STAVROK HAD TAKEN HIS leave and night had fallen in the castle. Damon did not reappear.
Luckily, I was considered a valued royal guest, so I was not left to wander aimlessly or lament being alone. The servants showed me up the winding staircase to a cozy suite of rooms. I huddled gratefully beside a roaring fire in the grate, watching snow drift past the windows. The fur throws strewn all over the bed were thick and soft to the touch, and I tugged one over my shoulders while I sat and stared into the flames.
It was quite obvious. Damon was avoiding me.
I rang the bell that had been left for me, and called for a maidservant. It was a matter of minutes before the door opened, and a woman entered. She was a slip of a thing, scarcely older than I was, and she eyed me with poorly disguised a
