“Oh, yes,” Aaron said. “Although, I was surprised to see him. The pack tends to stay in the north woods when there are strangers here.”

“The pack? What kind of dog is he?”

“He’s not a dog. He’s a wolf. And he’s kindred.”

Wilhelmina jumped and gave the wolf a frightened look. “But…aren’t wolves wild animals?”

“He’s also a Warlord,” Aaron said, ignoring Wilhelmina’s question.

Surreal felt a little queasy. She’d heard about the kindred, who supposedly had some kind of small animal magic. But calling him a Warlord…“You mean he’s Blood?”

“Of course.”

“Why is he in the Hall?”

“Well, offhand, I’d say he was looking for a friend.”

Hell’s fire, Mother Night, and may the Darkness be merciful, Surreal thought. What did that mean? “I guess he’s not really wild then. If he’s in the house, he must be tame.”

Aaron gave her a feral smile. “If by ‘tame’ you mean he doesn’t pee on the carpets, then he’s tame. But then, by that standard, so am I.”

Surreal clamped her teeth together. Screw small talk. In this place, it turned into verbal quicksand.

She echoed Wilhelmina’s sigh of relief when they reached a stairway. Hopefully the dining room wasn’t too far away and she could put some distance between herself and her escort. Escorts. Whatever.

Shit.

Maybe Khardeen would be in the dining room. He was a Warlord, which made him an equal caste, and her Gray Jewels outranked his Sapphire, which gave her an advantage. Right now, she wanted an advantage because she had the strong impression that, of her two escorts, the one with the more impressive set of teeth was really the less dangerous one.

Surreal stared at the closed wooden door and wished she’d done this before eating. The thick beef and vegetable stew had been delicious, as had been the bread, cheese, and slightly tart apples, and she’d consumed them with enthusiasm. Now, her tightened stomach was packing that food into a hard ball.

Snarling quietly, she raised her fist to knock on the door. Hell’s fire, this was just a required meeting with the Steward of the court…who now had the authority to control her life…who was also the Warlord Prince of Dhemlan…who was also the High Lord of Hell…whose name was Saetan Daemon SaDiablo.

“Rrrf?”

Surreal looked over her shoulder. The wolf cocked his head.

“I think you’d better stay out here,” she said, giving the door one hard rap. When a deep voice said, “Come,” she slipped inside the room, closing the door before the wolf could follow her.