“We have to shower and change, as my father will hold court at his favorite time, at sunset, around seven or so,” Varic announced, as though that bit of information wasn’t going to scare me to death.
I nodded.
“Walk with me.”
Following him, he led me up the first flight of stairs, and then another. On the second floor, we began down a long, windowless hallway that was as wide as a four-lane highway, the marble floor shining under my feet, the walls covered in paintings, some from floor to ceiling. Several hallways led from the main, and Varic told me that many of his father’s staff had suites here.
“So, it’s very… Gothic,” I told him.
“In this part of the palace, yes,” he agreed. “The quarters of the concubines have a more Turkish flair, with lots of pillows and tapestries and rugs. It’s open and airy.”
“Okay.”
“The apartments of the courtesans are done in the Victorian style, parlors, smaller rooms, and of course, they all have their own suites, whereas the concubines sleep all together.”
I nodded, listening, interested in seeing every part of the palace.
“So you’re aware,” he began, sighing, “concubines sign over their freedom for whatever period of time they agree to when they’re taken into the palace. That’s a new mandate that was passed after the French Revolution. Before that, concubines were taken as slaves, just as you’d imagine from every historical bodice ripper movie you’ve ever seen.”
“But now they sign themselves into sexual servitude.”
“I love how much worse you make it sound.”
“I’m just asking.”
“And yet you sound very judgmental.”
“I just don’t agree with it, but I won’t say anything to the king.”
“That would be best,” he said flatly. “Concubines agree to have sex with my father, or whoever he wants to share them with, during whatever timeframe they’ve agreed to.”
“And if someone hurts them?”
“Then they go to the rajan, and he takes care of it.”
“And if he doesn’t?”
“If he doesn’t, they have permission to speak directly to my father.”
“And if he’s the one hurting them?”
“You have no concern for me at all, do you?”
“That’s a terrible thing to say.”
“As is suggesting, in the palace of the king, that he would ever harm one of his concubines,” he said defensively, and I could tell I’d struck a nerve. He loved his father, but I knew Varic didn’t agree with a lot of things he did. The keeping of concubines was a big one, and yet he still didn’t want me to think or speak poorly of his father. “You may not agree with my father having a harem and courtesans, but you must be respectful of the fact that they are all his subjects, and he would no more hurt them than he would me or my mother.”
“You’re right,” I agreed, keeping up with his brisk pace. “I’m sorry. It’s hard not to judge him with my twenty-first-century views, but I’ll work on it.”
“Thank you.”
“You know,” I began, changing the subject, wanting to put us on better ground, “I have to tell you I’m really looking forward to meeting this Gideon, your father’s rajan. He sounds kind of amazing. That’s a lot of hats he’s wearing.”
“You have no idea,” Varic said with a deep sigh. “He keeps my father’s counsel and has helped guide him in all matters of court and state.”
“It’s impressive.”
“Once my mother left, he was especially needed.”
“And does she have quarters here too?”
“Yes. Hers are two floors above my father’s, and they’re decorated in a more lavish style like his, opulent, very Versailles. I find it hard to breathe when I’m in either of their wings for any extended period of time.”
“So yours isn’t like that?”
“Oh no, no. Mine is more—what?” he asked his dreki, glancing left and right.
“Industrial,” Eris suggested. “Load-bearing walls were put in so that entire outer walls could be made into windows.”
“It’s all glass and steel and wrought iron,” Brenna told me. “And I was overjoyed when our quarters were moved from the barracks with the king’s guard, to our new ones below his.”
Varic turned to her. “You were?”
She made a fist and placed it over her heart even as she kept moving. “I was, my prince, as were we all. You gave each of us rooms, our privacy, our own library, access to the roof garden, our own game and media rooms, as well as our own gym. The change was not something any of us had ever dreamed would come to pass.”
“Yes,” Oz echoed before Eris and Bavor chimed in as well.
Varic looked bemused, and when I smiled at him, he scowled at me.
I already felt close to Varic’s dreki, to the few I’d met, but it seemed like Varic suddenly felt closer to them as well.
“So, how does it work in the palace. Do your dreki still stay with you?”
“Always,” Varic told me. “Hadrian is with me constantly, and if not him, then Eris and then Duro. Now that Duro is in New Orleans, and I want Eris with you, when Hadrian isn’t with me, then Oz and Bavor will be.”
“And it is my honor to have been chosen,” Oz told him.
Varic gave him a quick nod.
“Mine as well, my prince,” Bavor barely got out, more choked up than Oz.
Another slight nod from Varic before he stopped, and we all did as well.
“Here, look,” he said, directing my gaze to the floor.
I noted that the white marble ended, and one step beyond was black-and-gray marble veined with silver.
The stairs that led down to the right were the same white marble, as were the ones on the left. Only the hallway ahead was black.
“You go straight down this way to my wing, and you can always tell where you are from the color of the floor,” he explained as we started walking again.
“I prefer the black.”
“As do I,” he confessed. “The white is almost assaulting, especially in the morning when the sun hits the polished surface.”
Eris winced as she nodded.
“Now here, on this level, is where Tiago and Hadrian reside; there are the quarters for your guard and, of course, the dreki.”
“My guard?”
He smiled at me. “When we find you your champion, that individual must be able to have their quarters near you.”
It made sense. “No one’s going to force me to choose, right?”
“Of course not,” Varic assured me as we started walking again. “You have to find someone you would be comfortable having with you constantly, as well as trust. It’s not an easy mix to conjure.”
I nodded. “So was this area always for your private guard?”
“No. This used to be my staff quarters, but I gave them all a stipend so that they could live anywhere here in Malta.”
“Did they want to do that?”
“Oh yes,” he assured me. “No one actually wants to live in this tomb. It’s why I have a summer palace on Ghadira Bay.”