Shield's Lady by Jayne Ann Krentz

Sariana. A scarlet-toe lizard of your very own. It will keep you company at night."
        Sariana's expression was a mixture of puzzlement and delight. "What a beautiful little cage. I'll bet your cousin Moris did this, didn't he? It looks like his work." Automatically Sariana reached out to take the cage from Luri's hands. "Is the lizard Moris' work, too? I thought it was Taria who liked to design reptile brooches. What a beautiful piece of work. I don't recognize the gems. I've never seen such glowing red stones before." Then she got her first good look at the creature inside the gold filigree. "It's alive!"
        "Of course it's alive," Luri said. "Who wants a fake lizari?"
        "Or a dead one," Gryph added thoughtfully. He smiled at Sariana when her eyes flashed briefly to his face. Then she looked again at the creature in the cage.
        Gryph had to hand it to her. Sariana barely flinched. Her brilliant smile stayed in place and she never missed a beat as she said to Luri, "What a fabulous lizard. It's so beautiful it looks as though it had been made in an Avylyn workshop. Why, it's even got red eyes."
        Luri was pleased with her response. "It took me a long time to catch it. I had to get up before dawn every morning and go out into the gardens. You have to have just the right bait to catch a scarlet-toe, you see. They only eat certain kinds of leaves. You have to be very quick to get one."
        Sariana gave Luri an appraising look. "Maybe its wrong to keep it in a cage, Luri. A little creature like this should be free, don't you think?"
        "Oh, in a few days he'll bond to you and then you won't have to keep him in a cage," Luri explained. "They make great pets for ladies."
        Sariana turned a helpless, beseeching gaze on Gryph. He took the opportunity to step in with more helpful information.
        "They have an affinity for females just as krellcats have an affinity for males."
        "You've seen iny krellcat," Luri reminded her. "This scarlet-toe will want to hang around you the same way my krellcat is always hanging around me."
        "I see," Sariana's voice was very faint. "Uh, where is your krellcat this moming?"
        "I left him in my room. I was afraid he might eat the scarlet-toe."
        "I see," Sariana said again weakly. "Is this business of
        keeping krellcats and scarlet-toes for pets an old western custom?"
        "It's not a very old custom," Gryph said easily. "It's only been in the past few years that anyone discovered what great pets they make."
        "Oh," she said a little too cheerfully, "what an odd coincidence. Recently in my homeland a few people have started keeping odd pets, too. They seem quite attached to them. I never had time for a pet, what with my studies and all."
        Gryph watched her standing there, wet and bedraggled from the storm with a caged lizard she didn't want in her hands and he didn't know whether to laugh or offer comfort. He had the feeling she would be infuriated by either approach.
        'There's an old Serendipity saying that fits occasions such as this," Gryph finally said blandly. "What's that?" she asked with deep suspicion.
        "Take what you can get when you can get it. Life doesn't come with any guarantees."
        "Sayings like that cover a lot of territory, don't they?" she retorted.
        "Do you really like the lizard, Sariana?" Luri asked, eager for more enthusiastic appreciation of his gift. "It's beautiful," she said with an obvious sincerity that surprised Gryph. "The most beautiful lizard I've ever seen."
        Luri looked bashfully pleased. "I'm glad you like it. Now you'll have to think of a name for it."
        "I think I'll call it Lucky Break," Sariana said, slanting Glyph a dangerous look from the comer of her eye. "Lucky for short. Thank you, Luri. Now I think I'd better go and change my clothes. I'll see you at dinner."
        "I'll bring a supply of leaves to