Hell’s fire, he shouldn’t be having this much trouble with a card game. It was just a variation of the game “cradle” that Jaenelle had played as a child. All right, it was twenty-six variations of “cradle.” He still shouldn’t be having this much trouble winning a round. But there was something a little off about this game, something that defied rational thinking. Male thinking.

A game board with colored stones and bone discs with symbols etched on one side. A hand of cards. And the convoluted interaction between them. He could picture the coven sitting around on a stormy winter afternoon, putting this game together piece by piece, building one variation off another, adding bits from other games distinct to their own cultures, until they had created something that was pure torture for the male brain. He particularly despised the wild card game because the player in control of the board when the wild card turned up could call for a different variation—which could turn a good hand and game plan into garbage.

There had to be a way to turn that to his advantage. Had to…

Continuing to shuffle the cards, Daemon studied the game board carefully, studied the stones and the bone discs. Thought about how each piece could interact with the other pieces—and the cards.

Yes, that would work. That would work quite well.

“Which variation do you want to play?” Jaenelle asked as she placed the stones and discs in their starting positions.

Daemon gave her the smile that used to terrify the Queens in Terreille. “Variation twenty-seven.”

Jaenelle just frowned at him. “Daemon, there is no variation twenty-seven.”

He dealt the cards and purred, “There is now.”

11 / Kaeleer

She was so young, Surreal thought as she studied her mother. I had thought of her as being so big, so strong. But she’s smaller than me…and she was so young when she died.

Titian tucked her feet up on the window seat and wrapped her arms around her knees. “It’s good you’ve come to Kaeleer.”

Surreal stared out the window. But the night-darkened glass didn’t show her anything but her own reflection—and that made her think of the questions that had gone unanswered for too long. “Why didn’t we come here before?” she asked quietly. “Why didn’t you go home after you got away from Kartane?” She hesitated. “Was it because of me?”

“No,” Titian said sharply. “I chose to keep you, Surreal. I had to fight against my body’s instinctive rejection of a child conceived by force, and I chose you.” Now Titian hesitated. “There were other reasons not to go home then. If I had, your life would have been easier, but…”