We open the chapter to find out that Shan and Quen have both given fake excuses to leave court, when in fact they’re out to kidnap Sandry.  Shan so he can marry her, and Quen so that he can help Shan into the disgrace he so clearly seeks.  After all, with Shan married and out…

After Tris’s flying leap down the stairs, a healer comes in to tend to her, and several pages are spent describing the process.  Which, while boring for me to write about, does a fair job in the story of building up tension.  After talking about the matter and getting a report from the healer, it’s…

The next morning, Daja and Rizu have to go to see Sandry to find out what happened, because they’ve been so wrapped up in each other that they’re still clueless.  Sandry gets in quite a tiff because Daja wasn’t “available” when she called and then levels some pretty nasty, pointed comments at Rizu.  Which…well, of…

Briar plays a game of hard-to-get with Caidy, which he’s cool with because flirting is fun, until it goes on long enough to be exasperating and he thinks “yeah, never mind, I just remembered trauma.”  Which…seems out of the blue, but I really like it, because that’s about how it happens.  Hanging on to what…