He’d intended to pretend ignorance, which would have been a lie, but he looked into Khary’s eyes and realized they stood on a point of no return. Whatever conclusions Lord Khardeen had reached about what had happened last spring, and why, had been reason enough for him to offer a hand in friendship again. But if that offer of friendship was repaid with a lie, it would never be offered again—and Khardeen had enough weight with the rest of the boyos to bring him back into that circle of friendships . . . or leave him outside of it forever.

Daemon held out his left hand and dropped the sight shield he’d placed on the gold band to keep it hidden. “How did you know?”

Khary leaned forward to admire the ring. Then he grinned. “Did the same thing with mine when I first got it. Couldn’t quite believe it was really there.” He rose and gave Daemon’s shoulder a friendly squeeze. “So that’s what you were doing in Sceval this afternoon.”

Feeling awkward, and not liking it, he shrugged. “We wanted to get married. But we are going to have the formal wedding.”

“Damn right you are.” Khary studied him. “Is there a reason for keeping this secret?”

Daemon felt himself going cold and fought against it. This wasn’t the time or place for that sweet, deadly rage. But soon. Soon. “There’s some . . . trouble . . . in Amdarh. It could shift to Jaenelle if our marriage became public knowledge.” He wasn’t sure when that realization had bloomed, but he trusted his instincts. “I’ll take care of it.”

“If you need help, you’ll let me know?” Khary asked.

He nodded.

“Well, then.” Khary rubbed his hands together. “Why don’t we join the Ladies?”

Jaenelle’s amused, guilty look when he and Khary entered the sitting room told him she’d had no better luck keeping their secret from Morghann than he’d had keeping it from Khardeen.

Khary looked at the two women and grinned. “So. Are we going to talk about the wedding that will take place or the one that did take place?” His eyes shifted to Daemon. “Because we were wondering why you were having so much trouble sitting through dinner.”

Jaenelle snorted.

Daemon sighed, and muttered, “I backed into a unicorn.”

Morghann burst out laughing. “Oh, we’ve got to hear the details.”

So Khary and Morghann heard the details, and the evening ended with laughter—and the warm sense that he was back among friends.

TEN

1

Daemon drove the Coach back to Dhemlan. He didn’t have much choice, since Ladvarian, who had driven the Coach to Sceval, had announced that he and Kaelas would meet them at the Hall. He usually didn’t mind driving, but he’d anticipated talking Jaenelle into tucking into bed for the journey. And they would have gotten some sleep.