Chapter 85

　　Present Day

　　The new chambers were easily twice the size of the old and looked out onto the garden where Auralyn held her morning walks with her chosen ladies – who, Yelena suspected, were chosen for more than their social position and personalities.

　　She could understand and empathize with Auralyn, Yelena thought as she looked onto the pretty garden. An ambitious woman, overlooked because of her gender, and a woman who preferred other women as lovers, caught in a court where marriage was a currency for men seeking to earn titles, power, consequence and wealth… Where there existed one rule for men and another for women… Macedius was utterly unashamed and uninhibited about the fact that he would happily take Sylvin to bed, but had brutally punished the two Ladies who had been caught loving each other…

　　If she was Auralyn, Yelena thought, she would be angry too.

　　“My Lady,” Eustice murmured. “Where should we place your effects?”