Page 33 of Untouched Queen by Royal Command

CHAPTER SIX

THREEDAYSLATER Sera stepped naked into the bathing pool and kept going until every part of her was underwater from the neck down. The pool had been getting warmer by the day and now it ran hot, day in and day out. No one used it but her. Augustus had declined, ever since that first time. Her guards declined the use of it—even if they knew she’d be out all day giving a talk at one gallery or another or being interviewed by journalists or overseeing this function or that. Augustus kept her busy and if he wasn’t in residence, his secretary kept her busy. TV show hosts loved her because the cameras loved her face and she could string two words together.

She was compliant, carving out a place for herself in his world that had nothing to do with the sexual aspects of a courtesan’s role and everything to do with social outreach and celebration of history and letting people get a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the day-to-day running of the palace.

She was an ambassador. Making connections, building a web, consolidating power that didn’t belong to her, and the role suited her to perfection. She was good at it.

Augustus was managing her, piling on the work, keeping her so busy in her dual roles of palace PR and events management that there was barely time for thought, and far too little time for herself.

This morning she’d requested of his secretary that down time be built into her weekly schedule and that if she was obliged to work weekends she wanted the following Tuesday kept free for her own use.

‘Finally,’ she thought she’d heard the old man mutter beneath his breath, and then he’d pulled a file drawer open and moments later handed her a bunch of papers on workplace rights. ‘Read these, sign these, hand them back in and I can most assuredly do something about that, Lady Sera. Not everyone here is willing to work like a dog for no apparent reason.’

She’d read through the employment conditions, signed them and handed them back in and now had every full Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday morning off.

Much to Augustus’s displeasure.

Sera ducked beneath the water, wetting her hair and holding her breath until the need to breathe forced her to rise.

Tomorrow was Tuesday, her first full day off, and Ari had invited her to spar with him during tomorrow’s six a.m. lesson. She hadn’t sparred with anyone since Ari had dropped her to the ground and Augustus had helped her back up. She’d taken on a tutor’s role instead, helping those who’d taken up the invitation to practise the forms, and she enjoyed her role, but maybe tomorrow she would spar with Ari again.

Take back some of her own identity.

If Augustus objected she would tell him she was a tutor now and call it a demonstration.

As for the charities she’d been working for so tirelessly, maybe it was time to invest some of her own identity into that too.

And see what good and noble King Augustus would do.

* * *

‘What do you mean she wants to take a courtesan’s clothing collection on the road, starting with viewings at city brothels?’

Augustus knew he was glaring at his personal secretary but the idea was preposterous. He was doing everything in his power to remove her courtesan status. He was trying, above all, to render her role here respectable. The very least she could do was appreciate it.

‘Lady Sera’s guards put forward the security arrangement plans this morning,’ his secretary informed him placidly. ‘There’s a fifty-page report justifying the social benefits involved, including collaboration with community welfare groups and backing from your police commissioner and city mayor. Two of the brothels are extremely prestigious. Others are less so. I have it on good advice that several are for…acquired tastes. They’re all registered and legal.’

Silence was one response to situations out of his control. It wasn’t the only response available to him. ‘Get her in here. Now.’

‘Lady Sera’s schedule for the day puts her at the state library attending a history lecture until one. This afternoon she’ll be overseeing the botanists’ picnic on the lawn surrounding the royal glasshouses.’

Roses. Good grief.Roses and social welfare. Just what he needed.

‘Ask the Lady Sera if she’s available for dinner this evening. Put us in the blue dining room with several dishes for sharing, a small selection of sweets and let us serve ourselves.’ It wasn’t an unusual request, although it was one he usually reserved for family.

‘Does next week’s costume tour have your approval?’ His secretary reminded him of the matter in hand.

‘No. Have you read the proposal?’

‘It makes for interesting reading. I particularly enjoyed Chapter Two.’

‘Fifty pages, you say?’

‘With references, footnotes and a reading list,’ the older man said, handing it over. ‘She’s also written you a report outlining new initiatives for education reform, particularly with regard to non-academic children. She confirms a substantial donation from the temples of the High Reaches to set up a pilot project. You want to see that proposal too?’

‘Give it over.’ He didn’t have time for this. He truly didn’t.

‘Additionally, Lady Sera has been restructuring the fund-raising portfolio related to education. The one your grandmother, mother and Moriana have toiled over for generations.’

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