“I, too, have orders now — of a sort,” I said. “I had best be moving.”

“And I will get back to the sea,” said Gerard.

“No,” I heard Dara say as I was moving toward the door.

I halted.

“You are to remain here, Gerard, and see to the safety of Amber herself. No attack will come by sea.”

“But I thought Random was in charge of the local defense.”

She shook her head.

“Random is to join Julian in Arden.”

“Are you sure?” Random asked.

“I am certain.”

“Good,” he said. “It is nice to know he at least thought of me. Sorry, Gerard. That’s the breaks.”

Gerard simply looked puzzled.

“I hope he knows what he is doing,” he said.

“We have been through that already,” I told him. “Good-bye.”

I heard a footfall as I left the room. Dara was beside me.

“What now?” I asked her.

“I thought I would walk with you, wherever you are going.”

“I am just going up the hall to get some supplies. Then I am heading for the stables.”

“I will go with you.”

“I am riding alone.”

“I could not accompany you, anyway. I still have to speak with your sisters.”

“They’re included, huh?”

“Yes.”

We walked in silence for a time, then she said, “The whole business was not so cold-blooded as it seemed, Corwin.”

We entered the supply room.

“What business?”

“You know what I mean.”

“Oh. That. Well, good.”

“I like you. It could be more than that one day, if you feel anything.”

My pride handed me a snappy reply, but I bit it back. One learns a few things over the centuries. She had used me, true, but then it seemed she had not been entirely a free agent at the time. The worst that might be said, I suppose, was that Dad wanted me to want her. But I did not let my resentment on this interfere with what my own feelings really were, or could become.