Chapter One

He stood, looking out of the window, his gaze cast over the city he had so recently made home. It was a night much as any other night had been, spent cloistered within his rooms, left to his own devices. A meal would be brought up; he'd dispose of it, and return the empty dishes to the hallway to be removed.

In a sense, he felt akin to a prisoner, though he could leave at any time. The only thing that kept him from doing so was himself.

He knew why he hadn't just up and left, why he hadn't just thrown it all to Shabranigdo and left the sparkling White City of Saillune: Amelia. After all was said and done, after everything that he'd quietly stood to the side and ignored, it all faded away when she smiled at him.

"When was the last time you saw her, Jedah?" The voice came from behind him, a softly spoken question that he had not wished to hear.

The voice, he didn't mind, however, and Jedah turned to look to Zelgadis. "She's been gone a fortnight. Business in Slidell," Jedah replied, crossing to Zelgadis and offering his hand in greeting.

Zelgadis regarded Jedah's hand for a moment, and lifted an eyebrow pointedly, taking the offered hand. "Since when did you stand on ceremony with me, Jedah?" He pulled, the unexpected action causing Jedah to stumble into him, catching him in the brotherly embrace that he had expected.

What neither Jedah nor Zelgadis had expected was for Jedah to cling in reaction, to shudder for a moment and then go still as he spoke. "I haven't seen her in a month, Zelgadis. We passed in the hallway and she smiled to me briefly, but that's all."

Zelgadis' heart sank. If that was the case, then Jedah likely didn't know that… "Jedah," he said, pulling back and away from the man who was older, but looked so much younger. "We should go. This is no place for you, cooped up like a jeweled bird, languishing away without company. Come home with me. Lina will be happy to see you."

Jedah's gaze flickered to Zelgadis for a moment, and a slow dreading comprehension washed over him. He heard what Zelgadis had said. He'd heard the words that Zelgadis hadn't said as well. It explained so many things, why he hadn't seen Amelia for more than the passing greeting, why she'd avoided him for the better part of a year.

Amelia had a Consort, and it was well past his time to go.

Magic swept out, dissolving the décor, the illusion of a living inhabitant fading away to nothing. A spare few things remained, and he swept them into his hands with a thought. Glancing over them, he considered. They were trivial things, bits and baubles that would mean nothing to the casual observer. He pocketed them and looked to his hand.

The star sapphire ring that he had been given the day that Amelia took the throne still glinted as new. It was a symbol of office, a signet that identified his rank within the Royal Entourage. But he hadn't needed it for more than a year. He hadn't been asked to act in his official capacity, so the signet had carried no weight, no bearing. It was simply a star sapphire that he had chosen to wear as a symbol of the promise he'd given the young woman in Krimzon.

It meant nothing now.

As Zelgadis watched, Jedah quietly removed the ring and brought the gemstone to his lips. He closed his eyes, kissed the stone, and dropped the ring into the palm of his hand, crushing the stone and the gold together, a flare of his power weaving up and around, twisting it, changing it.

When Jedah lowered his hand, the stone had changed. Instead of a simple star sapphire, it was a golden star buried within the blue of the stone. With careful and deliberate movements, he placed the stone on the floor in the center of the room, leaving it to be discovered by whatever frightened servant was sent within the room.

"I've spent three years in this tower, Zelgadis. Three years learning how to live as humans live." Jedah looked up and offered the faintest hint of his old smile. "No matter the ups and downs, I have to say that it was as beautiful as that gemstone."

"Are you leaving that as a message?" Zelgadis asked, looking to the stone that Jedah's power had touched. "As a way for her to contact you if she needs to?" Was it as the way that he had done with the stone that he had sent to Lina through the bouncing youth he'd thought his brother?

"No, not that stone," Jedah replied, a hint of sadness within his voice. "It's my gift to her, yes. But it is not a method for her to find me, for her to cast a spell and call me to her side." He walked back to Zelgadis and ran his fingers through his hair, the old gesture giving Zelgadis a momentary smile.

"When the stone comes into her hands, and it will come into her hands, the magic within it will bring her a happiness that I couldn't give her, Zelgadis. Memories of the two of us will fade gently, and eventually I will fade from her memory completely. It's the last happiness that I can give her."

Zelgadis stared hard at Jedah for a moment and then shook his head. "Are you certain you want to do that, Jedah? To take away everything that you were to her? Is that wise?" In his eyes, Jedah was reacting much the way a heartsick lover might, not that it surprised him much. He'd known that Jedah had fallen in love with Amelia., even though they all knew that it couldn't be.

"It is as it is, Zelgadis. Let's go." Jedah extended his hand, allowing Zelgadis to show him the way to where he had made a home with Lina, turning his back on everything that he'd held dear for those three years: Amelia.

He didn't feel Zelgadis' magic sweep the stone along after them.