‘Mother …?’
‘Marnie, dear. Call me Marnie, I do so loathe the word mother.’
That was odd, since mother was the very description of her life. ‘Marnie, I need to ask you a few questions about this place.’
Marnie waved a plump hand. ‘Ask me anything, daughter. Oh, I’m so happy you’ve come. We’ll have such times together.’
‘It’s just that – what do I do?’
‘You mate, and you have babies.’
‘And the rest of the time?’
‘Bathe, eat, be pampered. Talk to the baby. Read. You can do anything you want.’
‘What else?’ Tiaan felt rather alarmed.
‘You don’t have to do anything. That’s what’s so wonderful.’
‘What about work? I can’t do nothing, Marnie. I’ll turn into a mindless idiot …’ She broke off, not quickly enough.
‘How dare you!’ Marnie flung a vase of flowers at her.
Tiaan ducked and the vase shattered against the wall. She began mopping up the water with a hand towel.
‘Leave it!’ Marnie screeched. ‘That’s not work fit for one of us.’
Tiaan did it anyway. ‘I’m sorry, Marnie, I didn’t mean to sound rude.’
Marnie sniffed and turned her vast back. Tiaan went round the other side, got down on her knees and stroked her mother’s hand. She knew how to placate her.
‘I’m sorry. I do appreciate how hard you’ve worked for me,’ she said untruthfully. ‘I – I’m afraid, mother. About what happens … with a client.’
‘You don’t know?’ Marnie’s eyebrows danced in astonishment.
‘Of course I know. It’s just that I’ve never done anything with a man.’
‘But you’re …’ Marnie calculated, using her fingers, ‘you’re twenty!’ She said it accusingly.
Nice of you to remember your firstborn! ‘There’s always more work than I can get done.’
‘And to think I was worried about your virtue up at that horrible place. No wonder you had a breakdown.’ Marnie sniffed. ‘You have to live, child. You can’t just work. Women can’t do without it any more than men can. Of course you went mad, holding it in like that. Now, this is what’s going to happen for your first time. You lie on the bed, open your legs, then the man …’
‘I know how it’s done, mother!’ Tiaan snapped. ‘I’m not a complete idiot. I want to know what’s expected of me. How often do we mate? Once a year? Once a month? How long does it take to get a baby?’
Marnie burst out laughing, which sent ripples along her belly and flanks. ‘Dear me, child, you have no idea, do you?’
Tiaan gritted her teeth. ‘That’s why I’m asking, Marnie.’
‘You have only one client for the month, and you do it every day, except during your courses. That’s how The Mothers’ Palace survives and prospers.’
The light suddenly dawned. ‘You mean this place is a … brothel? And we’re just common harlots?’ Harlotry was not a dishonourable profession, well above seamstress or washerwoman or nurse in status, but it was a long way below artisan.
‘Certainly not!’ Marnie rose off the bed in her wrath. ‘What do you take me for? We’re doing a vital job here, setting an example to the women of the world. No work can compare to that of breeding. Without what we do, humanity would disappear.’
‘We don’t need a breeding factory for that.’
‘Yes we do! Too many women have become selfish, like you. They prefer to work rather than doing what’s required. We’re showing them how wrong they are.’
‘Ordinary men and women …’
‘Half the men are dead; there aren’t enough to go around. Besides, the men we mate with are carefully chosen.’
That reminded Tiaan of the stud book upstairs, and her own longing. ‘Who was my father, Marnie?’
‘Don’t start that again!’ Marnie said coldly.
‘I’ve got to know my father’s family Histories; surely you can see that? Not knowing them is like only having half a life.’
‘You’ll not get them from me!’ Marnie snapped. ‘The Histories are a waste of time. Your father’s aren’t worth having.’
‘Mother!’ Tiaan cried out, aghast. ‘How can you say such a wicked thing?’ The Histories were everything. People often tried to censor their past, but never to ignore it or wipe it away completely. To have no past was worse than having an evil one.
‘Well, it’s true. We should be thinking about the future. I wish I’d never met your father. If I hadn’t been so young and stupid I’d have refused him.’
‘What was he like? At least tell me that,’ Tiaan pleaded. ‘Can’t you see how hard it is not to know my own Histories? I hardly know who I am.’
‘He was selfish, dominating and cruel. He thought he knew better than I did. He wanted to carry me away from here – the only place I’ve ever been happy. And the fuss he made when you were born.’
‘What fuss?’ Tiaan asked eagerly.
‘He seemed to think he had rights over you. He wanted to take you home. Stupid man. They’re all stupid! They lie with you a few times and then think they have rights. They’re just tools to get children.’
‘What happened?’
‘Matron put guards at the door. He fought to get in. I had to speak to one of my other clients, an influential man. Your father was sent to the front-lines.’
‘Was he a soldier?’
‘Of course not!’ Marnie sneered. ‘What do you take me for?’
Tiaan gritted her teeth. She felt like telling her mother exactly what she took her for. ‘What happened to him?’
‘He never came back,’ said Marnie. ‘I suppose the enemy ate him.’
It was like a blow in the belly. ‘You killed him,’ cried Tiaan. ‘You killed my father!’
‘The enemy killed him. Why should he live when so many others were dying?’
‘Why should you live?’ Tiaan snapped.
‘Because I create the future!’
‘Only as long as you can have children,’ Tiaan said frigidly.
Marnie stiffened, drawing in a deep, gasping breath. So that’s what the matter was, thought Tiaan. Her life here was practically over and Marnie was terrified.
‘I’m sorry, mother. Please.’
Marnie turned her face to the wall and Tiaan knew she would get no more from her on that topic.
There was a long silence. ‘Our partners are selected carefully, you said?’
‘They’re prime specimens,’ her mother enunciated, ‘chosen for the qualities they bring to our children.’
‘But they pay?’ Tiaan persisted.
‘Of course they pay! Where do you think all this comes from?’ She swept an arm around the room.
‘Thank you, mother. You’ve told me all I need to know.’ Tiaan went to the door, which opened and an attendant came through, bearing a loaded tray – her dinner. ‘I’ll take that in my room,’ she said grandly, and sailed out.
Tiaan hugged her thoughts all the way back to her room. Her father had cared for her. He’d tried to take her away from this ghastly place. It made her feel warm inside.
Logic told her that the poor man must be dead, though she clung to the hope that he had survived, perhaps trapped in a foreign land. All the more important that she find out who he had been and learn his Histories. When she had children they must know. It was practically a crime to bring up a child without its family Histories. She wondered what qualities her father had given to her. Well, she was unlike her mother in practically every respect, so she must be a lot like her father. If Marnie would not tell her, there was only one way to find out. She would have to take another look in the bloodline register.
Tiaan sampled the pastries on her tray. They were delicious, though they left a fatty taste in her mouth and she was still overfull from her previous meal. She had to get away. She would go mad here. That thought made her smile wryly. Or end up like my mother.