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‘What happened to the people who started the rebellion?’
    Gerd looked ahead. A gleam from the setting sun caught his black head, summoning a lick of blue fire. For a few seconds Rosie allowed herself to examine his profile, hungrily taking in the bold, angular outline. A potent little thrill burnt through her. His mouth should have softened his features; instead, that top lip was buttressed by a firm lower one and the cleft square of his chin.
    He said calmly, ‘They are no longer in any position to cause further trouble.’
    This was Gerd as she’d never seen him before, his natural authority tinged with a ruthlessness that sent a chill scudding down her spine.
    He turned his head, and she flushed. His brows lifted slightly, but he said in a level voice, ‘Somehow I find it difficult to see you as an accountant.’
    â€˜Why?’
    â€˜As a child you adored flowers. I always assumed you’d do something with them.’
    She gazed at him in astonishment. ‘I’m surprised you remember.’
    â€˜I remember you being constantly scolded for picking flowers and arranging them,’ he said drily.
    â€˜I grew out of that eventually. Well, I grew out ofswiping them from the nearest garden! But actually, I’m seriously thinking of setting up in business as a florist as soon as I can.’
    He said thoughtfully, ‘You’ll need training, surely?’
    Briefly she detailed the experience she had, finishing, ‘I can run a shop. I have the financial knowledge, and I was left in sole charge often enough in my friend’s shop to know I can do it. I helped her with weddings, formal arrangements for exclusive dinner parties, the whole works. I can make a success of it.’
    â€˜So how are you going to organise things financially?’
    She kept her gaze resolutely fixed in front, but from the corner of her eye she sensed him examining her face. ‘I’ll manage,’ she said coolly.
    â€˜Alex?’
    â€˜No.’ She hesitated, then said, ‘And before you ask, I’m not going to ask Kelt for backing, either.’
    â€˜I refuse to believe your mother is happy about this.’
    He spoke neutrally, but she knew what he meant. ‘She’ll get used to it.’
    He said quietly, ‘You didn’t have much luck with your parents, did you.’ It wasn’t a question. ‘Your father didn’t live in the modern world.’
    â€˜None of us had much luck,’ she returned, forcing a note of worldliness. ‘Yours died early—Alex’s mother too—and mine just weren’t interested in children. Still, we haven’t turned out badly. Perhaps that happy home life children are supposed to need so much is just a myth.’ She finished casually, ‘Like perfect love.’
    â€˜Can you see Kelt and Hani together and believe either of those assumptions?’
    â€˜No,’ she said instantly, ashamed of her cynicism. ‘They are the real thing.’
    Perhaps her envy showed in her voice because he asked rather distantly, ‘Is that what you’re looking for?’
    â€˜Aren’t we all?’ she parried, wary now. She loosened fingers that had tightened on each other in her lap, and gazed resolutely at the streetscape outside. Perfect, eternal, all-absorbing romance was the elusive chimera her mother searched for, restlessly flitting from lover to lover, but never succeeding.
    Was Gerd hoping for that same eternal sense of fulfilment with Princess Serina?
    She could ask him, but the words refused to come, and the moment passed as the car turned into a narrow alley in the older part of the city.
    â€˜Here we are,’ he said without emphasis.
    The vehicle drew up outside the heavy, ancient door of an equally ancient building. People turned to look when the security man, until then a silent presence beside the chauffeur, got out. A doorman moved across the pavement to open the car’s rear