“I’ll think you’ll find, Prince Sadi, that those who serve Jaenelle don’t give a damn that there’s no longer formally a court. The Dark Court still exists because she still exists. We still serve—and you’re still the Consort.”

“What’s your game, Rainier?”

“Figured I’d better help you two by providing a distraction. You’re doing a lousy imitation of a quarreling couple. You’re having too much fun. I’m thinking you’re trying to draw out whoever started those rumors. So this should catch someone’s interest.”

The man had a point. They certainly had the attention of everyone in the room. “How did you end up in the Second Circle?”

Rainier grinned. “I was the coven’s dance instructor. The fifth or sixth one the High Lord hired. I wasn’t much older than the girls and had no credentials except a knowledge of, and love for, dancing, but he told me if I could last the hour with them I had the position.”

“And you lasted the hour.”

Rainier nodded. “The Heart of the Realm was in that room. If the personalities and power of the coven didn’t scare the shit out of a man, there was no better place to be. There’s still no better place to be.”

He had a feeling Rainier was more than a dance instructor, but the man wasn’t a rival, and a skilled ally could prove useful right now. “Do you know court dances?”

“I adore court dances.”

“My lead.” Daemon sent a psychic command to the head musician.

When the music changed, he and Rainier broke the steps of one dance and flowed into the other as smoothly as if they’d been partners for years.

Hand to hand. Turning. Circling. Gliding. Watching each other. Restrained sensuality swelling to the point of bursting. He saw the hint of fear in Rainier’s green eyes as the web of desire he was spinning through the dance became a snare for the unwary.

“Mother Night,” Rainier whispered hoarsely. “You must be a mean bastard when you want to hurt someone.”

Daemon smiled a cruel, knowing smile, and crooned, “But you’d let me hurt you, wouldn’t you?”

The sudden tremble in Rainier’s hand was answer enough.

As the dance ended, Daemon leaned in, trapping their hands between their bodies, bringing lips close to lips. “That’s why they called me the Sadist.”

Something was scraping his temper, some feeling in the room that reminded him too much of the Terreillean courts, something that had him teetering a heartbeat away from the killing edge.

But that something wasn’t the man staring into his glazed eyes. This male belonged to his Queen and shouldn’t be harmed.

With effort, he pulled back the seduction tendrils, eased back physically. “Thank you for the dance.”

“My pleasure.” Rainier cleared his throat. “It’s been an education.”