The worst part about attending court was always the waiting around. Before the banquet could begin, each visiting nobleman and woman had to be presented to the monarchs. Flowery words were spoken, gifts and official documents were exchanged, and the whole tedious business took so long that Jon had taken to opening the court an hour before sunset just so they could all eat before midnight. Thayet managed to look calm and regal for the hours of polite exchanges, but after an hour her husband always looked as if his shoes were two sizes too small.

Daine and Numair found themselves waiting in the atrium with the rest of the dignitaries. Usually they avoided this particular honour like it was pox ridden, but tonight they had been ordered to do everything properly. Daine thought longingly of the dark passage which let tardy guests sneak into the main hall behind the tapestries. She couldn't remember the last time either of them had walked into the courtroom through the main doors.

The people around them shifted nervously when they came in, and for a moment every pair of eyes fixed on them. Some of the eyes were hostile, narrowing and looking them both up and down for weaknesses, but most of them were indifferent or even scared. Since the war had ended, noble families had begun sending their sons and daughters back to the court, making the most of the safer roads and knowing that the court would soon be swarming with the young, soft creatures. The squires and knights who had fought their way through the battles looked at them with wide eyes; the squires brought the young ladies drinks and watched them drinking them as if they had never seen a human being that was so delicate and fine. They were so caught up with watching the women that they ignored the men, or perhaps they were disdainful of their soft, cossetted hands. Daine thought about all of her friends who had fought and died, and turned away from the silk-clad nobles. She would have rather come here in her muddy riding clothes than be mistaken for one of them.

"I would have been like that if I'd left." She murmured to Numair, and he followed her eyes to the nobles and laughed.

"I doubt even Lord Sylotol would have managed that, magelet. He's a nobleman, not a demigod."

"I'd like to see the demigod who would try. What a stupid use of power!" She giggled, imagining a shining creature dressed from head to toe in lace and velvet. Numair lowered his voice.

"Well, technically you are a demigod, right? All you'd have to do is put a little effort into it… balance a few books on your head and douse yourself in perfume…"

"Oh, hush!" She shoved at him, trying not to laugh out loud. People were already watching them too closely. "I'm not a demigod."

"No," He said, and raised her hand to kiss it. "You're far more than that, my love."

She blushed, caught off guard by his utterly sincere nonsense. It took her so long to think of an answer that she had to give up, with a rather rueful expression which Numair naturally read perfectly. He caught sight of someone at the other end of the atrium, and started moving through the crowd.

"Aren't you playing, Daine?" He whispered as he paused beside her. "If you surrender now I might be merciful."

"I wasn't expecting…"

"That's the whole point." He laughed wickedly and his fingers brushed against her waist, and then he was gone. Daine caught her breath and glared after him, seeing that he was greeting his old teacher with delight. Lindhall shot a smile at her, which Daine returned before she turned away and searched through the crowd for her own friends. Alanna and Onua weren't there, but she caught sight of someone else and pushed her way through the crowd with delight. Mari grinned widely when she saw her friend, and enveloped her in a hug.

"Why do you get to wear sensible clothes?" Daine demanded after she had freed herself from her friend's leather-clad arms. Mari looked at her rider's uniform happily and gestured around at the other riders.

"We're here to officially return our banners to Corus." She planted her hands on her belt and raised her chin proudly. "I was chosen to be one of the delegates."

"Congratulations." Daine said, warm pride obvious in her voice. After so many months scouting the forests around Tortall the Riders had gained a reputation for their skill, horsemanship and the raw cunning which had lead them through more tight corners than half of the knights could boast of.

Some of them had taken to collecting talons from the immortals they had killed, and their saddle bags were heavy with the silver claws by the time they came home. It was a little disconcerting to see her friends wearing silver claws on chains around their necks; It was a mark of pride to them but a close secret for Daine, wearing her own. She noticed that the claws were a little dull, now that they had been bored through and strung. The badger claw was still as bright and new as it had been the day he had gnawed it from his paw.

"I got your last letter," Daine said, frowning, "But I think I missed the one before that. You said you got hurt but I couldn't work out how."

"The horses took fright and stampeded." Mari shook her head. "I caught a few of them, and they dragged me through a fire pit before I let them go. It was stupid of me to think I could hold them." She unclipped her archer's guard and showed Daine the knot of a scar which must have been a searing burn. Daine whistled sympathetically and showed her some of her own scars, where Ozorne's razor sharp wings had sliced her nearly to the bone.

"I guess we were never going to make it through unscathed." The other girl said with a shrug. "At least we made it through. I'd rather have a scar than a headstone."

They stood silently for a moment, each thinking about the people who hadn't made it, and then Mari shook her head and her eyes lit up like candle flames. "Enough dwelling! What's this I hear about you and Master Salmalin?"

"Since when do you call him that?"

"Since I offered to take some of your lessons for you when you were tired. You gave me a lecture about being more respectful about your wise and terrifying patron."

"You only offered because you thought he was… what was the word you used? Cute?"

"I'm sure you're in a far better position to correct me now, Daine." Mari grinned and leaned closer. "Come on, Daine, you know you want to admit it."

