A Frequent Traveller's Guide to Jovan: Book 1
Since the death of their brother the Emperor Dolmus brought the royal brothers Valentin and Cassius back to the capital, Valentin has cured the boredom of court life with poppy-sap and women, while for Cassius the remedy has been ale and the result much the same. Then an ill-fated duel causes their niece the Empress to send them to Gallica to deal with a problem there, and they find themselves drawn ever more back into the world of Jovani politics: a world their brother banished them from seventeen years earlier.
As Valentin veers from disaster to disaster, always running from his past and a life he would prefer to forget, Cassius is fascinated by a damaged pleasure slave he rescues from a brothel in Sha-Pensei. Valentin's weapon is sly diplomacy, while Cassius prefers the honesty of the sword, but will either be enough to protect Jovan, and themselves?
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The Lords Cassius and Valentin, uncles to the Empress of Jovan, go to the Gallican Frontier, where rumours are rife that the Governor might be a traitor.
Families are always complicated: royal families are doubly so.
The boys are sent to the distant kingdom of Sha-Pensei, where the best rooms in the Palace come with their own slave, and Cassius meets a boy with many secrets…
Valentin and Cassius are sent to dangerous and hostile Merot to negotiate peace.
The Empress makes Valentin and Cassius the Princess Adelais’ chaperons for a party. It doesn’t go well.
Valentin finds himself somehow involved in the rescue of a stray dog.
Cassius searches for Valentin in the darkness.
The boys escort the Empress on a state visit. Cassius brings Llewellyn, hoping that he might finally be able to strike off his slave brand.
The Jovanis are welcomed to Caith’il Deran, but one of the Caithese royals is acting strangely…
The festival of Peace Day celebrates the end of the civil war, but the Jovani royal family don’t seem to have much to celebrate this year.
Lord Marcellus Mereius makes a visit to the palace.
Valentin and Cassius escort the Empress’ tempestuous cousin back to Skya.
Cassius makes the most of his post at Blacktower, while Valentin reluctantly returns home to face his family.