"Ah, right. Mother," Andrion added, for Jolthar's benefit.
"She keeps to the Spring Hall. It's set aside for the Emperor's harem, though calling it that undersells what it actually is — more a small court of its own, women who've spent decades learning how to survive inside these walls without losing themselves to them."
They found her in a receiving room off the Spring Hall's central courtyard, seated near an open window where the garden's fragrance drifted in freely, and the moment she saw her sons, her composure broke into something warmer and far less practiced than the poise court life usually demanded of imperial concubines.
Jolthar understood immediately why Milan's voice had softened when he spoke of her.
