“He was carrying out the wishes of her family.”

“She’s a grown woman,” Saetan snarled. “You have no right to make decisions on her behalf.”

“She’s mentally fragile. She doesn’t have the ability to make—”

“Is that how you deal with anyone who doesn’t agree with you?” Saetan’s voice rose to a roar. “You declare them mentally incompetent so you can justify locking them away in a place that revels in violating and torturing them?”

“How dare you!”

“Knowing what I know about Briarwood, I dare a great deal.”

The air whooshed out of her lungs. His eyes were filled with the hatred he no longer bothered to mask.

With effort, she gathered her strength and sat up straight to face him. “I am a Queen—”

“You’re a naive, snotty little bitch,” Saetan replied in a singsong croon that made the words feel like a violent—and violating—caress. “Live a long life, Alexandra. Live a long life and burn yourself out at the end of it so that you return straight to the Darkness. If you don’t, if you end up making the transition to demon-dead, I’ll be waiting for you.”

It took her a moment to understand him. The High Lord of Hell.

“Robert Benedict made the transition,” Saetan crooned, “and he paid his part of the debt that is owed to me for what was done to the daughter of my soul.”

“I owe you nothing.” Alexandra tried to sound firm, but she couldn’t stop her voice from shaking.

Saetan smiled a gentle, terrible smile.

She had to get out of there, had to get away from him. “Since this is supposed to be a court, I think it’s time I talked to this mysterious Queen of yours. The real Queen. In fact, I demand to talk to her.”

He went absolutely still. “It seems she wants to talk to you, too,” he said in an odd voice. “You’ve been summoned to Ebon Askavi to stand before the Dark Throne.”

3 / Kaeleer

With her heart pounding in her throat, Alexandra followed the High Lord down the dark stone stairs. The huge double doors at the bottom of the stairs swung open silently, revealing intense darkness.

She had protested when she had learned that Leland, Philip, and the rest of her entourage had also been summoned to the Keep. Not that it had made any difference. No one had made the slightest indication that they had even heard her protests, let alone might comply with them.

She had also protested when Daemon and Lucivar had joined the High Lord as “escorts.” Now she felt pathetically grateful for the male strength that was guarding her. She had found the Hall frightening, but compared to the Keep, the Hall was just a pleasant manor house.

As Saetan walked forward, torches began to light until only the back of the room was still too dark to see at all.