Cassian didn't know whose idea it had been first—probably Veyce's, since most bad ideas started with him—but when the other boy suggested, with a glint in his eye, "Concubine Hall?" Cassian didn't say no.
He'd been there once before, and back then the place had unsettled him. All that silk, laughter, and smoke; the coy smiles of people who seemed to know a thousand secrets; the lingering scent of spiced wine and perfumed skin.
But now… now he understood it better. These weren't the half-forgotten lovers of the Supreme Lord, nor the sort of "concubines" he'd been warned about in human tales. They were, in many ways, political ornaments—court members in silk instead of armor, using beauty the way others used blades.
And honestly? The food was amazing.
So he went without argument, letting Veyce lead the way through the gilded corridors toward the Hall's opulent entrance.
