Page 44 of Shadows and Roses

Not that he didn't have plenty of his own questions. He was stuck here regardless of his wishes; he may as well make use of his situation.

Castien glanced at her wrists again while she contemplated the fountain.Jeweled bracelets for the royal family. But he had yet to see one.

"Does the Queen have family at court?"

She turned her charming, casual smile on him again. "Distant cousins, aunts, the like. Her grandparents have passed, bless their terrible souls. She has siblings but they are forbidden from court without the Queen's invitation. The usual practice for the royal family—potential heirs and potential rivals."

"What about her father?"

She blinked slowly again, her smile growing distant.

"Queen Jana didn't have a Consort, and she never acknowledged a male. The nobles assumed he was not among them, and didn’t care."

He understood not having a family, but he had his fellow courtesans, and she had her Escorts.

Laureline tilted her head. "Do you know anything of your birth family?"

Castien shook his head. "No one ever claimed me." The Houses allowed family acknowledgments through the age of ten and the ability to purchase the child's bond at a reasonable fee. After that, the bond's price increased drastically.

"Hmm. So you could be some lost prince in truth. Have you fathered any noble girls?" Her tone was light and teasing, but he answered the question anyway.

"None that I'm aware of. We all takecontraceptive herbs, of course."

"You know those aren't perfect. But no, I imagine few declare parentage from the Night Courts. And most of your clients have noble blood. Still." Her eyes wandered over him.

He raised a brow and shifted his legs. She grinned. "Darling, I'm not going to breed you! Tempting as it is. You'll excuse an older lady's fantasies."

He gave in to a smile. Escort or not, the lady was sweet. He reached out to bring her free hand to his lips. "Nothing to excuse, and your age only makes you more striking, my lady."

"Tsk. Flattery will get you in trouble, dear." She stroked his hand with a thumb, then sighed and took her hand back. "You're aware you serve at your pleasure now?"

Castien frowned. He hadn't considered it, since he hadn't been given a choice in joining the Escorts. "Don't I serve the Queen?"

"Officially and as far as the court is concerned, yes. But you're free to choose whom you bed. Most of us take that for granted; I thought you might need to be told bluntly. And Anais will never force you. I doubt she'll even ask you."

The idea should be freeing, the return of choice that he so valued, but instead it sent him adrift.

"I’m a courtesan. If she doesn’t want— What does she expect from me?"

He wasn't sure if Laureline's expression was pity or sympathy.

"Perhaps you could take this opportunity to find out who you are when you don’t need to serve. Trust her. I know those feel like a cage," she glanced at the bracers, "and everything is confusing. If you need something to do, the children could always use another guardian."

She brushed crumbs from her fingers and inclined her head at him. "I should be off. I need to do something about all this thinking. A pleasure, Castien."

He bowed his head. "My lady."

He looked around again after she left. Nobles. But a family, not a court.

Interlude—Jerak Maru’uel

Anais

Jerak Maru’uel.

Her hands were forever stained by his blood. Not a single day went by that she didn’t remember the boy. How he screamed. How his blood ran. So little of it. Too much of it.

After the Maru’uels begged to be allowed to bury the small body, she’d dragged Darius to her playroom, as though bleeding a child had—

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