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something like that in stride. I’m sure he’s feeling very hurt and useless right about now.”
    “But he’s still his son’s father.”
    “But you know as well as I do that semels bond with their fathers and not—”
    “Jin is his father.”
    “I mean, semels bond with their fathers who are semels . So Ilia will naturally relax around Logan, will want Logan. It’s just how it is.”
    “But that’s not to say that Jin isn’t necessary.”
    “No, but if Jin were a woman, he would be giving his son nourishment, but as he’s not….”
    “Oh, I see: what precisely is he doing, then.”
    “Exactly. Nothing. I’m sure he feels utterly worthless.”
    “Poor Jin.”
    “I should probably let Yuri go to him.”
    “Maybe another, instead.”
    Only she and Yuri gave me any counsel—ever. “Crane?”
    “Yes. Just think how the reah must be missing his beset, especially now.”
    “I could never do that to Crane.”
    “Do what?” She eyeballed me. “Take his maahes status from him?”
    “Yes.”
    “But perhaps it will be taken from him if he loses in the pit to Elham.”
    “You just don’t want to have to be the man’s mate.”
    “No, I don’t, but I also don’t want to watch him flay Crane’s skin from his body.”
    “If they’re in the pit together—”
    “It’s not that kind of challenge. He gets to have one of his men fight one of Crane’s. A fight for the position of prince is not done by the maahes and the challenger, but by men that they both pick.”
    “So Crane won’t be in the pit to fight for his position?”
    “Of course not.” She was scowling now. “Have you talked to your sylvan about this?”
    “No, my sylvan’s been too busy disciplining his people and having sex with my hathen!”
    “Your house is in disarray, my lord.”
    “You think?”
    She tipped her head sideways as she regarded me. “May I ask a question?”
    I gestured for her to go ahead.
    “Why do you stay? Why do you remain semel-aten?”
    I didn’t answer because I wasn’t sure what she meant.
    “Domin?”
    “Fate.”
    “I’m sorry?”
    How to explain…. “So I was a semel, and then that was taken from me, but now I am a semel again.”
    From the expression on her face, I could tell she had never considered that before. “But you could step down, release the seat to Elham, and then he wouldn’t go after Crane, he wouldn’t even begin this campaign to usurp you.”
    “Is this your advice?”
    “No, I simply wonder at you. Are you trying to hold onto something that should not be held?”
    It was a very good question.
     
     
    A FTER dinner, I walked through the lower gardens with Mikhail, around the pools, watching the koi swim from one pond to another, and realized how pissed I was at Yuri. How could he keep secrets from me?
    Maybe he didn’t know , Ebere had said earlier.
    Mikhail set me straight, inhaling the night air and all the scents swirling through it. “He knew. I confessed, but I also made him swear to tell no one, especially you.”
    It was a betrayal… and yet I understood. Friends had to be counted on to keep secrets.
    “If you knew, it would have weakened you and the choices you made for her and me.” Mikhail mused.
    “And now what will you do?”
    “I’ll send her back to Boston to finish her master’s degree so she can have the life she wanted.”
    “And never marry her.”
    He shook his head. “This is not where she belongs.”
    “Maybe not three years ago, when her father had her brought here, but people change, and maybe she wants to be by your side. Did you think of that?”
    “She’s young; she doesn’t know what she wants.”
    “She’s twenty-six, Mikhail. My guess is she knows herself all too well.”
    He didn’t want to hear it. I didn’t want to yell, so I let him go to his quarters so they could talk.
    Later, as I sat on the thick stone edge on the balcony of one the sitting rooms on the second floor, I heard movement behind me.
    “May I come out