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He reached into the box for the steak pie "The food needs to be war him

"Daemon, why don’t you say what you need to say? The food will settle better on an easy stomach--and an easy heart"

He removed his hands from the box and slipped them into his trouser pockets He wanted to hold her, but he chose to keep the table between them

"I am my father’s son," he said

She tipped her head "That shouldn’t come as a surprise to you, Prince You’re more than his son You are your father’s s I’ve done, that wasn’t as clear to ht"

He took a deep breath, then let it out slowly He and Lucivar had taken shifts, one standing watch while the other rested, and during one of those vigils, as he replayed that dance with Saetan, he’d acknowledged a difficult truth

"Last night I saw the man who had destroyed an entire race, and I understood soe is in me, Jaenelle, in a way it’s not in Lucivar I a what Saetan did to Zuularief or insane rage before I ht provocation, I could do what he did"

"I know"

That stopped hi back on his heels When he’d first h himent Had she known then, at twelve, the depth of his temper, his potential for violence?

Probably

"And yet you love me," he said, "despite what I am"

Jaenelle walked around the table and took his face in her hands "No, Daemon I love you because of what you are Because of all that you are Right now, you’re feeling rahich is understandable, and you’re shining a light on one truth about a co the rest So I’ll see the whole of who you are and not let you shine a light on one part for too long"

He wrapped his arms around her "Do you kno much I love you? How much I need you?"

Her arms twined around his neck "Why don’t you show rowled

"--after breakfast?" she finished, laughing

They ate, they slept, theyup the remainder of the food for a y was quite brilliant In case you ondering"

"Strategy?" Jaenelle said, setting two plates on the counter in anticipation of si Lucivar draw that particular line"

She gave hie that would remind hiet him to the border, but that reminder is what Saetan would need to take those last steps out of the Twisted Kingdoood bluff, threatening to toss Daemonar into the library unsupervised and let him at the books"

Jaenelle dropped the silverware "What? Lucivar said what?"

Daemon turned away from the stove and studied Jaenelle’s pale face

"That was your bluff, wasn’t it?" Dae out of his head

"I would never threaten Papa that way"

"Hell’s fire"

"Dae by the stove The nextbeside him

"That wasn’t your idea?" he asked weakly

She shook her head

"Lucivar is Eyrien"

"I know," she said

"He wears Ebon-gray"

"I know"

"He doesn’t bluff"

She plopped on the floor beside him They sat there for several minutes before she said, "Did Saetan think it was a bluff?"

"I’ht, as I did, that you had told Lucivar to say that"

"Oh"