He would never shake free of Jaenelle Angelline. So she would help cut the ties between the former Queen of Ebon Askavi and the Warlord Prince who, otherwise, would remain trapped for years, possibly decades. Oh, the Queens would snub him for a while, but in a year or two, they would realize it was better to have a Warlord Prince attached to a woman who could be what he needed. And while he would suffer a little because of the accusations of infidelity, she had no doubt, with the help of her family, she could restore his reputation.

And then he would look at her the way he had once looked at Jaenelle.

FOUR

1

“Let me see if I understand this,” Jaenelle said.

Surreal turned away from the window. The gray day and the sleet that would make a mess of all the roads matched her mood, but she did her best to bury wounded feelings as she approached the couch where Jaenelle sat bundled in a nightgown and robe, her legs stretched out under a quilt.

She looks better, Surreal thought. Oh, far from well and still so fragile, but better than she’d looked a few weeks ago when Surreal had come back to the Hall to spend a few days with the family during Winsol.

“You and Falonar have decided to go your own ways,” Jaenelle said with a patience that made Surreal wary.

She shrugged. “It was a mutual decision.” The bastard.

“Uh-huh. So you packed your bags—”

“It was his eyrie,” Surreal cut in. “I certainly didn’t want to live there.” And I didn’t want to watch him courting Nurian in ways he never thought to court me.

“—and left Ebon Rih without telling Lucivar.”

“Who would have strung Falonar up by the heels”—or by the balls, which might have been interesting to watch— “before having a little chat.”

“No,” Jaenelle said, “he would have waited for Chaosti to show up, and then he would have strung Falonar up by the heels.” She paused. “Maybe by the heels.”

Which just confirmed why Surreal had slipped away from Ebon Rih before Lucivar had time to notice. As the Warlord Prince of Ebon Rih dealing with a Warlord Prince who was his second-in-command, Lucivar would have been nasty and explosive. Chaosti, the Warlord Prince of the Dea al Mon and a kinsman on her mother’s side, would have approached Falonar with the protective viciousness that made Warlord Princes such a deadly facet of Blood society.

Dealing with the male relatives she’d acquired since coming to Kaeleer was so much fun.

“And you entered the Hall through one of the side doors to avoid seeing Daemon, who’s working in his study and would have met you before you got out of the great hall.”