"The day I allow my neighbors to dictate when I can or cannot go to my mother, especially if she is sick or dying is the day I climb onto the damn pyre myself," Hyacinthe said with quiet intensity. "She is my mother. We've only had each other since I was born. No one gets a say in that; not my neighbors, not my friends, not my king."

Aware he might have gotten a little too intense there, Hyacinthe made a visible effort to ease back, giving Summer a smile that didn't quite manage to make it to his usual levels of flirtation. "And you?"