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temperature as my skin.”
    She frowned as she balled her hand into a fist to warm it. “Are you always so cold?”
    A tic started in his jaw. “Aye, little mouse. Always.”
    Without another word, he led her back down the hallway to the end where two doors opened into what must have been a grand hall at one time. It was clean, but dark gray like the rest of the castle. A large, shiny, black round table was set in the center of the room, where it held precedence. Intricately carved black chairs were placed around it every few inches.
    Like Kerrigan, it was both beautiful and sinister.
    Staring at it, she wondered if it was the table of legend. “Is that—”
    “Nay,” Kerrigan interrupted quickly. “This is le cercle du damné. It is similar to Arthur’s Round Table, but very different.”
    “How so?”
    He pulled a chair out for her where one of the places at the table was set with trencher, food, and a golden goblet. “Have a seat, Seren.”
    She did as he bade.
    “Drink.”
    “But my goblet is empty.” The words had barely left her lips before wine appeared in it. She looked at it suspiciously.
    An amused light seemed to dance in Kerrigan’smidnight eyes. “There is no spell in your food, mouse. You may eat and drink in peace.”
    Still, she hesitated as she sniffed at the scented wine. “Can I trust you to be honest with me?”
    “Nay, you cannot. Ever. But in this, I do not lie. Eat without fear.”
    There was far too much food for one person to consume. “Would you care to join me?”
    Kerrigan looked longingly at the food before he shook his head. How he wished he could sample that fare, but he hadn’t tasted food in countless centuries.
    He moved to the other side of the table while she began to eat.
    She was strangely beautiful as she gracefully cut her roasted lamb and brought it to her lips. She closed her eyes as if to savor the flavor of it. Her manners, unlike his, were flawless. When he’d first come here, he had eaten with his hands like a savage. Morgen had been repulsed by him. It was why food could no longer sustain him.
    “We shall have to find something to nourish you that you can ingest without disgusting me.”
    Morgen had done much to change him from the man he had once been. Indeed, he didn’t even recall being human anymore. At least he hadn’t until he saw the trusting fool before him. She touched something inside him, and he wasn’t sure what it was.
    She paused in her eating to look up at him. “Am I doing something wrong?”
    “Nay, why do you ask?”
    “You watch me so intently that it makes me nervous.”
    He shook his head at her guileless words. “You should never tell someone when they make you nervous, little mouse.”
    “Whyever not?”
    “It gives them leverage against you since they know how to make you uncomfortable.”
    “Or it gets them to cease the behavior that causes the discomfort.”
    He scoffed at that. “You are terminally naive, aren’t you?”
    “I wouldn’t think so. I only believe that most people will do the right thing whenever they can.”
    Aye, she was a naive little chit. “I am of a differing opinion. I only have faith in people taking advantage of any situation to serve their own purposes.”
    “And what advantage do you have with me here, eating your food and dressed in your gown?”
    “You are my prisoner. My advantage is your presence here. I am using you to get what I want.”
    “And what is it you seek?”
    “Arthur’s Round Table.”
    Seren frowned at him and his quest. “Why do you want it?”
    He had no business answering her question, but what harm could there be? It wasn’t as if she could do anything to stop him and it wasn’t as if Merlin didn’t know exactly why the table was important to them. “It holds at its center a great magic. One that when combined with other sacred objects iscapable of rendering its wielder invincible. With it here, there would be no one who could stop us from ruling the earth.”
    He