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Jote is six when she learns that her name is not her own. The mother who named her has long since been left behind; the Undying are her only family, and now that she is old enough to be of service to the Phoenix, they tell her that she must choose a name for herself. Their work is conducted in the shadows, and so there must be nothing remaining to link them to the daylight world. She chooses "Jote", a name from a life she barely remembers, from a person she'll never see again. It's the last choice that is truly hers.
Jote is eleven when she learns that her life is not her own. For five long years she has helped to tend the comatose form of Joshua Rosfield, watching him grow as she, herself, has grown, and wondering if the Phoenix will ever rise again. But rise, he does, if not as high as he should, and the Undying appoint her as his attendant. His body has yet to fully heal and so the duty falls to her to ensure that nothing prevents it from doing so. He is as bright as the eternal flame he keeps, and curious about all that has taken place. It takes all her time, and all her guile, to persuade him to rest. She begrudges him none of it.
Jote is nineteen when she learns that her body is not her own. Much to her shame, she and "Lord Margrace" are captured by Benedikta Harman. For all her skills, she is no match for so many, and her blades are taken from her. Blades are not all she has... but her lord has forbidden her to use magic, lest she reveal herself as an unbranded Bearer. It pains her to know that she must not even try. She would gladly pay the price that all Bearers and Dominants must pay for the use of their powers, if it meant keeping him safe. Instead, she bleeds where Harman's sword has pierced her skin, and considers that a fitting punishment for her failure.
Jote is twenty-four when she learns that her will is not her own. The Rosfield brothers plan to journey to the Free Cities of Kanver; although she has been the constant companion to the Phoenix for better than a decade, and his protector besides, she is not to accompany them. When her lord's gloved hand reaches towards her head, she knows what it means. It is not the first time he has used magic to impart information to her. She tilts her head down, closes her eyes, and waits for his power to write the directions in her mind that will tell her how to find the place where she must go. She does not want to go. Her place is by his side, for as long as she lives. She tries to tell him that, but it seems he has already anticipated her objection, for even as she speaks the words, her mind softens them, turning a feeble protest into willing acceptance.
Of course she will go where her lord wills. How could she think to do otherwise, when he is the Phoenix, the sole reason for her order's existence? She has always known that her own needs, her own desires, must be subordinate to her duties. She serves as she is meant to serve, and lets all thoughts to the contrary fade into the darkness where they belong. Joshua Rosfield is her entire world.
There can be nothing else, for there is nothing she has that is not his.