18Alex awoke the next morning to a knocking at the door. As Treyan was already awake and dressed while she remained n***d and lounging in bed, he did her the favor of checking to see who could have been disrupting the Empress’ extremely comfortable slumber. He must have opened the door for she could hear the faint mumble of a hushed conversation in the distance. The door closed again and soon he was sitting next to her on the bed.
“The time has come, my Empress,” he whispered as he brushed sleepy hair out of her face.
She peered up at him through half-closed eyes. “Whatever happened to letting me have my beauty sleep?”
“You are apparently beautiful enough, for the mistresses have arrived to prepare you for the day.”
“What mistresses?”
He smiled. “Mallia is here with her assistants—the
