Isadora looked up and smiled, though the grin wobbled just a touch as Saphira set a tray of food on the ottoman. “I had Cookie whip up your favorite. Roast lamb with potatoes.” Isadora closed the book in her lap and set it softly on the settee next to her in the sitting area of her suite. Outside, the sun was just setting to cast an orange glow over the Aegis Mountains. By some supreme force of self control she kept her hand from shaking. “Thank you, Saphira.” Then she did her best to lie. “Mm, it smells delicious. I’m starving.” Her handmaiden obviously wasn’t buying it. She cocked her head and pursed her lips in disapproval. “You look sickly. Perhaps you should eat and go right to bed.” Going right to bed most definitely wasn’t on Isadora’s to-do list tonight. And she wouldn’t call her new hair and clothes “sickly.” But instead of arguing, Isadora faked a yawn, covered her mouth with her hand and said, “You may be right. My eyes are suddenly very tired.”
