave Lisa was speculative. How much did she understand? While she certainly was not Elspeth, who had suddenly returned to him, he had recognized the seeds of an older consciousness, the first time he had laid eyes on the girl. Much of the essence that had long ago been Elspeth was present within her soul and called to his own.
The uruloki wished for him to make her his companion, to share his life on what ever level she chose. Beathan admitted freely that he would favor such a solution. He had come to respect and like the young American, completely aside from her resemblance to her long ago ancestor. But first he must test her. If she fled in screaming terror from his true being, there could be no future for them.
Beathan did not remember a time when hope and doubt warred this mightily in his heart, as it did at this moment when he began his transformation.
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