“I’ll tell you who I will be, very soon. Lady Danfey. And you’d best believe that while the Council might bully unranked Barl Lindin, they won’t dare lift a finger against another ranked mage!”

“Ranked?” Remmie dropped his head into his hands. “Barl, I think that binding must have addled you.” He looked up again. “Handfast yourself to whoever you like, but to the Council and the First Families you will never be ranked. They won’t accept you as one of their own. Why would they, when you’ve broken every rule in the book?”

“You make falling in love sound like a crime!” she said, indignant. “Remmie, don’t you dare be tiresome. I didn’t have to come to see you, you know. I could have stayed on the estate and left you twisting in the wind!”

“Maybe you should have,” he said, slopping too much cherry conserve on a fresh slice of bread. Then he sighed. “You must admit, none of this sounds very likely. A ranked mage, a lord, tumbling head over heels for you?”

Sitting back, she folded her arms. “Such flattery, my dear! If you’re not careful you’ll turn my head.”

“You know what I mean,” he said, folding the bread in half, his boyhood habit. Rich red fruit oozed out of each end. “I’m sure other ranked mages have dallied below them, but none of them handfasted with their fripperies! He’s defying his peers, Barl. He’s defying the Council.” Brooding, he shoved the folded bread into his mouth and bit it in half. Chewed, swallowed, and swiped conserve off his chin. “Was this his idea, too? Like resigning? Or… you know.”

And to think she’d fretted herself sick about him, harrowed by the thought of him fretting for her.

“You mean did I look to seduce Morgan to save myself?”

Remmie blushed. “Of course not. I know you wouldn’t.”

Because she was so irked, she decided to shock him with more truth. “Actually, if you must know, I might have. Since I was feeling quite desperate. Being bound, Remmie?” She shivered. “Never again. I’d rather be dead.”

He was still holding his half-eaten slice of bread. Cherry conserve dripped onto his fingers. “You don’t mean that.”

“Don’t I?” She treated him to a fierce smile. “If ever you’re bound, Remmie, you’ll find that I do. It’s the cruellest, the most inhuman, the most—” She had to clear her throat. “Binding is wicked. And I’ll see an end to it, Remmie. Anyway.” She reached for another slice of bread and began to poke little holes in that, too. Not hungry, just keyed up. “As it turned out, Morgan and I seduced each other.”

Remmie swallowed the rest of his bread, then licked the drips of cherry off his fingers. His expression was muddled between dismay and resignation. And then he heaved another sigh.