“By all that’s scintillating, I did just that.” Claudio’s wicked smile bent his thin lips. “You are my eldest son. Did you think the lessons stopped when you shipped that courtesan whore off to the far reaches of the Solar System?”

“That woman you just dismissed like she was some household servant is Klea Morena! Last night I managed what no other man in this—”

“You managed?” Claudio laughed, head thrown back. “Oh, that is rich.”

Then his father’s designer-gold eyes narrowed. “How naïve are you? You think your charm brought her to your bed?” A hard finger poked into Dek’s face. “I won’t have you playing Hamlet over your puerile broken heart. So, this is a lesson. Learn it. You are a Taglioni.” Claudio pointed at the door. “That woman is one of the most desired in all of human space. And, at my request, she was in your bed last night.”

“Your request?” Dek cried incredulously, images of his flirting, of her resistance melting, of his insistence that she . . .

“All these years in this household and you still have no conception of power, do you?”

“Father, you don’t get it. She can say no to any man. Klea Morena is no one’s courtesan. She’s the most celebrated—”

“Of course she is. Why the hell else would I put her in your bed? You think you dazzled her? You’re barely seventeen. And a spoiled prig at that. No, boy, the lesson is that being a Taglioni, you can have anything you want. Any woman you desire. Own any person you want. Do you get it? In concert with the other families and the few individuals who have managed to win seats on the Board, we control it all. Everything. And, if it belongs to one of the other families, we can usually barter, buy, or otherwise find a way to obtain our heart’s desire.” He paused. “Even Klea Morena.”

Dek stared at the door where Morena had just vanished like a dream. “You paid her to meet me last night?” It still seemed too fantastic to believe, but then, this was Claudio. No doubt it had been orchestrated with the full approval of Malissa, his mother. In fact, he could almost feel her touch in the whole thing: “Darling, let’s put Klea Morena in his bed. Slap this foolishness out of his head for once and for all.”

Father’s smile dripped satisfaction. “Paid? Good heavens, no. I asked. As a favor.”

“You just asked? And she came?”

“Boy, I am Claudio Taglioni. When I ask, whatever I ask, it always . . .”

The hiss of quetzal laughter sent a shiver through Dek’s gut.