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first at the bed frame and then at the wall, but before he made it downstairs, his disorientation was wearing off. No one was in the kitchen, but today, unlike recent mornings, he was behind the crowd and not before. Grumbling beneath her breath, Arachne served him a late breakfast, and Aubrey ate as one just lately awakened from a stupor.
    He was good for very little that day, and neither Orion nor Lilith bothered to make conversation with him at dinner, but by the next morning he was much improved. He came out of bed with a bounce and joined the others at the breakfast table, and much of his old, easy camaraderie had returned to him.
    â€œI asked you once what you did when your husband was gone,” he said to Lilith. “And you said, nothing much. I see why now. His presence certainly changes the place, and his absence leaves one dull and lethargic.”
    She surveyed him with those unlikely eyes, utterly dispassionate. She still made no attempt to guard her tongue with him. “Do you think so?” she said. “I find just the opposite is true. I am much happier when he is away.”
    â€œAh, that can’t be true,” he said heartily, pouring himself another cup of tea and sugaring it liberally. “He so obviously adores you.”
    â€œDo you think so?” she said again.
    â€œAnd you must have loved him once,” he pursued, waving a slice of toast at her before biting into it. “Or why else marry him?”
    The faint mocking smile was back on her pale lips. “Why, indeed?” she said.
    He had seen almost nothing of her while Glyrenden was there, but now he found he had thought about her, for he remembered without needing to be reminded the precise slant of her cheekbones and the rich summer-green of her eyes. He thought it was strange that Glyrenden’s presence in the house had blinded him so completely to Lilith’s existence, but that was exactly what had happened; the wizard had blotted out his wife. There did not seem to be enough room in one man’s head to be mesmerized by both of them, and Glyrenden had been by far the closer these past days.
    But Glyrenden was gone for more than a week, and during that time, Aubrey felt some of his allegiances changing again. He had always been a fairly straightforward young man, quick to like someone and slow to dislike, and he seldom changed his opinion once it was well and truly made up. But with Glyrenden gone, Aubrey remembered that Lilith seemed to dislike her husband; and now that he had met the wizard, it was important to Aubrey to learn why. Although he could not have said why this was so.
    Lilith did not seem to mind that he had ignored her so completely while her husband was home. With her usual mild civility, she accepted his attention again. He played games with her for hours, bringing out the onyx dice and demonstrating how to gamble, carving out a cribbage board and teaching her its rules. When they could not bear Orion’s silent observation, they played children’s card games with him as well. Then they escaped for long walks in the woods, where sometimes they talked and sometimes they were silent. Aubrey thought about it once or twice, but never suggested they make the long trek to the King’s Grove, and Lilith never again mentioned it.
    One day they took the downhill path to the village to buy spices and fruit and cheese. Orion had claimed to be ill with a fever, although Aubrey could feel no heat in his head, and they were nearly out of food.
    â€œHe just does not want to go to the village,” Lilith said, standing beside Aubrey and looking down without much interest at the sick man. She had not lost her habit of speaking in front of the slow-witted giant as if he were not there or was incapable of understanding her. “I’m sure he is perfectly fine.”
    â€œPerhaps, but we can scarcely force him to go if he really does not want to,” Aubrey said.
    â€œGlyrenden