"A hand- maiden? To the queen herself?," Khaylan stared at the healer, open surprise playing across his face. After a few moments, he began to chuckle at the irony of the situation. "You mean to tell me, that all these years, I've been looking down on and squabbling with someone who, by all rights, used to outrank me socially?"

He paused suddenly, about to say how ridiculous it all sounded. And yet, was it any more ridiculous than a peasant boy making a deal with a witch to claim a knighthood? What about that same peasant boy being bound by a witches spell designed for betrothed couples to a woman he had started the day out hating?

He shook his head slowly, "Fate, it seems, has a sense of humor." [I] And we, it seems, are the punchline.[/I]