And she did love him. She did. So why should that beautiful, virile man be trapped playing nursemaid to a woman who no longer had any use for him? Why should he spend the next few decades sitting by a sickbed, reading aloud to a lump of flesh? Or, worse, why should he have to hide his revulsion if Jaenelle Angelline still wanted something sexual from him?

She’d fallen in love with Daemon the first time she’d seen him over a year ago. He had come to Amdarh with Jaenelle to shop for Winsol gifts and attend a few parties before returning to SaDiablo Hall to celebrate Winsol with their family and Jaenelle’s First Circle. It had made sense that he would have agreed to be Jaenelle’s Consort. At the time, she’d been the Queen of Ebon Askavi—the most powerful Queen in Kaeleer. Every strong, ambitious male who had been trained for a consort’s duties had wanted to wear the ring Daemon had worn on his left hand. But Daemon, beautiful Daemon, had won that coveted position.

And no wonder. He’d looked at Jaenelle as if no other woman existed—or would ever exist. And when they danced together, every move he made was a prelude to the bedroom dance, a promise of what he could offer in private. Even when it was a dance that required several couples, you could see him bank that sexual heat when he turned to another partner, could watch it flare as soon as his hand touched Jaenelle’s.

An exquisite male. The kind of male that made all the others seem lacking in some essential.

She would have waited for him to be free of his contract. After all, the five years he was required to serve in Jaenelle’s court was nothing to someone who came from one of the long-lived races. Once his contract was completed, he would have been free to look elsewhere for a lover. She’d even tried to join the Dark Court so they could be together in some way. But the letter she’d received from the Steward made it clear there were no plans to expand the Dark Court to accommodate all the Blood who were offering to serve.

Then there was all that talk of a war between Kaeleer and Terreille, and news of fighting in other Territories. And then there was that unleashing of power unlike anything the Blood had ever experienced. When that power faded, the war was over, the Blood who had threatened Kaeleer were destroyed—and the Queen of Ebon Askavi was gone.

But not Jaenelle Angelline. Despite being hideously wounded, she’d survived somehow. Instead of grieving a few weeks for the loss of a Queen before moving on, Daemon was chained to a cripple who was still adored by the Queens and Warlord Princes who controlled the other Territories in Kaeleer.