Lektra’s seconds, that’s what she got. But what Lektra said was true: being exiled from Ebon Rih six years ago had cost her almost all her social status. It had gotten so bad in Askavi, no man wanted to dance with her, let alone do something more interesting. So she had moved to Dhemlan, but it wouldn’t have been any better if Lektra hadn’t befriended her.

So she put up with the reminders that she owed what social standing she had in Amdarh to Lektra’s efforts on her behalf, and she put up with men who wanted Lektra but made do with her.

Now that Lektra’s interest in Daemon Sadi had ripened into obsession, the Dhemlan witch needed her help, and that worked in her favor. Besides, if they won this prize, she wouldn’t mind taking whatever crumbs were left over.

TWO

TWO

“Oh, Daemon. It’s beautiful.”

The delight in Jaenelle’s sapphire eyes as she picked up the bracelet warmed him and gave him hope. There was so little these days that delighted her.

“Try it on.” He took the bracelet and fastened it around her wrist, painfully careful not to touch the fragile skin—skin he wanted to caress, kiss, lick. The memory of how even the gentlest touch had left hideous bruises whenever he’d helped her move still made him ill. So he didn’t let his fingers brush her skin as he fastened the bracelet, then eased back.

As she held out her arm to admire the bracelet, he no longer saw something beautiful. He saw the shadow the bracelet cast on her skin. Or was it something else?

He stiffened. “It’s not too heavy, is it?” Fool. Idiot. It hadn’t occurred to him when he bought it that having the metal resting against her skin would bruise her. And it should have occurred to him. When he’d brought her back to the Hall last autumn, she couldn’t wear anything but the lightest-weight fabrics, couldn’t have more than a sheet over her in bed. Anything more had left her covered in bruises—and had left him terrified that the constant effort to keep healing the bleeding under the skin would interfere with her overall healing—or even make it impossible for her to ever completely heal.

“No, it’s not too heavy,” Jaenelle said as she lowered her arm.

Daemon winced. By reminding her of how frail she was, he’d spoiled her pleasure in the gift.

When she looked at him, the delight that had been in her eyes was gone. She was gone. She still sat beside him on the couch, but there was a distance between them again that he didn’t know how to bridge.