Page 54 of Raven's Dawn

“I wouldn’t think of it.” From my seat behind them, I saw her squeeze his thigh. So did Rain. “Of course you can stay here for the night. Perhaps two.”

Avoiding her gaze, Luci looked at the city from left to right. “Suppose that depends on when and how we relay our information to one another.”

Isn’t she married? Rain’s voice sounded in my mind.

She is.

She clearly wants to fuck him.

Clearly.

I thought this place was patriarchal. And this is allowed?

Patriarchy to us doesn’t mean what it does to you. To us, it’s any small steps that progress toward taking power from our matriarchal rulers. A few wrong moves, and we’ll end up like the Angels or humans. Normally, men play no part in law or positions of power. Ailas does, and that’s what makes us refer to them as such.

So… They’re still way more sexually liberated than society on Earth.

Oh, yeah.

Caeda is polyamorous then.

When I was growing up, rumor was that she hosted a lot of orgies. So yeah, probably a safe descriptor.

“Hmm.” Leaning back in her seat, Rain gave Caeda a once over. I think I like her.

That doesn’t surprise me.

When we arrived at the castle, we were ushered in through some rear doors. Caeda told us to hurry, so I didn’t have much time to look at my surroundings. It didn’t matter, anyway; this was likely a service entrance. It wasn’t adorned beautifully. Just stone walls, stone floor, and a few torches.

After some twists and turns, we arrived at a small wooden door. So small, in fact, that even Rain had to crouch to get through it.

Clearly not the main entrance, then. This was confirmed by the set of arched double doors thar awaited us when we squeezed through the entry. They were at least two stories high, wooden with golden hinges, handles, and metalwork.

Like the trim all over, even the floor beneath our feet, the massive tabletop was coated in gold. Even the legs were gold. My eyes told me that this was real, but my basic reasoning had me wondering if it was a glamour. Because how the hell did you make a table that sat thirty out of solid gold? Each of the chairs perched around it were no different.

A chandelier as big as Jeremy’s pterolycus, who politely waited outside, hung above it. Rather than utilizing the vertical space for fruit like Iliantha did, each of the four walls were lined with paintings. One of the queen and her husband, another of their five children, another of a giant winged wolf, and another of a dragon.

“Do you like it?” Caeda asked, calling my attention that way. Sure enough, her eyes were on me. She gestured to the painting of the dragon. “You seem to like it.”

“I do, your Majesty,” I said, awkwardly tucking myself further behind a chair, closer to Rain on my right.

“I do not.” Propping her elbow on the back of a chair, she leaned over it with her chin in her hand. “Look at the eyes. They’re not right.”

They looked completely fine to me. Just a big black dragon, like I had seen a thousand times. “Oh, what don’t you like about it?”

“The eyes,” she repeated. “They aren’t right. It’s a portrait, you know. I told the artist I wanted it to look just like my baby. It does not. Clearly. Look at those eyes. Does that look like something that is alive, something that I love, to you?”

Since it was a painting, no, it didn’t look like it was alive. I wasn’t all that familiar with the things she loved either, but it was an object, and that seemed to be exactly what she liked.

“I see what you mean,” Laila said. “There’s no emotion. No light in the eyes.”

She snapped her finger excitedly. “Precisely. Thank you. I like her.” She glanced at Iliantha. “Why is this the first time you’re introducing us? No matter. What is your name, mil?”

Mil was a Fae term of endearment. Most often, women used it in reference to each other and children. A bit like honey or sweetie in American English.

“Laila,” she answered.

“Of?”