Finally, Saetan sighed. “I gave up my claim to Dhemlan last year when I decided to remain here at the Keep. The Queens there no longer have to answer to me.”

“But they know you. They’ll listen to you. Hell’s fire, Father. Things are shaky enough between Jaenelle and Daemon. If these rumors—”

“I beg your pardon?”

He felt that whiplash of icy temper and winced. “You’ve visited them at the Hall often enough,” he hedged. “Surely, you’ve noticed . . .” Oh, shit.

Saetan shook his head. “My apologies, Lucivar. I have no right to lash out at you for saying something I don’t want to hear. Daemon came too close to sliding back into the Twisted Kingdom when he thought Jaenelle died. If he loses her now . . . I’m not sure what would happen.”

“You know what will happen,” Lucivar said. “You were in that camp in Hayll. You know what it’s like to dance with the Sadist. He played out a game with illusions, but with the right provocation, he’s capable of doing things like that. He’s capable of doing anything. You know that.”

“Yes, I know that,” Saetan replied too softly. “After all, he is his father’s mirror.”

For a moment, Lucivar couldn’t breathe. The deliberate reminder that a place called Zuulaman no longer existed was a caution about dealing with the man who sat on the other side of the desk—and a warning about the other man who wore Black Jewels. After all, Daemon was the reason he didn’t fear Saetan. When it came down to it, the Sadist could be a more elegantly vicious enemy than the High Lord of Hell would ever dream of being.

“What do we do?” Lucivar asked.

“We wait.” Saetan paused, then added, “And we hope.”

4

He was naive. It was the only explanation for why he was standing in a meadow on a spring afternoon feeling overdressed and feet-deficient.

Of course, being flanked by a huge cat and a small dog while enclosed by a circle of unicorns could make any man feel . . . out of step.

Then the unicorns shifted, making an opening in the circle. Jaenelle stepped through the opening, flanked by Moonshadow, the Queen of Sceval, and her mate, Mistral, the Warlord Prince of the unicorns. Behind them came the Priestess, who had agreed to do her best to say words that would be meaningful to humans while she stood as witness to the “mating” of Kaeleer’s Heart to Prince Daemon Sadi.

Thank the Darkness, none of them expected him to consummate the marriage in front of these witnesses.

Jaenelle’s eyes brimmed with amusement as she took her place beside him. On his left.