It was such a ridiculous way to be presented to him, having to wear the veil over my face as if he’s never seen me before. Perhaps his father did not know we had spoken at the reception four nights ago. Our time in conversation together then was so brief, and we had really only exchanged the most inconsequential of phrases back and forth. Until his uncle came along and pulled me away from the best moment I have had in months. I do not belong to the son. He has not yet reached the Age of Ascendancy, so the heir does not have a courtesan of his own.
But that is about to change. Within seven full circles of Lisou, I will be the heir’s first woman. It shall be my duty to initiate him into the ways of the flesh.
This is not how the tradition is normally conducted. To put an older courtesan in control of the first act is customary...but not when she belongs to others of the young heir’s family. I was not sent into seclusion like one under Commitment is required to do before she is set to begin the long privileged access to whatever whim her future benefactor desires. And as those desires increase along with his experience, the young man becomes no different than the other spoiled scions of the Houses.
Perhaps that is why I was summoned to the Prestat’s offices this morning. He must be taking some sort of perverse amusement in pulling me away from my usual place in his brother’s bed, and is now placing the heir under my tutelage. It might be punishment for both of us, because we spoke when my usual benefactor did not accompany me. While we did not break any laws, we did violate one rule within those heaps of archaic codes of etiquette so entrenched in this wretched society. That rule, of course, is that one who belongs to the Houses does not speak to those in Commitment. So to place his most precious possession in my care is a way to remind us both of our places in the universe. We are both at the whims of the Prestat. But to be honest, I feel that his poor son is even more unfortunate than I am, since he is burdened by the expectations and pressures of one is to inherit not only a title and property, but a family reputation. To be the Prestat of Quodris and a member of one of the five Establishers, those vaunted families who first founded the Prestature back in the unknown days when Ysonesse was still our world, is the greatest responsibility the poor child will have to face in his life.
Can I really say we are being condemned to some horrible fate? His father might view it as punishment, but I prefer to view it as something else. Being given to his son means that I suffer a loss of status; going from the older male to the younger one is looked upon as a demotion in our society. And his son, of course, has to face the stigma of not having a properly selected courtesan for his first encounter. Yet we were drawn together by someone or something...this is obvious. We seem to have some sort of connection with each other that might very well transcend whatever others might view as condemnation for certain improper actions.
Only time will tell.