“Okay,” she said after a moment. “Maybe you do. So then, why are you doing this? You know he’ll never have a chance at a normal relationship so long as you’ve got your hooks in him. It might already be too late. All the glamours and magic might have already spoiled him for an ordinary woman.”

“I’m hardly such a catch.”

“What, are you a vampire, too? You can’t look in a mirror? You’re gorgeous.”

Galfreya shrugged. “It’s all in the eye of the beholder.”

“I suppose. Is that why you dress down with the skateboarder gear?”

“I dress to be comfortable.”

“And you’re still not answering my question.”

“I know,” Galfreya said. “I don’t really want to. Sometimes, speaking a foretelling aloud is the very thing that gives it life.”

“Oh, please,” the stranger said.

Her tone was easy, but she couldn’t hide her worry.

“Very well,” Galfreya told her. “This is what I saw: If I don’t keep him close to me, to my court, he will be terribly hurt. Perhaps he’ll even die.”

The stranger swallowed, but the look in her eyes went from worried to determined. “So, what’s the danger? What’s supposed to hurt him?”

“I don’t know. I couldn’t see that. I can only see what I’ve told you.”

“Convenient.”

Galfreya drew herself up.

“So far,” she said, “I’ve responded to your insinuations and poor manners in a calm and polite manner—more for Geordie’s sake, than for yours, I might add. But one more snide comment, and I promise you will regret ever coming here.”

“I’m not scared of you.”

Galfreya smiled, but there was nothing friendly in her smile.

“You should be,” she said.

Then she turned her back on her uninvited guest and strode down the hall, back the way she’d come.

“Wait,” the stranger called after her.

Galfreya paused, but she didn’t look back or respond otherwise.

“Okay,” the stranger said. “So I’m an ass. I came here with a chip on my shoulder. But I’ve been worried about Geordie and from where I stood, it looked like you were the thing I needed to worry about.”

Galfreya turned to look at her.

“Your loyalty is commendable,” she said. “Your manners are not.”

“I’m trying to say I’m sorry, okay?”

“You have an interesting way of expressing it.”

“I don’t mean before. I mean now. My name’s Christiana, by the way.”

“I guessed as much when you said you were Geordie’s sister. He’s spoken of you to me.”

“Really?”

“Yes, he said you were bratty, but it’s part of what he likes about you, the moon knows why.”

“That’s the problem with family—you have to take what’s dealt to you.”