Tiago nodded, a slight smile curling his lips. “The king was well within his rights to force the marriage, but he saw what happened with Cassius, and so—”
“What do you mean?”
He exhaled sharply. “When Carice was brought to the palace as a courtier, Cassius immediately offered for her and made her his courtesan. He loved her and no longer went to the bed of the princess. I suspect that he campaigned to have his union with Nerilla dissolved, but the king would not allow such.”
“And everyone suffered because of it.”
“Yes,” Tiago answered, his voice faltering, remembering, I was certain, what it had been like. “Cassius was restless and quick to anger, caught between the woman he truly loved and wanted to rule at his side and Nerilla, who would be queen and who was broken even before Cassius died because she loved him dearly and he cast her aside.”
“God, what a mess.”
“It was.”
“I feel bad for Carice, losing him, but at least she has her son to give her some solace.”
“Yes.”
“Nerilla doesn’t have anybody.”
“There was talk of having Nerilla claim Carice’s child as her own when it was clear that she was barren.”
“Does that happen?”
He nodded. “Any noblewoman may lay claim to a child of her mate and his courtesan.”
“But Nerilla didn’t do that.”
“I know only that it was not done. I cannot speak to the desire of the princess, but I suspect that Cassius would not have allowed that.”
“But how it could have gone is that Carice had the child, and immediately, Nerilla could have taken the baby away and made it hers.”
“Yes. I am told it is done often.”
“That’s horrible.”
“It is how great houses are built.”
I wasn’t going to debate it with him.
“Or were. In the modern age, such things no longer occur.”
“Thank God.”
“Jason,” he chided me, “simply because you do not agree with an ancient practice does not mean that you may judge them through your modern eyes. It is hardly fair.”
“Anyway,” I said dismissively, because I absolutely was judging their archaic ways, “after Cassius died, Varic should have married his brother’s widow, but he made it clear to his father that it wasn’t going to happen.”
He was quiet for a moment, parsing my wording, I was sure. “In a nutshell, yes.”
“Why doesn’t Nerilla leave the palace?”
“She is the dowager princess, bound to the house of Maedoc until such time as she remarries. If she does not, she remains as she did when Cassius was alive, in her private quarters, cared for by the king.”
“Is she nice? Do you like her?”
“I know nothing of her beyond what has been told to me. She works outside the palace, which is something no other women, and few men, of the court do. As the queen is absent from court, Nerilla appears at events in her stead, as well as those that call for a royal that neither the king nor Varic would want to attend.”
“She’s stuck smiling and waving, is what you’re saying.”
“She attends all things, from mating ceremonies to funerals, and is the one most often giving speeches that the king cannot be bothered to give.”
“And Carice, what’s she like?”
“She is kind to most everyone but Nerilla, and she is angry for her son. If she had been queen, then her son, and not Varic, would rule.”
“So because Chryos is Carice’s son and not Nerilla’s, Varic gets to be king.”
“Which everyone—and I do mean everyone—at court and abroad knows is for the best. Heaven bless him, but Cassius would have made a horrible king. He was a great soldier, but not a diplomat, not a thinker, merely a brute. He lived and died in the right time. Were he alive today, there is no telling what horror he would have wrought on the human race merely out of boredom. He was not kind. He was bloodthirsty and—”
“Loyal,” Hadrian stated firmly, dropping into the seat beside Tiago and taking his hand before lifting it to his lips. He gently kissed the back and then lowered it, gazing into his mate’s eyes. “Cassius was a great protector, fearless in battle, and as I said, loyal to his core.”
Tiago shivered. “He had you flogged.”
“For placing myself, and others, in grave danger.”
He lifted his head, blinking several times, and I looked at Hadrian, who shook his head, his own brows furrowing. Once Tiago stopped sniffling, he took a breath and turned back to me.
“Hadrian began his service to the house of Maedoc under Cassius, but soon found himself with Varic instead. It was a far better fit.”
“Was it?” I asked Hadrian, because I wanted to know about Varic, not him. It had been cold between us since the day on the street.
He sighed deeply and nodded. “Varic is now, and was then, a planner. We would speak at length about our battle strategy, and always he listened. Before Cassius died, so many of his men begged to be placed under the banner of the second prince that the king would have been hard-pressed not to remove Cassius from command. I suspect that this is another reason for the sadness of our prince over the death of his brother. He feels, had his brother not been trying to take Jerusalem himself, to show his father and his men that he was worthy, that he would not have fallen as he did.”
“But Varic loved Cassius, didn’t he?”
“He did, and Cassius loved only three people in his life,” Hadrian said softly, taking a breath. “Carice, Varic, and his mother. All others he would have easily put under his sword.”
“That’s not great,” I told him. “And that’s worse for a king.”
“Agreed.”
“Do you think Varic is carrying around guilt about Cassius?”
Hadrian was quiet, thinking,
“I think not,” Tiago answered for me. “I believe that the parade of centuries has given him clarity of what his brother was and was not.”
Hadrian nodded. “I agree. I think when Cassius was newly taken from him that there was pain mixed with guilt, but now, after so long, he can see what his brother was and was not.”
“Okay, so what is Varic’s relationship with Nerilla, and Carice and her son?”
“Carice and Varic get on well, as she does with everyone. You will, no doubt, find her as enchanting as all who meet her do.”
“She is lovely,” Tiago told me, smiling. “She has more suitors for her contract than any other courtesan.”
“Can the king give her contract to someone else?”
“He could, but he will not,” Hadrian told me. “Chryos is all that he has left of Cassius, and the king will not be parted from him. Even if Carice were to leave, she would have to leave her son, which I suspect she would never do.”
“So she can just stay at court and not belong to anyone?”
“Yes,” Tiago confirmed. “Which makes her uniquely powerful.”
No doubt.
“And how do Varic and Nerilla get along?”
Tiago’s face scrunched up like he was looking at something gross. “Nerilla is”—he turned to look at Hadrian—“cold with him?”