Lucivar bared his teeth in a smile. “No.”

She gave him a frigid look but kissed his cheek anyway.

Daemon could have cheerfully killed Lucivar for being given that kiss. It was a grumpy, habitual kiss, but still a kiss—which was more than he’d gotten that morning. Since killing Lucivar wasn’t an option—at that moment, anyway—he watched Jaenelle select two slices of pear and a spoonful of scrambled eggs.

As she turned away from the sideboard, Lucivar reached over, jabbed a fork into a hunk of steak, and dumped it on her plate. “You need the meat today. Eat it.”

She snarled at him. Lucivar just sipped his coffee.

“Long night?” Daemon quietly asked Lucivar.

“I’ve had longer,” Lucivar replied with a smile that turned sharp as he flicked a glance at Philip and Leland, then raised his voice just enough to carry. “What about you, old son? You look like you put in a long night yourself.”

“It was interesting,” Daemon said cautiously. He wasn’t about to admit that he and Jaenelle had played cards until, bleary-eyed, they had fallen into bed for a few hours of restless, broken sleep.

Jaenelle snorted. “There’s something a bit sneaky about the positions in variation twenty-seven that give a male so much of an advantage, but I haven’t worked it out…yet.”

Daemon noticed Philip’s white-lipped anger—and he noticed the way Khardeen and Aaron snapped to attention.

“You know twenty-seven variations?” Khardeen asked slowly.

Daemon said nothing.

“Yes, he does,” Jaenelle grumbled. “And that variation is brilliant. Sneaky, but brilliant.” She studied the platter of steaks, selected two more pieces, and headed for the table.

Before Daemon could reach for a plate, Khardeen was holding one arm and Aaron had the other, and they were hustling him out of the dining room.

“We’ll get breakfast later,” Khary said as he and Aaron led Daemon to the nearest empty room. “First, we need to have a little talk.”

“It’s not what you think,” Daemon said. “It’s really nothing.”

“Nothing?” Aaron sputtered, while Khary said, “If you’ve figured out a new variation of ‘cradle’ that gives a man the advantage, it’s your duty as a Brother of the First Circle to share it with the rest of us before the coven figures out how to beat it.”

He just stared at them, not sure he had heard them correctly.

Aaron smiled. “Well, what did you think Consorts do at night?”

Daemon burst out laughing.

2 / Kaeleer

Osvald knocked on Wilhelmina’s door, then stepped back and firmly gripped the carved wooden box with both hands.