Chapter 82

Keaton immediately sat down and pulled me onto his lap. I put my arms around him and leaned in, hoping my emotions came across as sad and not exposing the fear I felt about my loss of income.

“I’m sorry. I should have told you before now. I only found out a few days ago. Right before we planned the food.”

“That explains why you were so grumpy,” I replied, giving him a quick kiss.

“Yeah. I don’t want to leave, Auralia. I like it here. I like having the world’s most successful courtesan to play with.”

“But your father is insisting.” I sighed, not sure what else to say. Already I was painfully aware that I was going to have to find someone else or my income was going to take a huge hit. Was this what had been worrying Daniel the evening before? Had he known I was going to lose Keaton’s regular daily amount soon? It would drop me into losing money each day if I couldn’t replace him.

“I know you’ve given me a lot of time, and I still want you here every day before the party. It might be sel