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"It's my bed," I noted. "And you sent me on an errand that very much required clothing."

Her hands glided over my breasts, cupping and caressing them. "That's the wrong answer to the wrong question."

"What's the right question?" I asked, half-breathless.

Jehanne smiled at me, unlacing the ties of my bodice. "Oh, I don't know. There are so many questions one could ask, aren't there? But I'm quite sure that your answer is yes. Don't you think so?"

It struck me that despite her tantrums and tears earlier, I'd managed to get Jehanne in a good mood—and her good moods were infectious. I'd won a measure of trust from her. I could no longer smell Raphael's scent lingering on her skin.

And she was mine for the whole night.

All these things made me happy.

"Oh, yes." I put my arms around her neck and kissed her. "Yes, and yes, and yes!"

* * *

CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE

The Longest Night came and went without seeing my father's ü return.

That was the only shadow that dimmed my enjoyment of the festivities and the weeks leading up to them. Noemie d'Etoile gave me repeated assurances and told me not to worry, and I tried not to.

I kept up my lessons with Master Lo Feng and I tended to his Camaeline snowdrops, keeping their frail song alive.

I had the first test of my service as a royal companion when Jehanne informed me that she wanted to see Raphael again before the Longest Night.

"Just once," she said calmly. "That's all I'm asking. I swear to Elua, just once. I want a chance to tell him why I can't see him again. I want to enjoy the last time knowing it's the last time. At least until…" She shrugged. "Who knows how long?"

"Did you discuss it with his majesty?" I asked.

Jehanne shook her head. "I was hoping you would. If you believe me, he's more likely to believe it, too." She searched my face. "You do believe me, don't you?"

I sighed. "I do. I'll speak to him."

Only in Terre d'Ange, I thought, would a man's wife send one lover to ask her husband's permission to bed another lover. But despite my discomfort with the mission, the King didn't seem to find anything odd about it. He invited me to sit in his study and heard me out.

"Do you believe her?" he asked when I'd finished. Jehanne knew her husband well.

"I do," I said. "She's trying very hard to be honest."

King Daniel drummed his fingers on the arm of his chair at length, then gave a curt nod. "Once. And I don't want to see her afterward." He shuddered. "You've got me thinking about his goddamned scent."

So it was arranged.

I thought Jehanne would pass the night with Raphael since their assignation wasn't a secret, but in the small hours before dawn, I was awakened when her guards escorted her to my chambers. I kindled the lamps and admitted her.

"I didn't want to be alone and I didn't know where else to go." There were shadows under her eyes. "Isn't that absurd?"

"No," I said softly. "Raphael… ?"

"He didn't want me to stay." Jehanne wrapped her arms around herself, shivering. "He said it hurt too much."

I was silent, remembering the two of them riding together the day of the hunt, heads leaning toward one another, her silver-gilt and him tawny-gold. The bright sunlight gleaming on them in benison. They looked so well together. I'd been jealous of both of them. And I wanted to ask her if it were worth it; but then I remembered too the immense tenderness in her voice when she'd spoken to King Daniel after Lianne Tremaine's poetry recital.

She loved them both.

But she'd wed the King.

I wanted to go to her, but I wasn't sure it was what she wanted. I folded my hands in my lap. "What can I do?"

Jehanne's starry gaze met mine. When she spoke, her voice sounded small and lost. "Hold me?"

I helped her undress and get into bed, and held her. It felt as though I held the whole history of their stormy, turbulent affair in my arms. I breathed in her scent and his, mingled. She shivered against me. I breathed the Breath of Ocean's Rolling Waves, deep and rhythmic. I breathed in tumult and breathed out calm.