Shalador's Lady

“Oh,” she said. “All right.”



As Ranon let them out of the room, he heard her muffled sob.



He closed the door as quietly as he could, but he’d barely taken a step before Cassie’s door opened and Gray stood there.



He knew about Yaslana’s rules concerning Gray and Cassie’s physical relationship. Hell’s fire,everyone knew about Lucivar’s rules. But he wasn’t going to ask where Gray was sleeping tonight.



Gray looked down and smiled. “Hey, Khollie.”



Khollie wagged his tail and whined softly.



“We’re going downstairs,” Ranon said.



Gray nodded and closed the door.



When they reached the back door, Khollie stood in the doorway, trembling.



*Khollie?* Vae joined them. *Are you going outside? I have to go too. We will go together. Ranon will guard us.*



“Yes, I will.” He put an Opal shield around the backyard. Nothing would get in—or out—without him knowing about it.



He stood in the doorway, watching, and didn’t turn when Gray came up behind him.



“I told Cassie that Khollie woke up,” Gray said. “She wants to cry by herself for a little while.”



“Shira is crying too.” Maybe it wasn’t fair to ask, but there was no one else he could ask. “Will Khollie be all right, Gray?”



Those green eyes held too much knowledge. Then Gray said, “We’ll help him be all right.”



CHAPTER 25



EBON ASKAVI



Saetan sat on the wide arm of a stuffed chair and watched a storm gather in one of the Keep’s sitting rooms.



The first warning of trouble had been the two Warlords who arrived at the Keep a couple days ago. They wanted passage through the Gate in order to return to Dharo—and they brought the body of another man.



The second warning had come in a note from Daemon yesterday, requesting his presence at a meeting. Official, careful wording. Not a message from son to father but from Consort to Steward.



When Jaenelle was pissed off about something, she didn’t seem to remember that she no longer had an official court.



And no one was ballsy enough to remind her. Including him.



The third warning was Daemon’s note to Draca, asking the Keep’s Seneschal to accommodate several overnight guests.



Saetan wanted to believe the meeting was being held at the Keep to accommodate Lucivar, who still felt uneasy about leaving Marian on her own for too long. But when the others began to arrive, he knew why Jaenelle had chosen the Keep: It was the Sanctuary—and lair—of Witch.



Jaenelle and Daemon arrived first. She wore a cobwebby, spidersilk dress known as Widow’s weeds, and her Jewel was mostly Gray with streaks of Red and Sapphire—and a single thread of Black. Daemon wore a face that revealed nothing of his thoughts or feelings. He wasn’t there as Jaenelle’s husband or Consort or as the Warlord Prince of Dhemlan. He was in that room as the Queen’s weapon.



Lucivar walked in. “Cat, what’s this—” He looked at Daemon’s face and didn’t finish the question.



Sabrina came in next, tense and nervous, followed by Aaron, Morghann, and Khardeen.



Four of Jaenelle’s childhood friends,Saetan thought as he watched Sabrina greet the others.Four people who had served in Witch’s First Circle. Will they still be friends when this discussion is over?



Jaenelle sat on a half sofa across from several chairs. Daemon sat beside her, his right arm stretched out over the sofa’s back, looking calm and lazy.



Saetan watched the way Lucivar prowled the room without ever turning his back to Daemon and felt a shiver of fear.



The women sat. Aaron and Khardeen remained on their feet, tense and alert.



Then Karla walked into the room.



“Kiss kiss. Sorry I’m late.” She made her way to the chair closest to Saetan’s. “I was trying to undo an . . . incident . . . that turned a large white cat into a bright pink and blue cat.”



A flash of warm humor from Jaenelle flowed through the room. “Did you fix it?”



“When I left, KaeAskavi was an evenly tinted mauve cat—and he wasnot happy.”



That produced a few chuckles, but the humor quickly faded as all their attention focused on Jaenelle.



“I received a letter from Cassidy yesterday,” she said. “I felt you should all know what happened and that we should come to an agreement about what will—and will not—be done.”



She called in the letter and handed it to Daemon. Lucivar immediately came around to the back of the sofa to read over his brother’s shoulder.



Daemon read the letter and handed it to Khardeen. That beautiful face revealed nothing, and there was nothing Saetan could detect on a psychic thread, even at the level of the Black. Daemon had his emotions tightly leashed.



But the room grew cold.



Lucivar, on the other hand, began swearing softly, viciously in Eyrien as he resumed his prowling.



