“Well…you are correct about our equality, in a way. I think of them much more as my companions than as my subjects.” I gestured with my hands, searching for the words to explain. “Over Elaysius I have no official authority—he answers to the queen of the Sidhe—but he sees himself as a guest of my court and so subject to my commands, if only as a matter of courtesy. Gareth comes from the servant class right enough, yet we have raised him from a child, and his mind is not sharp enough to grasp finer points of etiquette, so much is tolerated from him here that might not be elsewhere. And Genevieve…well, we know nothing whatsoever about her origin, so it is hard to place her in the hierarchy, as you put it. But in truth I have no doubt that she is of noble blood; she is too beautiful, too pure
