“Why not?”
“It’s complicated. Whenever we’re together, I disappoint her, and she disappoints me. It’s easier on both of us if we just avoid each other.”
Since both of her parents were dead, she’d never understood how he could avoid his mother who was still alive.
What could make a mother hate her son so much?
The light returned to Gera’s eyes. “It did my heart good to see the governor’s parents together. The only blight they ever had on their happiness was his lordship’s illegitimate son who lived here with their children for a time. Her ladyship tried not to let it bother her, but she couldn’t seem to help resenting him.”
Zarya frowned. Darling had an older brother? She’d never heard that before and the Resistance had done a thorough background screening on the ruling family.
How had they missed that?
Frowning, she couldn’t remember another son ever coming in with Lord Drux on his visits to her childhood home. Nor had Kere ever mentioned it.
Of course, Kere had never mentioned his younger brother, either. And very seldom had he spoken of his sister.
“What son?” she asked Gera.
“Lord Ryn. He was conceived during Lord Drux’s short affair with Kirren. After his lordship married, Lord Ryn would spend the school year here and then his breaks with his mother.”
Ryn… that was who Darling had been visiting when Maris had found out that Darling knew he was gay. Finally, things were starting to make sense.
Sort of.
But Zarya wondered what had become of Darling’s brother. “Where is Lord Ryn now?”
“He was an ambassador, last I heard. But I don’t think it’s for us. He and Lord Darling were extremely close when they were young, but regretfully they grew apart after Lord Drux died.”
“Do you know why?”
“No, Mistress. Sorry.”
Fascinating. It made her curious which of them had caused the tear in their relationship.
Darling or Ryn…
“So all the other mistresses belonged to Lord Arturo, then?” she asked Gera.
Unless Darling had someone in his past that neither she nor Maris knew about. That thought stabbed her.
A troubled frown creased Gera’s brow. “Yes. They were all his. You’re the first of Lord Darling’s.”
She didn’t like the way Gera phrased that. She didn’t want to think about Darling with other women. Men, either, for that matter, especially given what Maris had told her… I don’t want to be his first.
She wanted to be his last.
Not wanting to think about a time when she might not be with him, she returned to their discussion. That was a lot of women for only one man, especially one who’d been married before he became Grand Counsel. “Why so many?”
Gera set the brush aside. “He kept four and five at a time.”
Zarya was aghast at that. “In this room?”
She nodded. There was a troubled cloud in her eyes. Something else had happened here.
A chill went down her spine as she looked around with new eyes. There was no way to describe the uneasy feeling she had. “What, Gera?”
She stepped away, but not before Zarya noted her sudden nervousness. “I shouldn’t say anything more. It’s not my place to judge or gossip. Suffice it to say, I hope Lord Darling doesn’t follow in his uncle’s footsteps. Though it’s not looking good given the way he’s been since he took power… and especially given the way he seized it.”
Since Zarya had been locked in a hole with no access to the outside world, she knew nothing about Darling’s ascension to the throne. “What did he do?”
Gera swallowed hard. “He murdered his uncle, Mistress. With his bare hands. Right outside in the gardens. I assumed you knew given that it’s all anyone talks about.”
Zarya shook her head. “When? How?”
“A few months back. For reasons unknown, Lord Darling stormed into the palace at midnight, hunted Lord Arturo down and butchered him, right in front of his own guards. Then he dared them to attack him. Begged them, point of fact. The guards have been terrified of him ever since. They believe his lordship is completely deranged.”
A chill went down her spine. What had made Darling do that after all these years of tolerating Arturo’s reign? Something inside him had snapped, but what?
“It was so brutal,” Gera whispered. “After that, his lordship went on a bloody killing spree against his enemies and anyone else who crossed his path. At least a hundred, probably more, have lost their lives to his bloodlust.”
Zarya was flabbergasted by the number. “Darling?”
“Yes, Mistress. Did you not see the pile of bodies at the front gate? His lordship threatened the life of anyone who dared remove them.”
Was that the real reason Maris had brought her in through the back?