Hot anger. Cold fury. The room filled with temper as, one by one, the friends who had been First Circle in the Dark Court at Ebon Askavi read Cassidy’s letter. Finally Karla read it and passed it to him as he called in his half-moon glasses.



How many times did Cassidy write that letter before she achieved sentences that were so carefully honest? She didn’t accuse anyone of anything. She didn’t offer opinions or feelings. She didn’t report anything that hadn’t been witnessed. She didn’tsay Kermilla had given the order, but there wasn’t a single person in the room who couldn’t read between the lines. The only break from that control was Cassidy’s excessive assurances that Khollie was still a little frightened because of the incident but they were confident that he would recover completely.



Which meant there had been some doubt that Khollie would recover at all.



“What in the name of Hell is going on there?” Khary said.



“This wasn’t Cassie’s fault,” Aaron snapped, instantly ready to defend his cousin.



“I didn’t say it was,” Khary snapped back. “But something should be done.”



“Nothing will be done,” Jaenelle said quietly. “At least, not by us.”



Daemon stiffened. Nothing anyone else would notice, but Saetan had been keeping a wary eye on him and saw the change.



He knows something. Or suspects something. But his tongue, like his temper, is held by the Queen’s will, and he’ll tell us nothing.



“What is Kermilla still doing in Dena Nehele anyway?” Sabrina snarled.



“You were aware she had gone to visit Cassidy?” Jaenelle asked.



“And aware of her mistreatment of a servant while she was a guest there. Believe me, that will weigh heavily in my decision about whether she’s going to continue rulinganything in my Territory.” Sabrina paced back and forth behind the chairs. “But that happened in early summer. We’re into the autumn harvest now. What’s she still doing there?”



“Causing more trouble?” Khary suggested.



“Khary,” Morghann said in quiet warning.



“Don’t hush him, Morghann, he’s right,” Sabrina said. “Kermilla has no business being there, and it’s past time to go to Dena Nehele and haul the bitch’s ass home.”



“No,” Saetan said. “You can’t take action outside of your own Territory, Sabrina. That line was drawn thousands of years ago, and it does not—cannot—change.”Because that was the line Dorothea and Hekatah crossed in their efforts to take control of the whole Realm of Terreille. As much as I love all of you, for the good of the Realms and the Blood, I will kill any one of you who tries to cross that line.



He glanced at Jaenelle and saw the way Witch looked at him. Looked through him.



And if it came to that, she would expect me to do nothing less.“Besides,” he continued. “Kermilla is, and has been, Theran Grayhaven’s guest these past few weeks, not Cassidy’s. If the Queen of Dena Nehele wants Kermilla out of her Territory, it’s up to her to take care of it—and her First Circle has the strength to do it without help.”



“Cassidy’s too polite,” Sabrina snapped at him, then turned to Jaenelle. “They have a history. You know that.”



Jaenelle’s sapphire eyes held Sabrina. A moment passed. Two.



Saetan wished fiercely that he was privy to that psychic thread and knew what passed between the two women. Becausesomething had surprised Sabrina enough to drain the Dharo Queen’s temper.



“Are you asking me to be blind to what’s happening?” Sabrina asked.



“Outside of your own borders, yes,” Jaenelle replied. Then her lips curved in a sharp, chilly smile. “Would I ask you to be blind to what’s happening within your own borders? Never.” She considered. “Almost never.”



Four Queens who began ruling at a young age—as soon as they had made the Offering to the Darkness, in fact. Each one was capable of great compassion—and of being totally ruthless. Saetan watched them, certain that in these few seconds of silence they had reached an agreement of how they would work together to achieve a desired resultwithout crossing that unforgivable line.



As curious as he was about what had passed between Sabrina and Jaenelle, he was equally certain that hedidn’t want to know what the four Queens had decided to do. And maybe, if he was lucky, he wouldn’t have to know. After all, he was supposed to be retired from the living Realms.



And the sun might shine in Hell tomorrow.



*Coward,* Daemon said softly on a Black spear thread.



A hint of humor, of relaxation. The Queen’s weapon would not be needed tonight.



“The Warlord who acted on Kermilla’s orders came from Dharo?” Sabrina asked thoughtfully.



“That’s the assumption, since he didn’t come from Dena Nehele,” Jaenelle replied.



“And the body was brought back to Kaeleer,” Saetan said. When they all stared at him, he lifted an eyebrow. “Draca opened the Gate for them. If you think anyone is more qualified to decide who may use the Gate here at the Keep, then you can take it up with her.”