“Oh, dearest!” She embraced me. “For your sake, I already love him. I suppose when we have a pleasant home with a hypocaust wing, I shall endure him well enough, and you and I shall have a private parlor with a stove where he is not allowed to enter.” She laughed. “Cat! Your expression is quite confounded. He and I understand each other. The important thing is that he knows he has to maintain my good opinion, as he showed this morning. I respect his intellect and his rare and potent magic, which he has worked very hard to achieve. I do think he is a good man, and in ten years he may be bearable and in twenty he may even be likable.”

“I suppose I deserved that for asking!” I said.

We both laughed, and I left her.

Rory, Vai, and I passed through Arras Gate, Vai leading the horse, and made our way down the boulevard toward the Lady’s Island and the river.

“Nothing like family to keep you on your toes,” remarked Rory.

Vai smiled in the irritating way he had when all his ill temper had dissolved as mist under the sun because he had gotten what he wanted. “Do you miss your family, Rory?”

“Me? Yes. But it wasn’t to last, you know. Mother was already starting to look around for another mate. When she chose one, he would have driven me out, and I have no brothers to go a-roaming with. It’s a lonely life to hunt alone. I like it here just fine. You’re my brother now, Vai.”

“So I am, Rory.” Vai slipped a hand into the crook of Rory’s elbow so they walked arm in arm. His easy, affectionate camaraderie with a man he trusted made me fall in love with him all over again.

They talked for a while of inconsequential things.

“You’re quiet, love,” Vai said at last, releasing Rory’s arm and pulling me over next to him.

“Andevai, do you like Bee?”

Rory snorted. “That is a question I would tremble to answer were I you! For myself, I find her annoying, managing, and bossy. But I’m accustomed to such behavior from females.”

Vai let go of my elbow and took my hand, just as if we were a courting couple in Expedition. “I love her like a sister. I realize her good opinion matters more to you than that of anyone else. She accepts that you love me. So she and I understand each other well enough. Why are you laughing, Catherine?”

I did not explain.