It takes him a moment to catch on, watching her anxiously until he realizes she's waiting for him to sit as well, and then perching awkwardly onto the foot of the settee.

"They are women of exceptional power and strength of will," he says quietly, glancing off to the side rather than meet her eyes. He's too worried about what he might see in them. "Nina could see the future with her dreams or subvert the will of others with her words alone. To sit in a room and speak with her was like making conversation with a fiery volcano. To please her was to be filled with her passion and the gift of inspiration. But her displeasure was horribly oppressive, like choking ash."

He fidgets, clasping his hands together and then releasing them. "People in the town used to say some nonsense about the Mistresses were a counterbalance to the three rulers, but that just shows how little the ignorant ramble understand. The Mistresses weren't a political body," he explains, lip curling with derision. "Nina and Victoria were at war over the town's soul and its future. Nina would have elevated them all to a higher form of existence, while Victoria kept them rooted in the Earth."