Carla Cercci

Carla Cercci was Florian’s first concubine and the mother of his eldest son Lucio. Roughly ten years his senior and more than a match for the flighty emperor, this noblewoman long ago tired of Florian and has since served as official and unofficial mistress to a succession of powerful Fabulese influence brokers. Lucio “the Fantastic” is an unrepentant hoodlum who rarely recognizes that he entirely owes his status and titles to her machinations, but Carla is determined to install him on the throne regardless. Once his inheritance is secure, she has promised herself, she can begin to feel disappointed. In an odd twist on courtly politicking, she is also a fond friend of the earnest young Mercedes, despite their history with Florian and their considerable age gap.