Dontaine swept a courtly bow. "My Queen." Kneeling, he pressed a kiss to the back of my hand. Other men had kissed my hand before when acknowledging me, so I couldn't protest, though I wanted to. Because Dontaine did it differently. His lips caressed my skin with conscious, provocative heat that deepened the green of his eyes to a dark fiery jade. And he didn't just touch me with his flesh. He touched me with his power, a taste of it. A different kind of power than any I had ever encountered. An electric strumming that danced like little shocking jolts upon me. Pleasurable, for the moment, but with the dark promise of pain if it continued.

I removed my hand and he drew back.

"Another Fruge?" I asked coolly.

"Margaret is my mother."

Interesting how he'd answered that.

"And Bernard?"

"My mother's second husband."

"Your stepfather, then."

"Yes, my Queen."

So Margaret had borne two Full Blood children. A precious girl and a powerful warrior. They were a prized family, no doubt favored by their former Queen, Mona Louisa, with their fair coloring so like her own. Dontaine had clearly held her favor, I intuitively knew. Why, then, had Mona Louisa left them here for me?

Dontaine turned his head to my left, looking behind me, and inclined his head respectfully. "Warrior Lord Amber." But when he shifted his gaze to my right, there was some knowledge, some subtle difference in those cat-green eyes. "Warrior Lord Gryphon, a pleasure to see you once again."

"Dontaine," Gryphon replied, his voice bland, and I knew without looking that his body and face were as inscrutable as his tone.

They knew each other. My brow creased as I pondered that. Dontaine had not been with Mona Louisa at High Court. And then it came to me. Mona Louisa had brought Gryphon here to her home when he had bartered his body to her in return for protection for me.