While that was extremely generous of him, she couldn’t help but wonder about Darling’s grandmother. ’Cause she knew what she’d do to her husband if he set a woman up in this room and she found out about it. “His wife didn’t mind?”

Curling Zarya’s hair around her face, Gera shook her head. “It wasn’t for her to say. But no, she didn’t mind. She never spent much time with him. Rather, she stayed with her family on her home planet and only visited a few times a year until she birthed Lord Drux. Then she didn’t come back at all.”

Drux had been Darling’s father.

“Why? Did they not get along?”

Gera shrugged. “Political marriages don’t always match up those most compatible. Her ladyship didn’t have much of a sense of humor and she was very fastidious. His lordship was much more fun loving and free spirited. Very much like Lord Drakari and Lady Annalise. He lived for intelligent debate, and she didn’t like thinking that hard about anything. She found him tiring, and he found her tedious.”

How sad for the two of them. They both must have been terribly lonely.

“What about his lordship’s father? How many mistresses did Lord Drux have?”

“Only one. A beautiful, fiery woman he met in a club he shouldn’t have ventured into.” Gera tucked the curls she’d made around a small white band on Zarya’s head. “Kirren was something very special.”

She paused to meet Zarya’s gaze in the mirror. For the first time, she had a feeling the older woman might actually like her. “You remind me a lot of Mistress Kirren—you have the same defiant and fearless look in your eyes.”

“I hope that’s not a bad thing.”

Gera’s smile widened as she went back to styling Zarya’s hair. “Not at all. I honestly had a lot of fun while she was here. She taught me some rather interesting things.”

“Such as?”

Gera blushed.

Wow, that was a first.

“C’mon, Gera, dish… What did she teach you?”

“Things about men that you will now be learning.”

Oh great. She’d learn tricks from someone her mother’s age. That was…

Creepy.

“So what happened to her?” Zarya asked.

“His lordship asked her to leave when his father betrothed him to her ladyship.”

That was stunning. Rarely to her knowledge did the rich give up their mistresses for a wife. “Really?”

Gera nodded. “Lady Natale was so young and uncertain of herself at the time their parents contracted their marriage that Lord Drux feared hurting her feelings. Because of his parents, he didn’t want to start their relationship off badly. He also felt that it wouldn’t be fair to Kirren to keep her while he was married to another woman. He really did love her, and they remained friends to the day he died.”

That said a lot about Darling’s father. He must have been an incredible man. She only had a handful of memories of his visits to her home. He’d been tall and usually smiling, but other than that, she remembered very little about him really.