Daine blushed even redder, but she raised her eyes to meet her friend's and gave her a small smile. Mari smothered a delighted cry with her hand and caught her wrist, pulling her into the nook beside the fireplace. "I knew it! I knew you would work it out! Gods, Daine, every time he looked at you I wanted to scream at you for not seeing what was right in front of your face."

"I'm fair sure there was nothing to see. You can't tell me you can read my best friend better than I can."

"Of course I can! I'm smarter than you. And besides, he was trying to hide it from you. Whenever you weren't looking he was like a kicked puppy."

Daine snorted out a laugh and covered her face with her hands. "I was so embarrassed when everyone started telling me they already knew he was in love with me. I felt like such a fool."

"He used to be an actor." Mari shrugged and then added: "But I'd get my revenge, if I was you. No self-respecting lady tolerates that kind of behaviour!"

The other girl pulled a face at her and kicked her feet against the floor, scuffing her new silk slippers with a small amount of glee. "We're playing a game tonight." She said, and tried to explain the rules in a way that didn't make them sound too sordid. Mari listened with a small grin lurking on her face, and then nodded and lowered her voice.

"I've played that game before. It's easy."

"You?" Daine gaped at her friend, who waved a hand in the air regally and then pointed briefly to one of the other riders, and then a second and third. Mari, it seemed, was more playful than picky. She had always been more relaxed around other people than Daine, and the wildmage had envied her for the open, comfortable way the riders lived. They weren't exactly infamous, but the ones who had sworn their lives to the command tended to have their own relaxed code of conduct. She realised that Mari might have been offended by her surprise, so she cleared her throat and asked, "What do you mean, it's easy?"

The girl looked at her steadily. "Well, I mean it's much harder for men to hide what they're feeling than women. You know that, Daine."

Daine wished she could stop blushing. She nodded. "So how does that help me? He wouldn't have suggested this game if he thought I could win like that."

"And he's played it before." Mari mused. She thought for a moment, and then looked sidelong at the other girl. "I have an idea. I'll tell it to you if you tell me everything else."

"Why do you want to know that?" Daine burst out. Her friend shrugged and grinned.

"Talking about it is fun, and I've heard enough gossips telling me the sordid details for me to actually ask you the truth. Do you really turn into animals for him?"

"What? No!" Daine's eyebrows shot up in horror. "Who on earth has been saying that?"

"I don't know, or I'd've corrected them for you." Mari said with a shade of darkness in her eyes. Then she stopped being playful, and took Daine's hands and spoke as one friend to another. "I want to know if you're happy. Not like how the lords are probably asking, or Lady Alanna with her well -meaning rampages. I want to know so I can sleep well at night. So, telling me all the lovely details is really your duty as my friend. You want me to stop worrying, don't you?"

"You don't need to worry." Daine finally gave in and smiled. "I'm very happy."

"Good!" Mari dropped one of her hands so she could lean closer in a pose of rapt attention. "Tell me, my dutiful friend, how exactly is he keeping you happy, and how many times a night does he raise your mournful spirit?"

Daine rolled her eyes and her expression turned wary. "He's very good to me."

"That's a vague nothing-answer if ever I heard one!" – miming disgust – "I swear I will weep myself to sleep tonight in worry, you uncaring friend!"

"Pick one of your riders to comfort you." Daine suggested snidely. Mari laughed.

"Don't change the subject. Talk!"

"What do you want to know? He's very gentle and… well, he was gentle when it was needful, and now it's not, so he isn't. It's more like… when he looks at me sometimes I can see how much he wants me, and it just fills me up from my toes to my chest to see that. It's like a real pain except I know that if he touches me it'll make it stronger, not pain but that feeling that just burns and rolls like the ocean until you want to burst. He makes me feel like that just by looking at me, Mari. So when he holds me I feel it so much more strongly and I can't be gentle, and I can't bear for him to stop touching me for a single moment."

"Dear gods, you are besotted." Mari answered in an awed voice, and then managed a weak smile. "If he can make your knees tremble just by looking at you then you might lose your game after all."

"Mari! After I told you…!"

"Yes, yes. You said he's flirted with other women before and not you. Well, that's fine. You don't flirt, and you look like a blind moth when you try to flutter your eyelashes, so I don't think you'll win by trying to flirt back."

"But that's the whole point!"

"No, the point was to drive him crazy. Make him think of all the naughty things he wants to do with you when he's not allowed to do a single one. I can promise you he'll think more about unlacing your dress than you will about the poems he whispers in your ear. So you just have to make him think about that, and you'll win."

Daine smothered a shocked giggle with her hands. "How do I do that?"

"Be yourself, for a start. He's in love with you, not a court lady. You know how to make him want you."

"Not really. Usually I just start pulling his clothes off and he gets the idea."

"What a clever man." Mari drawled, and started fussing with Daine's dress, pulling it a little lower in places, a little tighter in others, and relacing the corset so that the top loop looked like it might come undone with just a single tug. "There. It's not enough to shock the court, but it's enough for him to notice, I'm sure. Now, this is what I think you should do…"