“I helped you once,” she said quietly, daring him to deny it.

Too startled to respond, Daemon stared at her. How long had she known he was the one who had given his strength to the Priest the night she had asked for help, the night Cornelia had whipped him? When he realized the answer, he could have kicked himself for being such a fool. How long? Since the first morning in the alcove when she’d made her decision about him.

“I know,” he said respectfully. “I was, and am, grateful for the healing. But this isn’t a wound or an illness. It’s part of what I am. There’s nothing you can do.”

He shivered under her intense scrutiny.

Finally she shrugged and slipped out the door.

Daemon extinguished the candle-light and stood in the musty, comforting dark for a few minutes before going to his room. His secret was in her hands now. He wouldn’t protect himself against anything she might say or do.

A few minutes later, Alexandra’s bell began to ring.

2 / Kaeleer

Saetan looked up from the book he was reading aloud and suppressed a shiver. Jaenelle had been intently studying the book’s cover for the past half hour, with that vague look in her eyes that meant she was absorbing the lesson as he intended but was also considering the information in an entirely different way. He continued to read aloud, but his mind was no longer on the words.

A few minutes later, he gave up and put the book and his half-moon glasses on the table. Jaenelle’s eyes didn’t follow the book as he’d expected. She focused on his right hand, her forehead puckered in concentration while she fluffed her hair.

Ah. While it was difficult to be certain until a witch reached puberty, Jaenelle showed a strong inclination to being a natural Black Widow. It would be a few years yet before the physical evidence was apparent, but her interest demanded that the training begin now.

With one eyebrow rising in amusement, Saetan held out his right hand. “Would you care to examine it more closely, Lady?”

Jaenelle gave him a distracted smile and took his hand.

He watched her explore his hand, turning it this way and that, until her fingers finally came to rest on his ring-finger nail.

“Why do you wear your nails long?” she asked in a soft voice as she studied the black-tinted nails.

“Preference,” he replied easily and waited to see how much she could detect.

Jaenelle gave him a long look. “There’s something beneath this one.” She lightly brushed the ring-finger nail.

“I’m a Black Widow.” He turned his hand so she could see beneath the nail, flexed his finger, and watched her eyes widen as the snake tooth slid out of its sheath. “That’s a snake tooth. The small venom sac it’s attached to lies beneath the nail. Careful,” he warned as her finger moved to touch it. “My venom may not be as strong as it used to be, but it’s still potent enough.”