The one thing she did remember though was that her father had never once spoken out against Drux Cruel. Not about anything.

He’d railed solely against Arturo.

Gera sighed. “Oh you should have seen how happy they were together while he lived. They loved each other so much. His lordship even moved her ladyship into this room to have her near him at all times—something no governor had ever done before. Lord Darling and his siblings were all conceived and born right here in this very room.”

That was an interesting tidbit, and Zarya wasn’t sure how she felt about it. On the one hand it was sweet. On the other…

Ew!

Zarya looked up at the pornographic illustrations on the ceiling over her head. “Was it always decorated like this?”

Gera giggled as she glanced up, too. “No, Mistress. Her ladyship has much more modest tastes and would have been horrified to bathe here.” Her gaze turned sad. “Lord Arturo had it redecorated to his tastes after he became Grand Counsel.”

“So where did Lady Natale go for a room?”

“The governor’s family quarters are on another wing entirely. Far enough away that none of the ladies ever ventured here. Rather the governors would go to them when they wanted to father children.”

That seemed odd to her. “Lord Arturo kept Lady Natale at this palace even after her mourning period ended?” Normally the widows were set up in their own households on other planets, or they returned to their families and home planets.

Zarya couldn’t miss the way Gera’s hands started trembling. “He… he used her ladyship to control Lord Darling, and he used Lord Darling to control her ladyship.”

“How so?”

Gera flinched. “I’d rather not say, Mistress. I promised her ladyship that I’d never betray her. Sorry.”

Those words gave her a sick feeling of dread. What exactly had gone on here?

It made her wonder if that was why Darling and his mother seldom spoke to each other. She remembered asking him once about his parents when he’d been Kere to her.

“My father died when I was young.”

“And your mother?”

“We don’t talk much.”

“Why not?”

“It’s complicated. Whenever we’re together, I disappoint her, and she disappoints me. It’s easier on both of us if we just avoid each other.”

Since both of her parents were dead, she’d never understood how he could avoid his mother who was still alive.

What could make a mother hate her son so much?

The light returned to Gera’s eyes. “It did my heart good to see the governor’s parents together. The only blight they ever had on their happiness was his lordship’s illegitimate son who lived here with their children for a time. Her ladyship tried not to let it bother her, but she couldn’t seem to help resenting him.”

Zarya frowned. Darling had an older brother? She’d never heard that before and the Resistance had done a thorough background screening on the ruling family.

How had they missed that?