Queen of the Darkness

know. I never picked up the written account. I decided to leave it where it was, out of Dorothea's reach."
    "Do you think you could find it?" Jaenelle asked anxiously.
    "That shouldn't be difficult," Daemon replied dryly as he wrapped his arms around her, suddenly needing to touch her. "He left it with the Keep's librarian."
    "I retrieved it from the Terreillean Keep the first time you came to Ebon Askavi with Jaenelle," Geoffrey said as he handed Daemon a carefully wrapped parcel. "I wondered at the time why you didn't ask for it. What made you think of it now?"
    The question sounded innocently curious, but there wasn't anything innocent about it.
    Looking straight into Geoffrey's black eyes, Daemon smiled. "I just remembered it."
    He didn't unwrap it, didn't look at it. He probed it just enough to make sure there weren't any spells hidden in it that would be triggered if someone besides him handled it. Then he gave it to Jaenelle and spent the next several hours denying access to the Queen to just about every member of the First Circle. That had caused hard feelings but was easy enough. No one but the Steward, the Master of the Guard, and the Consort were permitted free access to the Queen's chambers. Lucivar had taken one look at him and had retreated. Stalling Saetan and Andulvar had been much more difficult, and he sensed it wouldn't take many more polite confrontations to erode their trust in him. Considering Jaenelle's behavior lately, he could appreciate their concern. It still hurt.
    When he finally returned to her, he found her in her sitting room, her arms wrapped around herself, staring bleakly out the window.
    "It didn't help?" he asked softly, resting a hand lightly on her shoulder.
    "Actually, it did. I found the answer. I can't do the same thing they did, but I can use it as the foundation for what I need to do."
    She turned and kissed him with a desperation that frightened him, but he gave her what she needed. For hours, he gave her what she needed.
    When she was finally content just to lie wrapped in his arms, she said, "I love you." And fell asleep.
    Despite being physically and emotionally exhausted, Daemon lay awake a long time—and wondered why "I love you" sounded so much like "good-bye."
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    6 / Kaeleer
    "The Lady changed her mind," Saetan said formally to the Territory Queens who made up the coven. "You and the males in the First Circle are to remain at the Keep, but the other Queens in your Territories may stay where they are."
    "Why are we required to stay?" Chaosti demanded. "Our people are dying. We should be home, preparing to fight."
    "Why did she change her mind?" Morghann asked. "What did she say when you asked her?"
    Saetan hesitated. "The instructions were relayed by the Consort."
    He felt their flickers of anger and their growing suspicion about Daemon. Worse, he had those same feelings.
    "The Queen commands," he said, knowing how inadequate that sounded when they were all receiving reports of fighting in their homelands.
    "That's fine, High Lord," Aaron said coolly. "The Queen commands. But, obviously, no one has informed the kindred of that fact. None of them who are members of the First Circle have to stay at the Keep."
    They all looked at each other as that realization sank in. But it was Karla who finally asked, "Where are the kindred?"
    Saetan watched the drops of rain trickle down the window.
    When Jaenelle had given the order for all the Queens to come to the Keep, he hadn't protested for one reason: Sylvia. He had wanted her in the Keep where she would be safe.
    But now that Jaenelle had changed her mind—or had had it changed for her—he would issue his own orders as the Warlord Prince of Dhemlan and summon all the Dhemlan Queens to the Hall. It was a risk. The Hall didn't have the defenses the Keep had. No place had the defenses the Keep had. But it had been designed to withstand attack, and its defenses were better than anywhere else the Queens might be forced to retreat if the fighting escalated. And it was big enough that the Queens could bring their families with them, bring their children.
    He wanted her safe. And her boys, too, Mikal and Beron.
    Sassy, opinionated, lovely Sylvia. Mother Night, he loved her.
    Even after he realized that the potency of Jaenelle's tonic after she had made the Offering to the Darkness had brought back the hunger of a man—and the ability to satisfy it—he might have resisted becoming Sylvia's lover, might have found the strength