"How do you mean?"
"You, Shairn. You know about my family, my race. I don't have to depend on Keregnac. You'll tell me."
She flung down the bit of driftwood. "Will I?"
"You said last night—"
"I don't remember what I said. And anyway, one says many things at night that sound foolish in the daytime." She stood up. "Perhaps Kerrel was right."
"About what?"
"About you. He made quite a scene when I joined him again. He said a number of things, and some of them were true."
"Such as what?" asked Trehearne evenly.
"Such as that heredity has played a rather cruel trick on you, and that you're better off to know nothing about your ancestry. Get me my robe, Michael, I must go."
But he had reached out and caught her wrist, and his grip was not gentle. "You can't do that," he said. "You can't refuse to tell me now."