his sires presence did not improvematters for Therons visit was most unwelcome at the moment.Heonly half listened to Therons account of some junior diplomatsmishaps in his first posting. Sincethe young fool didnt precipitate a war in that part of Aisen, whybotherrecounting every detail of his blunders? Riodanthought with irritation.Realizinghe was fidgeting, he stood up and walked to a window to stare at thequiet street below. The traffic in this portion of the northdistrict, vehicular or pedestrian, was not as heavy as in the morefashionable sections farther east. Long minutes ticked by beforepassersby or carriages came into view. Riodan sighed, chiding himselffor his impatience. It was still early, and in any case, Dylen hadnot specified the exact time of his visit.Riodanfelt his heart start to race as it was prone to do each time herecalled Dylens message. The note arrived just after he finishedhis solitary breakfast, informing him that Dylen would come by laterin the day. He had not known a moments calm since then.Hiscorrespondence was neglected, lunch was left largely uneaten, anappointment with Eiren was promptly cancelled, and his plan to dropby his parents residence on his way back home was discarded.Furthermore, all callers were told he was indisposed or not at home,whichever excuse was deemed appropriate by his butler. Only Theronwas sufficiently thick-skinned to be oblivious of his sons veryclear desire not to have company and had insisted on coming up to seehim.Hesighed again. It was not charitable of him to resent his sireswish to visit him. Now that he no longer resided with his parents,the times they saw him were considerably reduced. And Theron had notbeen at all pleased by his decision to move out of the family houseand away from the virtual battery of caregivers hired to attend himduring his convalescence. Riodan was grateful to his parents for thatand had often told them so.Butgratitude could only go so far. Eventually all the fuss and attentionbecame stifling. And being immured in his sires residence hardlyencouraged a certain Deir to come and see him. Riodan was not sonaive as to believe that was the only reason for Dylens failureto visit again after that one time more than a month ago. But it wasstill one reason too many.Riodanabsent-mindedly scratched the back of his neckit tended to itchthere as his skin continued to recover. The scrape of his fingersagainst unevenly textured flesh gave him pause, and he pensivelycaressed the rough patch of skin that peeked out from his collar.What would Dylen make of his scars? A moment later, he bitterlylaughed to himself. What reason had he to hope that they would beintimate enough once more for Dylen to see his blemishes, much lesstouch them?Healmost jumped when the parlor door opened and the butler appeared.Theron stopped mid-story and looked at the servant questioningly. TheDeir proceeded toannouncethe arrival of His Grace, Dylen Essendri ilTeris.Riodanfelt the color rise in his face as he gave the butler leave to usherDylen up to the parlor. He glanced at his sire. Therons mouth hadtightened, and he looked at Riodan reproachfully.Ishe the reason you cancelled your visit with us? he