Page 33 (1/2)

"Why?" Daemon asked too softly

The Queen stareenough to hold hi the boyos riled about so I haven’t even decided to do yet"

It was the first thing she had asked of him, and he wasn’t sure he could do it "What happened seven years ago?"

Her face went death pale, and it took her a moment to answer "Why don’t you ask Lucivar? As he said, he remembers it better than I do"

He waited a few heartbeats Then, "How long do you need?"

Now she looked at Saetan "Would an hour be convenient?"

"It would be our pleasure to reconvene in an hour," Saetan said

"All right," Dae to acknowledge that she heard him, she hurried out of the room

Daemon stared at the closed door, fully aware that Andulvar and Saetan aiting for so to ask him," he said quietly "And if I don’t like the answer, she’s going to have to go throughher lover if that’s what it took to protect her

"You’re not going to like the answer," Saetan said, "but I wouldn’t worry about having to take a stand If Jaenelle decides she’s going into Little Terreille, she’s going to have to go through the whole First Circle to do it Since it isn’t likely that she’ll fight the court that hard over this particular healing, it’s only respectful to allow the Lady the time to reach that conclusion on her own"

"In that case, if you’ll excuseLucivar’s temper"

3 / Kaeleer

Lucivar is unhappy, Ladvarian said as he watched Jaenelle stare at the waterfall and tiered pools she had built in this inner garden several years ago "I want to think, Warlord," Jaenelle said quietly "Alone" The Sceltie shifted his feet, thought a moment, then stood firm He’s snarly and upset and he won’t talk to any of us This particular ser and fear on Lucivar only happened when Jaenelle or Marian did so to upset the Eyrien Since Marian hadn’t done anything unusual--he’d already checked--thatto do so

His lips pulled back in a silent snarl Jaenelle

As she turned to face hi on her hand Saying nothing, she turned it over, set it on the stone lip of the lowest pool, and walked to the other end of the garden

Ladvarian growled softly at the hourglass

The kindred had trouble understanding the way humans carved up a day into these little chunks called hours and h that sometimes human females wanted to be left alone, but, for a while, they had coh Lord and the Lady had lasses because they were easy to understand If the sand was all at the bottoain If it wasn’t, the kindred would go aithout disturbing her

Jaenelle had two sets of hourglasses Each set had an hourglass sized for one hour, a half hour, and a quarter hour Jaenelle used the set ht-colored wood as a request for private time and could be interrupted if necessary Witch, the Queen, used the set lasses were a silent co the dise his Queen, but he had learned that, if nipped sharply enough, Lucivar would lash out And then Ladvarian and the otherto do

4 / Kaeleer

Using Craft, any of the Jeweled Blood would be able to send an ax cleanly through a chunk of wood Lucivar, Daemon decided as he watched the ax co butelse he’d observed since arriving in Kaeleer, told hi in a court was here In Terreille, Lucivar would have picked a fight with another strong ered a vicious brawl that could tear a court apart Here he was venting his te wood that would warm the Hall in the winter days ahead

"She send you out here to keep ain

"What happened seven years ago, Lucivar?" Dae a healing in Little Terreille?"

"You’re not going to talkyou around this I just want to knohy I’ side of h to set the blade into the chopping block

Lucivar called in a towel and wiped the sweat off his face "Seven years ago she had been in Little Terreille,one of those visits that had been a concession to the Dark Council A child had been badly injured, and she was asked to do the healing Whoever set it up did it well The injury was extensive enough that the healing would have left her physically and ht have called in other Healers than the ones in Little Terreille Because if she’d called Gabrielle or Karla for help, awas done, soed, and she was too tired to detect it It h to do what she was told-- and she was told to sign a h Daemon’s veins, sweet and deadlyYou weren’t here You can’t think of it as a betrayal since you weren’t here It didn’tmore than a physical accommodation But a husband "Then where is he?" he asked too softly

Lucivar twisted the towel "He didn’t survive the consummation’’