She laughed.

“It makes a beautiful picture,” she began. “Little Jasra and the Prince of Darkness —”

“Don’t try to change the subject. Think how embarrassing that is for a grown man — his mother sending demons to look after him.”

“The singular. It was just one demon, dear.”

“Who cares? The principle’s the same. Where do you get off with this protective business? I resent —”

“The ty’iga probably saved your life on more than one occasion, Merlin.”

“Well, yes. But —”

“You’d rather be dead than protected? Just because it was coming from me?”

“That’s not the point!”

“Then what is the point?”

“It seems you just assumed I couldn’t take care of myself, and —”

“Well, you couldn’t.”

“But you had no way of knowing that. I resented your starting with the assumption that I needed chaperoning in Shadow, that I was naive, gullible, careless —”

“I suppose it would hurt your feelings if I said that you were going to a place as different from the Courts as that Shadow is.”

“Yes, I can take care of myself!”

“You weren’t doing that great a job of it. But you are making a number of unwarranted assumptions yourself. What makes you think that the reasons you gave are the only possible ones for my taking such an action?”

“Okay. Tell me that you knew that Luke was going to try to kill me every April thirtieth. And if the answer is yes, why didn’t you just tell me?”

“I did not know that Luke was going to try to kill you every April thirtieth.”