"Some say he is in line to be minister of justice," a new voice said from the doorway, and Emma was whirling out of her seat, up and out and shimmering into diamond to place herself between the uninvited guest - who she had not even sensed - and Jack and Irina. "And then he will be dust."

What stood framed in the doorway was a bony man, pale-haired and strawberry-bearded and pale with the pallor of the hungry undead. He was taller than even Sebastien; now simply tall and broad, in his own age, Starkad had been a giant of a man.

He appraised Jack for a moment, paying no mind to the glittering girl, before casting his blue eyes, water-transparent as the jewels in the rings he gave his courtiers, to Irina. "So this is what you left me for? Another wampyr's courtier, and then the wampyr himself?"

"Not bad." Starkand's nose twitched slightly as he regarded Jack again. "If you like wolf."