Daemon left the Queen’s part of the Keep. After tracking down Draca and making a request for refreshments when Lucivar arrived and indicating the preferred room, he went to that room, then called in the latest letters Holt had shoved at him as he walked out of the Hall that afternoon. He flipped through the letters and pulled out one he hadn’t expected.
Before he read the next round of concerns from the Province and District Queens, he would find out what Lucivar had needed to put in a letter.
“Are you sure?” Lucivar demanded. He’d thought that Daemon wanted to talk about the letter and his decision, not about this.
“I’m sure,” Daemon replied.
“A Healer confirmed it?”
Exasperated, Daemon raked his fingers through his hair. “How can a Healer confirm it? I damaged my heart and lungs centuries ago and—”
Lucivar grabbed his brother, swung him around, and slammed Daemon’s back against the wall.
“You’ve known for centuries?” he shouted. “Centuries? And you didn’t tell me?”
“What was I supposed to tell you?” Daemon shouted back. “That I might only live another five or six centuries instead of twenty? Hell’s fire, Lucivar. There’s nothing yet for a Healer to detect, let alone heal. Which isn’t possible, so stop snarling at me.”
“Then how do you know?”
“Jaenelle told me,” Daemon said quietly. “When she healed the damage I’d done by trying to suppress the sexual heat too much. She told me then.”
“And when did you find out that you were going to die young?” Lucivar gave Daemon a shake that thumped him against the wall again. “When?”
“I’m not going to die young. I’m past the age where someone could say I died young. I just won’t be old.” Daemon sighed. “I spun a tangled web after Daemonar conveyed Tersa’s warning to me. The web didn’t show me what I expected, but it made other things clear.”
Lucivar relaxed his hold but didn’t release Daemon.
“I won’t leave you, Prick. ‘Demon-dead’ just means we don’t meet in daylight. I’ll still take care of the family wealth, and we’ll still stand together and do whatever needs to be done for the family and for Kaeleer.”
Lucivar felt his own heart returning to a less frantic beat. “Death ends your marriage to Surreal.”
“It does.”
“And Jaenelle?” It took him a moment to understand the look in Daemon’s eyes. “There is a way for you and Witch to . . . ?”
“There’s a way,” Daemon confirmed. “But not until I’m no longer among the living.”
Lucivar closed his eyes and rested his forehead against Daemon’s. I won’t lose him. Not completely.
“I love you,” Daemon said softly.
“I love you too.” He put his arms around his brother and held on for a long moment. Then he eased back and gave Daemon a lazy, arrogant smile. “But if you’re going to be with my sister again, there is something you’re going to do.”
FIFTY
Jaenelle Saetien closed the book she’d been trying to read and dropped it on the sofa.
Two days ago, the shields that kept her confined to her room had been extended to allow her to walk around the interior courtyard. Since each of those courtyards provided a private outdoor space, this one was for the immediate family. Her father and . . .
“Well done! Fatal blow to the heart. How does it feel to make your first kill?”
. . . Lady Surreal had suites on the opposite side from hers, an arrangement that blended privacy and closeness. Uncle Lucivar and Aunt Marian had a suite on another side of the square, and Daemonar and Andulvar were on the opposite side from them.
Titian’s suite had been next to hers. It had been easy to slip into each other’s rooms and talk and giggle half the night until one of their fathers showed up and tapped on the balcony doors—the signal that it was time to get some sleep.
She’d written to Titian to apologize for what happened at the house party, but Papa had looked sad when the letter had been returned, unopened. He’d looked sad when he’d told her that Titian didn’t want to talk to her or receive any letters, didn’t want to see her for a while. He’d looked sad when he’d told her that Uncle Lucivar had banned her from all of Askavi for two years, which meant she couldn’t go to Ebon Rih to visit Daemonar either.
How could she have known there would be so many consequences to having a house party?
“Maybe it’s more accurate to say that, before your Birthright Ceremony, you were who I might have been if I’d had your childhood instead of mine.”
No, it hadn’t been the house party by itself. All of this was happening because she didn’t stand up for what she knew was right, didn’t honor the promises she’d made to her father and to Beale. Now the penalties for the bad choices she had made continued to pile up, even though everyone had been told the debt had been paid in full.
Kick a pebble, start an avalanche. Uncle Lucivar was fond of that saying. Now she finally understood what it meant.
A knock on the door before Mikal walked in.
Jaenelle Saetien smiled, grateful to have someone to talk to—and then worried about what sort of trouble Mikal might get into for being there.
“Do you have my father’s permission to be here?” she asked.
“Yeah, we do,” he replied, smiling as he opened his coat.
*Saeti!* Shelby squirmed in Mikal’s arms, trying to get down and reach her. *My Saeti!*
Mikal shrugged and set the puppy on the floor. Shelby raced over to her and tried to jump up on the sofa. She caught him before his failed jump ended with him hitting the table and getting hurt.
“Hello, Shelby,” she cooed. “How’s my boy?”
“He’s missed you,” Mikal said. “I brought Breen up to be with Uncle Daemon, and it was time for Shelby to be with you.” He smiled. “But Helene said that if you ignore him in the middle of the night when he has to go out, you have to clean up the mess.”
That explained why she’d been given access to the interior courtyard. She would need to take Shelby outside.
While Shelby settled himself in her lap, Mikal called in the puppy’s things—a bed, toys, and treats—and used Craft to set them against one wall. *Make sure you keep those treats shielded,* he warned.
*All right.* She didn’t want to admit that she was having trouble with Craft. Purple Dusk had been part of the power that had made up her Twilight’s Dawn Jewel, but plain Purple Dusk didn’t feel the same, and her ability to do even simple things didn’t always work anymore.
Since she was pretty sure Shelby hadn’t learned how to air walk yet, she’d just put the treats on a high shelf for now.
“I have to go,” Mikal said. “The Scelties are arriving in a couple of days, and I have to help Beale, Helene, and Uncle Daemon work out where their suite will be located.”
“They’re getting a suite?”
“Yep.” He grinned. “Complete with comfy furniture and a human bed for them to sleep on. I’m not sure what else was on their list of requirements, but since I’m going to be in charge of the Sceltie school here at the Hall, I’m about to find out.” The grin faded. “You need anything?”
She shook her head. “Thanks for asking.”
She thought he was going to say something else, but he smiled and walked out of the room.
A moment later, the Gray lock on the door was back in place.
Having something new to do, she was about to tell Shelby they were going outside to explore the courtyard, but the puppy was asleep in her lap.