“He likes cats,” Charon said. Raul’s brows came together in apparent confusion. “He feeds them in the garden, and he knows where most of the cat sanctuaries are in the city. He even tried to rescue a possum once. If something has fur and a tail, he probably loves it. That’s the only advice I’ll give you.”
“But the test mentions a bell from a parlor,” Raul said, pulling out a card from his breast pocket. “Surely they don’t have parlors for cats? Well, thank you, anyway.”
As Charon left Raul’s garden, he spotted black hair disappearing behind a carriage with an owl on the crest. He paused, sighed, and walked around it. Oleander, who was crouched behind the carriage as though they wanted to steal the crest off the door, jumped up guiltily.
“What were you doing there?” Oleander asked. “At that noble’s house?”
“Not a noble,” Charon said, and started walking off. Oleander followed, as he suspected they would.
“If you’re moonlighting, you know that’s against the rules,” Oleander said. “Is that what you were doing? Getting extra clients on the side?”
Charon gave Oleander a long look. He wasn’t sure what to think of them. Oleander was a Katoikos through and through—they believed that submissives were best in positions of power, as they were suited to serving the populace. Katoikos typically expected dominants to do domestic and manual work to support their submissives. Oleander barely tolerated Laurent because he was married to Sabre, a submissive who was powerful enough that his dominant husband could play at having a position as a house lord. They were baffled at the Starian noble custom of favoring dominants as heirs, and still had to be goaded into doing chores. They seemed to have a particular grudge against Yves, which made their pointed questions about Charon odd.
“You can tell me if Yves has you running errands for him, you know,” Oleander said. “I’m also from Katoikos. I know it’s easy to be swayed by a submissive who acts like he can’t walk without a dominant’s hand on his arm. I can help set him right.”
“I’m not here on Yves’ orders,” Charon said. It was no good trying to convince Oleander that they weren’t both from Katoikos. “I have my own business in town.”
“With him?” Oleander looked over his shoulder at Raul’s house. “What kind of business?”
Charon simply kept walking.
Oleander groaned. “Why is everyone socryptichere? Yves has his little game, Simone won’t say a word to me about it, and people keep acting like Lord Laurent has some kind of magic aura.”
“He does have magic,” Charon said.
Oleander rolled their eyes. “Most magic is trickery, unless you’re Mislian. And he isn’t Mislian, is he?”
“You’ll figure it out.” Charon left Oleander frowning in confusion in the middle of the street.
“All right, then,” Oleander shouted. “Maybe I’ll see what that friend of yours is up to myself!”
Charon sincerely doubted Oleander could learn anything from following Raul, but they were welcome to try. Charon stopped at a bookseller to arrange a donation and made his way back to the House of Onyx. Laurent was standing out front with a basket of bells, which jingled slightly as Laurent spoke to a messenger. The messenger nodded and ran off with a packet of notes as Charon approached.
“And here I thought things were settling down,” Laurent said. He smiled at Charon. He rarely relaxed his guard unless he was around Sabre or his sister, but managing Yves’ marriage contest seemed to be taking a toll. Charon took the basket and followed him into his office, where Laurent collapsed into his chair.
“I should really read these letters,” Laurent said, gesturing to the cards towering over his desk. “I need to think of something other than last-minute ballroom acquisitions and the other House lords complaining about runaways.”
“Runaways?”
Laurent sighed heavily. “Apparently. There have been three so far. Every now and then, a courtesan thinks they can skip out on the debt they owe their house and find a new life somewhere else. It can work if you don’t have a family who’ll be saddled with the bill in your absence. Three at once is excessive, but it’s the House of Iron’s fault for saddling them with extra housing debts in the first place.”
“There’s a rumor that King Adrien intends to elevate one of the House lords,” Charon said. “If one man were to haveoversight over the others, the rules over debt prices could change.”
Laurent gave Charon a knowing look. “That man would have to be a masochist to take on the headache.”
“Or he’d have to be married to one.”
Laurent smiled. “This is why I’m going to miss you, Charon. How did you guess that I throw my hat in the ring?”
“Your ambition exceeds your common sense.”
“You have to admit that it would make the rest of them seethe with jealousy, though.” Laurent’s smile broadened. “Blue-blooded nobles taking orders from a former whore? They’ll be beside themselves. Are you sure you don’t want to stay and see it?”
“I’m leaving for Gerakia on the last day of…” He almost saidspring.“After Yves’ wedding.”
“If it happens.” Laurent picked one of the bells out of the basket. “Half his tasks seem designed to be impossible.” He gave Charon a considering look. “I thought you were leaving before that, though.”
“It would be impolite to miss it,” Charon said.
