“I’d better see that the rest of the coven gets their rings.” Jaenelle picked up the bag that held the other ring boxes, then hesitated. “Do you really have to leave tomorrow?” she asked a little plaintively.

“Duty calls,” Karla said with a smile. She waited until Jaenelle left the room before adding, “And Uncle Saetan made it quite clear that no excuse for staying would be considered acceptable.”

All the Queens were returning to their home Territories. So were the First Circle males. Lucivar was taking his family and the other Eyriens to Ebon Rih. Surreal and Wilhelmina would go with him as well. Andulvar and Prothvar were already on their way to Askavi, and Mephis had left for his town house in Amdarh.

She understood why Saetan was clearing the Hall. They all did. By tomorrow afternoon, all the friends Jaenelle had used as buffers would be gone. Her only human companions would be the High Lord, who, Karla was sure, was going to make himself scarce, and Daemon. The Consort would have a clear field in which to woo his Lady.

“May the Darkness help us,” Karla muttered as she strode to the door and threw it open. Then she stood in the doorway and stared.

Lucivar, Aaron, Chaosti, Khardeen, and Morton smiled at her.

“Well, well, well,” Lucivar crooned. “Look who we found.”

Trying to return the smile, Karla said weakly, “Kiss kiss,” and sincerely hoped it wouldn’t take Jaenelle long to activate the other rings.

CHAPTER TEN

1 / Kaeleer

After spending two weeks in Ebon Rih, Surreal returned to the Hall, took one look at Daemon, and went hunting for Jaenelle.

She finally tracked Jaenelle down—actually, Graysfang tracked down Ladvarian, who was with Jaenelle—in a part of the Hall so far away from the family’s living quarters that it practically guaranteed no one would think to look there.

Jaenelle stepped out of a room and noticed Surreal striding down the corridor. Her face lit up with pleasure. “Surreal! I didn’t expect you back so—”

Surreal grabbed Jaenelle’s arm and hauled the younger woman back into the room. “This is girl talk,” she growled at Graysfang and Ladvarian. “Go water some bushes.” Then she slammed the door on two startled, furry faces.

“Surreal,” Jaenelle said, shaking free of the hard grip, “did something happen in—”

“What in the name of Hell are you doing?” Surreal shouted.

Jaenelle looked wary and baffled. “I was reading.”

“I’m not talking about what you were doing five minutes ago. I’m talking about Daemon. Why are you doing this to him?”

Jaenelle flinched and said defensively, “I’m not doing anything to him.”

“That’s exactly the point. Damn it, Jaenelle, he’s your Consort. Why aren’t you using him?”

In the flick of a moment, she saw a defensive young woman change into an angry Queen.