“It’s my pleasure, Lady Surreal.”

Wanting to send the right message to the rest of the staff, Surreal moved briskly through the corridors of the Hall, heading for the rooms where visitors were met, which included Daemon’s study.

“Holt?” she called when she spotted Sadi’s secretary walking toward the door that led to the senior staff’s work area and his office.

Holt reversed direction, passing the open study door as he approached her. He offered Surreal an amused smile and tipped his head toward the door. “Important affairs to discuss.”

“Oh? Whose?” She nodded when Holt’s smile widened. “Of course. I should have known she’d pounce on him the moment he walked through the door.”

“Actually, I got to pounce first and point out the stacks of paperwork that Lord Marcus and I agreed most urgently required the Prince’s attention. The young Lady had to run down from the playroom in order to see him.”

“Since you’ve both had a chance at him, now it’s my turn.”

Holt bowed and, once again, headed for his office.

Surreal approached the study door. Since no one else was in the front hall at that moment, she wrapped herself in a sight shield. It wouldn’t prevent Daemon from knowing she was there, but she wanted a moment to see him with Jaenelle Saetien without the girl spotting her.

“I did them the way you asked,” Jaenelle Saetien said.

Surreal stepped into the doorway far enough to see them—Daemon sitting in his chair behind the desk, one arm around the girl, who leaned against him.

“You did an excellent job preparing these requests. You’ve included all the information I need to make an informed decision, which is the kind of decision a father wants to make.” Releasing his daughter, Daemon reached for a pen.

“You should sign them properly, like you do the papers for Holt,” Jaenelle Saetien said.

“Quite right.” He signed three papers on his desk. “Should I add my personal seal as well?”

Jaenelle Saetien grinned. “Yes!”

Surreal watched man and girl as they worked together to melt a stick of red wax and apply the seal Sadi used for his personal correspondence. She was about to drop the sight shield and step into the study when Jaenelle Saetien said, “Papa? Are you angry with Mama and me?”

Daemon set aside the seal and the remainder of the wax stick and put his arms around his daughter. “No, I’m not angry with either of you.”

“You didn’t come home with us.”

“Your uncle Lucivar needed my help.” Daemon gently brushed the hair away from Jaenelle Saetien’s face. “And there was another reason I didn’t come home with you. I thought it was a small thing, but it wasn’t. It isn’t.” He hesitated. “I haven’t been well, witch-child.”

“You’re sick?”

Surreal felt her daughter’s alarm like a knife between the ribs.

“Not sick the way you mean, but I haven’t been well. It’s going to take a while before I’m well again. That means a couple of times a month I’ll have to spend some time at the Keep. That’s where a special kind of healing can be done.”

“Can I come with you?”

Daemon shook his head. “This kind of healing needs to be private.”

“Are you better?”

“I am.”

“Does Mama know?”

Surreal dropped the sight shield and stepped into the study. “I know enough, but your father and I have some things to discuss.”

Daemon met her eyes, then turned his attention back to the child. “Witch-child, could you and Morghann take a short walk?”

“Yes, Papa.” Jaenelle Saetien looked around. “Where is she?”

“Morghann,” Daemon said quietly. “Kindly oblige me.”

The Sceltie walked around the desk, gave Jaenelle Saetien a small tail wag, and followed the girl out of the room.

Surreal closed the door and approached the desk, noting that Daemon remained seated—and watchful.

“You are better,” she said. “I can feel the difference—just like I felt the difference when you began the decline into . . . this. I wish I’d said something.”

“I understand why you didn’t.”

“Do you?” What do you think you understand? “We have things to discuss, but your attention is required elsewhere for the next few hours.”

Daemon looked at the stacks of papers on his desk and smiled wryly. “I noticed.”

She felt like she was walking across a frozen lake, with the ice cracking beneath her feet with every step and the shore a long ways away. One wrong move and she would break through and go under—and never find her way back to safe ground.

“Jaenelle Saetien has been joining me for dinner these past few days, but if you prefer not to listen to chatter, I could have her eat in her room tonight.”

“I’d like her to join us. Besides, after listening to the yappy horde, listening to one child should be easy enough.”

“Don’t count on it. She’s been waiting to tell you everything she did during her stay with her cousins.”

His laugh sounded genuine, so she asked the question she really wanted to ask. “Will you stay with me tonight?”

A heartbeat of hesitation before he said, “It will be my pleasure.”

“Then I’ll let you deal with some of this, and we’ll see you at dinner.”

Leaving the study, Surreal met up with Jaenelle Saetien and Morghann as the two returned from their walk. Morghann headed straight for the study door. When it didn’t open, she lay down in front of it and sighed.

“Come on.” Surreal put an arm around her daughter’s shoulders. “We’ll see your papa at dinner.”

As they went up to the family room, Surreal felt Sadi’s words gather weight and settle around her heart. “It will be my pleasure.” A Consort said that to a Queen. Sometimes he meant it. Other times it was an acknowledgment of duty.

Genuine pleasure or simply duty? She wasn’t sure which way Sadi had meant the words.

* * *

* * *

Daemon stood under the shower, letting the hot water pound some of the tension out of his neck and shoulders. He’d been glad to have Jaenelle Saetien as a chatty buffer at dinner. While he’d been dealing with avalanches of emotion—his own and others’—his girl had had a good time with her cousins. Unfortunately, in the middle of describing one of her adventures, she lobbed a question at him he would have preferred to ignore.