Does she like school?
School? One of the boys on my floor has a ferret in his trunk. A ferret . Buttercup lives in fear of her life. She is much happier at my mistresss.
Fairfax stopped chirping.
Lady Callista blinked. I beg your pardon?
What do you not understand? Surely you, of all people, know what a kept woman is.
I did not know that Your Highness had such an arrangement.
And why should you? She does not cost me nearly as much as you cost Alectus, and she does not host soirees for me. In fact, she bores me already; I plan to replace her with a livelier girl, one whose tastes in lovemaking are not quite so pedestrian. Now if you will excuse me, I need a drink.
He pushed past her before she could summon one of the floating trays of sparkling blue beverages. Almost immediately, he was being bowed to by the prime minister and several not-so-prime ministers.
I thought you did not care for such frivolous events, Titus said to the prime minister.
Indeed I do not, sire. But I hear the Inquisitor herself is going to attend, and I hope to speak with her concerning the records, answered the prime minister. There has been no progress at all on the talks. Unless we come to an agreement, the Inquisitory will begin to destroy records by the fourth week of June. Ten years of records, most likely including information concerning thousands of your subjects who disappeared after the uprising.
How awful, Titus said, and brushed past.
Not that he was entirely unsympathetic, but what did the prime minister think fueled the Fire of Atlantis, the smoke of which rose so steadily from the Inquisitory?
He was next accosted by the current archmage and her two leading disciples, and a steady stream of matrons who wanted to know whether he would appear at their charitable functions.
The first young woman to approach him was a beauty witch.
Your Highness, she said with a bright smile.
Have we met?
Diana Fairmyth, Your Highness.
He was wary of beauty witches; anyone who tried to seduce him could also be spying on him. What is a girl like you doing at this dreadful party?
She laughed. Oh, is it dreadful? I havent noticed yet.
Alas, you are very beautiful, but I see our tastes diverge too much.
A few more young women tried, but he dispensed of them with similar efficiency. Then came the one girl he could not dismiss so easilyAramia, Lady Callistas daughter.
She held out her hands to him. Titus, she said, its good to see you again.
They had known each other many yearsLady Callista had sometimes brought Aramia to the castle so that Titus would have someone his own age to play with. They should have made perfect playmates: she was patient, uncomplaining, willing to try new things. Not to mention that, like him, she had never known her father. But Titus, a demon child in the years immediately after the loss of his mother, had tormented her instead.
He locked her into cupboards when they played hide-and-seek, snuck stinkbugs under her blouse when they played outside, and asked her why she was ugly when her mother was so beautiful.
But she had only shrugged and said, Maybe my father was not so beautiful.
In recent years their paths had not often crossed. But guilt was like a bog. Whenever he did see her, he would realize he was still neck-deep in it.
He kissed her on both cheeks. How have you been, Aramia?
Oh, same as usual. You know Mother, still trying to make a swan out of me, she answered, not managing to be completely dismissive about it.
She had never been uglyplain, perhaps, but not ugly. But even otherwise attractive women faded into insignificance next to Lady Callista. He could not imagine what it must be like to live entirely in the shadow of her beauty.
But you are already a swan, he said, trying to cheer her up.
I dont think inner beauty counts for much with Mother.
Who said I was talking about inner beauty?
This made Aramia smile. That is very sweet, Titus, thank you. Would you like some snapberry punch? Its my own recipe, just a drop of snowmint essence as the secret ingredient.
He wished she had not called him sweet. He sank a little deeper into his bog. You still enjoy tinkering with recipes?
I might as well be useful.
Since she could not be beautiful, she meant.
It was heartbreaking how much she wanted her mothers
approval.
I will have a glass.
She squeezed his hand. Let me see what I can do so Mother doesnt pester you too much.
Aramia left to fetch the punch herself. By the time she returned, Alectus and Lady Callista had found Titus. Aramia, true to her word, drew her mother away on the pretense of something that needed the latters attention.
Alectus by himself was easier to take. With the enthusiasm of an overgrown child, he recounted the epic quest that had been his search for a new overrobe, entailing five emergency fittings in the past two days.
Titus listened to him prattle as he pretended to drink Aramias ice-cold punch. He did not distrust Aramia, but one never knew what Lady Callista might be up to.