She stopped signing, hands motionless once more, and gazed trustingly up at Honor.

Strange how all of them have their own “accents”, Honor thought almost absently, then gave herself a mental shake, castigating herself for hiding behind extraneous thoughts.

She could see why another human in Samantha’s place—assuming any human could have been there—would have hesitated to explain that in such detail to Hamish. Honor herself still had no idea how the hopeless yearning she and Hamish felt could ever be assuaged, how the impossible might somehow be made possible. And if that could never happen, then telling him it was the pain caused by his love for her which had drawn Samantha to him might contaminate the adoption bond with the same hurt and unhappiness. Her ability to taste Samantha’s mind-glow and those “emotional sidebands” she’d mentioned to Hamish and Emily told her that the adoption bond was independent of whatever she and Hamish might feel for one another. That it wasn’t the specific cause of Hamish’s pain which had brought his mind-glow into such acute focus for Samantha, but only the fact of that pain’s existence. But Hamish lacked that sensitivity. He would never be able to taste the absolute proof that Samantha’s bond to him was completely independent of Nimitz’s bond to Honor or the complex emotional tension between himself and Honor, and Samantha knew that. Which was probably only to be expected out of someone who was also a memory singer, Honor knew. Yet even after all these years, she was both surprised and deeply touched by Samantha’s sensitivity to humankind’s alien codes and concepts and emotions… and her determination not to hurt Hamish on their sharp, bitter edges.

Now it was up to Honor to protect him, as well, and she looked up from Samantha to meet his waiting gaze.

“She says,” Honor Harrington said, “that the tension you and I have been under made your mind-glow stronger. Strong enough that she really ‘saw’ it for the first time.”

“It did?” White Haven sat back in his chair, surprised, then smiled slowly, and Honor tasted the many levels of bittersweetness inside him.

“I see,” he said, looking at her, not aware even then that his very heart was in his eyes for Honor—and Emily—to see. “Well, if it brought us together,” he said, “however inconvenient the timing, I can’t help feeling at least a little grateful.”

Chapter Fourteen

“DAMN.” The Twelfth Earl of North Hollow, said the single word quietly, almost calmly, but there was nothing at all calm about the look in his eyes. He managed not to glare obviously across the huge expanse of Mount Royal Palace’s Queen Caitrin’s Hall, but only because he knew every eye which wasn’t watching the liveried chamberlain by the door prepare to announce the latest arrival was riveted to him.

“Her Grace Admiral Lady Dame Honor Harrington, Duchess and Steadholder Harrington, and Nimitz!”

The huge chamber’s advanced sound system carried the announcement to every ear without the need for anything so crass as bellowing, despite the fact that Queen Caitrin’s Hall was big enough to have hosted at least two basketball games simultaneously. The chamberlain’s voice wasn’t intrusive enough to interrupt ongoing conversations, but conversations broke off throughout the Hall anyway. A wave of sudden quiet, almost a hush, rolled outward from the entry as every guest became aware of the tall, slender woman who had just stepped through it.